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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM N-1A
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
(NO. 33-64845)
UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
☒
Pre-Effective Amendment No.
☐
Post-Effective Amendment No. 89
☒
and
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
(NO. 811-07443)
UNDER THE INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940
Amendment No. 91
☒
VANGUARD WHITEHALL FUNDS
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Declaration of Trust)
P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482
(Address of Principal Executive Office)
Registrant’s Telephone Number (610) 669-1000
Anne E. Robinson, Esquire
P.O. Box 876
Valley Forge, PA 19482
It is proposed that this filing will become effective (check appropriate box)
☐
immediately upon filing pursuant to paragraph (b)
☒
on February 26, 2021, pursuant to paragraph (b)
☐
60 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(1)
☐
on (date) pursuant to paragraph (a)(1)
☐
75 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(2)
☐
on (date) pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of rule 485 If appropriate, check the following box:
☐
This post-effective amendment designates a new effective date for a previously filed post-effective amendment.
 
Vanguard Selected Value Fund
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Investor Shares
Vanguard Selected Value Fund Investor Shares (VASVX)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
 
Fund Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation and income.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
None
Purchase Fee
None
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
Redemption Fee
None
Account Service Fee Per Year
(for certain fund account balances below $10,000)
$20
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.29%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.31%
1
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund's shares. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$32
$100
$174
$393
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 85% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund invests mainly in the stocks of mid-size U.S. companies, choosing stocks considered by an advisor to be undervalued. Undervalued stocks are generally those that are out of favor with investors and are trading at prices that the advisor believes are below average in relation to measures such as earnings and book value. These stocks often have above-average dividend yields. The Fund uses multiple investment advisors. Each advisor independently selects and maintains a portfolio of common stocks for the Fund.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance:
•  Stock market risk , which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.
2
•  Investment style risk , which is the chance that returns from mid-capitalization value stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Stocks considered by an advisor to be undervalued may remain undervalued for a long period of time or may not realize their expected value. Historically, mid-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than the large-cap stocks that dominate the overall market, and they often perform quite differently. The stock prices of mid-size companies tend to experience greater volatility because, among other things, mid-size companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic conditions.
•  Manager risk , which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the Fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective. In addition, significant investment in the financials and industrials sectors subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of these sectors.
An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the Fund compare with those of a relevant market index and another comparative index, which have investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
3
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard Selected Value Fund Investor Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
28.99%
December 31, 2020
Lowest
-37.65%
March 31, 2020
Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Vanguard Selected Value Fund Investor Shares
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
5.85%
8.88%
9.96%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
3.48
6.77
8.40
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
5.10
6.78
7.96
Comparative Indexes
(reflect no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
 
 
 
Russell Midcap Value Index
4.96%
9.73%
10.49%
Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Float Adjusted Index
20.79
15.36
13.74
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
4
Investment Advisors
Cooke & Bieler, LP (Cooke & Bieler)

 

Donald Smith & Co., Inc. (Donald Smith & Co.)

 Pzena Investment Management, LLC (Pzena)
Portfolio Managers
Mehul Trivedi, CFA, Partner, Research Analyst, and Portfolio Manager of Cooke & Bieler. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2019.

 

William Weber, CFA, Partner, Research Analyst, and Portfolio Manager of Cooke & Bieler. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2019.

 

Richard L. Greenberg, CFA, Co-Chief Investment Officer of Donald Smith & Co. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2005.

 

Jon Hartsel, CFA, Co-Chief Investment Officer and Director of Research of Donald Smith & Co. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2019.

 

Richard Pzena, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Pzena. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2014.

 

Ben Silver, CFA, Principal and Portfolio Manager at Pzena. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2017.

 

John J. Flynn, Principal and Portfolio Manager at Pzena. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2015.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for Investor Shares is $3,000. The minimum investment amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Investor Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility. If
5
you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisors do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
6
More on the Fund
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any mutual fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to mutual fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All mutual funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are
deducted from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the
net assets of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated
in the Fees and Expenses section, Vanguard Selected Value Fund’s expense
ratio would be 0.31%, or $3.10 per $1,000 of average net assets. The
average expense ratio for mid-cap value funds in 2019 was 1.10%, or $11.00
per $1,000 of average net assets (derived from data provided by Lipper, a
Thomson Reuters Company, which reports on the mutual fund industry).
 
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing a mutual fund. That is
because you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of
operating a fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or
sells securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross
income or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small
differences in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a
fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund's board of trustees, which oversees the Fund's management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental.
7
Market Exposure
The Fund invests mainly in common stocks of mid-size U.S. companies that are considered by an advisor to be trading at below-average prices in relation to measures such as earnings and book value. These stocks often have above-average dividend yields.  
Plain Talk About Growth Funds and Value Funds
Growth investing and value investing are two styles employed by stock-fund
managers. Growth funds generally invest in stocks of companies believed to
have above-average potential for growth in revenue, earnings, cash flow, or
other similar criteria. These stocks typically have low dividend yields, if any,
and above-average prices in relation to measures such as earnings and book
value. Value funds typically invest in stocks whose prices are below average
in relation to those measures; these stocks often have above-average
dividend yields. Value stocks also may remain undervalued by the market for
long periods of time. Growth and value stocks have historically produced
similar long-term returns, though each category has periods when it
outperforms the other.
   
The Fund is subject to stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.
Stocks of publicly traded companies are often classified according to market capitalization, which is the market value of a company’s outstanding shares. These classifications typically include small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap. It is important to understand that there are no “official” definitions of small-, mid-, and large-cap, even among Vanguard fund advisors, and that market capitalization ranges can change over time. The asset-weighted median market capitalization of the Fund’s stock holdings as of October 31, 2020, was $6.1 billion.
8
   
The Fund is subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from mid-capitalization value stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Stocks considered by an advisor to be undervalued may remain undervalued for a long period of time or may not realize their expected value. Historically, mid-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than the large-cap stocks that dominate the overall market, and they often perform quite differently. The stock prices of mid-size companies tend to experience greater volatility because, among other things, mid-size companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic conditions.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
Security Selection
The Fund uses multiple investment advisors. Each advisor independently selects and maintains a portfolio of common stocks for the Fund.
Each advisor employs active investment management methods, which means that securities are bought and sold according to the advisor’s evaluations of companies and their financial prospects, the prices of the securities, and the stock market and the economy in general. Each advisor will sell a security when, in the view of the advisor, it is no longer as attractive as an alternative investment or if the advisor deems it to be in the best interest of the Fund. Different advisors may reach different conclusions on the same security.
Each advisor uses a different process to select securities for its portion of the Fund’s assets.
Cooke & Bieler analysts perform deep fundamental research to uncover competitively advantaged businesses, with conservative balance sheets, trading at attractive valuations. These companies typically have higher returns on capital, lower levels of debt, and trade at lower valuations than the benchmark.
Donald Smith & Co. employs a strictly bottom-up investment approach that seeks out stocks of out-of-favor companies selling at discounts to tangible book value. Donald Smith & Co. looks for companies in the bottom decile of price-to-tangible-book value ratios that have positive outlooks for earnings potential over the next two to four years. Donald Smith & Co. employs traditional fundamental research techniques with the objective of determining the extent of earnings a company’s asset base can generate.
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Pzena utilizes a fundamental, bottom-up, deep-value-oriented investment strategy. Pzena seeks to buy good businesses at low prices, focusing exclusively on companies that are underperforming their historically demonstrated earnings power. Pzena conducts intensive fundamental research, investing in companies only when all three of the following criteria are generally met: (1) the company’s identified problems, if any, are temporary; (2) the company’s management has a viable strategy to generate a recovery in earnings; and (3) there is meaningful downside protection in case the earnings recovery does not materialize.
   
The Fund is subject to manager risk, which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the Fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective. In addition, significant investment in the financials and industrials sectors subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of these sectors.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
In addition to investing in U.S. mid-cap value stocks, the Fund may make other kinds of investments to achieve its investment objective.
 

Although the Fund typically does not make significant investments in foreign securities, it reserves the right to invest up to 25% of its assets in foreign securities, which may include depositary receipts. Foreign securities may be traded on U.S. or foreign markets. To the extent that it owns foreign securities, the Fund is subject to country risk and currency risk. Country risk is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries. In addition, the prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks have, at times, moved in opposite directions. Currency risk is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates.
The Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. Investments in derivatives may subject the Fund to risks different from, and possibly greater than, those of investments directly in the underlying securities or assets. The Fund will not use derivatives for speculation or for the purpose of leveraging (magnifying) investment returns.
10
The Fund may enter into foreign currency exchange forward contracts, which are a type of derivative. A foreign currency exchange forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell a currency at a specific price on a specific date, usually 30, 60, or 90 days in the future. In other words, the contract guarantees an exchange rate on a given date. Advisors of funds that invest in foreign securities can use these contracts to guard against unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. These contracts, however, would not prevent the Fund‘s securities from falling in value as a result of risks other than unfavorable currency exchange movements.
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard) administers a small portion of the Fund's assets to facilitate cash flows to and from the Fund's advisors. The Fund may invest these assets in equity futures, which are a type of derivative, and/or shares of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including ETF Shares issued by Vanguard stock funds. These equity futures and ETFs typically provide returns similar to those of common stocks. The Fund may also purchase futures or ETFs when doing so will reduce the Fund's transaction costs or have the potential to add value because the instruments are favorably priced. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in ETF Shares of other Vanguard funds. Fund assets invested in ETF Shares are excluded when allocating to the Fund its share of the costs of Vanguard operations.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Under normal circumstances, the Fund typically expects to meet redemptions with positive cash flows. When this is not an option, the Fund seeks to first meet redemptions from a cash or cash equivalent reserve. Alternatively, Vanguard may instruct the advisors to sell a cross section of the Fund’s holdings to meet redemptions, while also factoring in transaction costs. Additionally, the Fund may work with larger clients to implement their redemptions in a manner that is least disruptive to the portfolio; see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section.
Under certain circumstances, including under stressed market conditions, there are additional tools that the Fund may use in order to meet redemptions, including advancing the settlement of market trades with counterparties to
11
match investor redemption payments or delaying settlement of an investor’s transaction to match trade settlement within regulatory requirements. The Fund may also suspend payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven days; see “Emergency circumstances” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section. Additionally under these unusual circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when an advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case if the Fund is transitioning assets from one advisor to another or receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
In addition, the Fund may take temporary defensive positions that are inconsistent with its normal investment policies and strategies—for instance, by allocating substantial assets to cash equivalent investments or other less volatile instruments— in response to adverse or unusual market, economic, political, or other conditions. In doing so, the Fund may succeed in avoiding losses but may otherwise fail to achieve its investment objective.
Frequent Trading or Market-Timing
Background. Some investors try to profit from strategies involving frequent trading of mutual fund shares, such as market-timing. For funds holding foreign securities, investors may try to take advantage of an anticipated difference between the price of the fund’s shares and price movements in overseas markets, a practice also known as time-zone arbitrage. Investors also may try to engage in frequent trading of funds holding investments such as small-cap stocks and high-yield bonds. As money is shifted into and out of a fund by a shareholder engaging in frequent trading, the fund incurs costs for buying and selling securities, resulting in increased brokerage and administrative costs. These costs are borne by all fund shareholders, including the long-term investors who do not generate the costs. In addition, frequent trading may interfere with an advisor’s ability to efficiently manage the fund.
12
Policies to address frequent trading. The Vanguard funds (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) do not knowingly accommodate frequent trading. The board of trustees of each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) has adopted policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and discourage frequent trading and, in some cases, to compensate the fund for the costs associated with it. These policies and procedures do not apply to ETF Shares because frequent trading in ETF Shares generally does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. Although there is no assurance that Vanguard will be able to detect or prevent frequent trading or market-timing in all circumstances, the following policies have been adopted to address these issues:
• Each Vanguard fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request—including exchanges from other Vanguard funds—without notice and regardless of size. For example, a purchase request could be rejected because the investor has a history of frequent trading or if Vanguard determines that such purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
• Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) generally prohibits, except as otherwise noted in the Investing With Vanguard section, an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account.
• Certain Vanguard funds charge shareholders purchase and/or redemption fees on transactions.
See the Investing With Vanguard section of this prospectus for further details on Vanguard’s transaction policies.
Each Vanguard fund (other than retail and government money market funds), in determining its net asset value, will use fair-value pricing when appropriate, as described in the Share Price section. Fair-value pricing may reduce or eliminate the profitability of certain frequent-trading strategies.
Do not invest with Vanguard if you are a market-timer.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and
13
replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisors
The Fund uses a multimanager approach. Each advisor independently manages its assigned portion of the Fund’s assets, subject to the supervision and oversight of Vanguard and the Fund’s board of trustees. The board of trustees designates the proportion of Fund assets to be managed by each advisor and may change these proportions at any time.
• Cooke & Bieler, LP, Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Suite 4000, Philadelphia, PA 19103, is an investment advisory firm founded in 1949. As of October 31, 2020, Cooke & Bieler managed approximately $7.8 billion in assets.
• Donald Smith & Co., Inc., 152 West 57th Street, 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10019, is an investment advisory firm that was founded as Home Portfolio
14
Advisors in 1975 and renamed Donald Smith & Co., Inc., in 1983. As of October 31, 2020, Donald Smith & Co. managed approximately $1.9 billion in assets.
• Pzena Investment Management, LLC, 320 Park Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10022, is a global investment management firm founded in 1995. Pzena focuses exclusively on a deep value investment approach. The members of the firm’s executive committee and other employees collectively own a majority of the firm. As of October 31, 2020, Pzena managed approximately $33 billion in assets.
The Fund pays each of its investment advisors a base fee plus or minus a performance adjustment. The base fee, which is paid quarterly, is a percentage of average daily net assets managed by the advisor during the most recent fiscal quarter. The base fee has breakpoints, which means that the percentage declines as assets go up. The performance adjustment, also paid quarterly, is based on the cumulative total return of each advisor’s portion of the Fund relative to that of the Russell Midcap Value Index (for Cooke & Bieler and Pzena) or the MSCI US Investable Market 2500 Index (for Donald Smith & Co.) over the preceding 60-month period (a 36-month period for Pzena). When the performance adjustment is positive, the Fund’s expenses increase; when it is negative, expenses decrease.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the aggregate advisory fee represented an effective annual rate of 0.21% of the Fund’s average net assets before a performance-based decrease of 0.06%.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
15
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory agreements, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
The managers primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund are:
Mehul Trivedi, CFA, Partner, Research Analyst, and Portfolio Manager of Cooke & Bieler. He has worked in investment management since 1993, has managed investment portfolios and has been with Cooke & Bieler since 1998, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2019. Education: B.S./B.A., University of Pennsylvania; M.B.A., The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

William Weber, CFA, Partner, Research Analyst, and Portfolio Manager of Cooke & Bieler. He has worked in investment management since starting with Cooke & Bieler in 2002, has managed investment portfolios since 2010, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2019. Education: B.S./B.A., Villanova University; M.B.A., University of Chicago.

 

Richard L. Greenberg, CFA, Co-Chief Investment Officer of Donald Smith & Co. He has worked in investment management since 1981; has been with the investment advisory firm that was founded as Home Portfolio Advisors and renamed Donald Smith & Co., Inc., since 1981; and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2005. Education: B.S., SUNY Binghamton; M.B.A., The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Jon Hartsel, CFA, Co-Chief Investment Officer and Director of Research of Donald Smith & Co. He has worked in investment management since 1995, has been with Donald Smith & Co. since 2003, and co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2019. Education: B.A., William & Mary; M.B.S., Columbia Business School.

 

Richard Pzena, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Pzena. He has worked in investment management since 1984, has managed investment portfolios for Pzena since 1996, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2014. Education: B.S. and M.B.A., The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Ben Silver, CFA, Principal and Portfolio Manager at Pzena. He has worked in investment management since 1999, has been with Pzena since 2001, has managed investment portfolios for Pzena since 2006, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2017. Education: B.S., Yeshiva University.
16

 

John J. Flynn, Principal and Portfolio Manager at Pzena. He has worked in investment management since 2000, has managed portfolios for Pzena since 2011, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2015. Education: B.A., Yale University; M.B.A., Harvard Business School.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest and dividends, less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income and capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.
You can receive distributions of income or capital gains in cash, or you can have them automatically reinvested in more shares of the Fund. However, if you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your distributions will be automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares.  
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest and dividends as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of
investments. Income consists of both the dividends that the fund earns from
any stock holdings and the interest it receives from any money market and
bond investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells
securities for higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are
either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the
securities for one year or less or for more than one year.
17
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional Fund shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income. If you are an individual and meet certain holding-period requirements with respect to your Fund shares, you may be eligible for reduced tax rates on “qualified dividend income,” if any, or a special tax deduction on “qualified REIT dividends,” if any, distributed by the Fund.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned shares in the Fund.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund‘s normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling or exchanging your Fund shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
• Vanguard (or your intermediary) will send you a statement each year showing the tax status of all of your distributions.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale or exchange of Fund shares.
Dividend distributions and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale or exchange of Fund shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored
18
retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.
19
 
Plain Talk About Buying a Dividend
Unless you are a tax-exempt investor or investing through a tax-advantaged
account (such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings
plan), you should consider avoiding a purchase of fund shares shortly before
the fund makes a distribution, because doing so can cost you money in
taxes. This is known as “buying a dividend.” For example: On December 15,
you invest $5,000, buying 250 shares for $20 each. If the fund pays a
distribution of $1 per share on December 16, its share price will drop to $19
(not counting market change). You still have only $5,000 (250 shares x $19 =
$4,750 in share value, plus 250 shares x $1 = $250 in distributions), but you
owe tax on the $250 distribution you received—even if you reinvest it in
more shares. To avoid buying a dividend, check a fund’s distribution schedule
before you invest.
General Information
Backup withholding. By law, Vanguard must withhold 24% of any taxable distributions or redemptions from your account if you do not:
• Provide your correct taxpayer identification number.
• Certify that the taxpayer identification number is correct.
• Confirm that you are not subject to backup withholding.
Similarly, Vanguard (or your intermediary) must withhold taxes from your account if the IRS instructs us to do so.
Foreign investors. Vanguard funds offered for sale in the United States (Vanguard U.S. funds), including the Fund offered in this prospectus, are not widely available outside the United States. Non-U.S. investors should be aware that U.S. withholding and estate taxes and certain U.S. tax reporting requirements may apply to any investments in Vanguard U.S. funds. Foreign investors should visit the non-U.S. investors page on our website at vanguard.com for information on Vanguard’s non-U.S. products.
Invalid addresses. If a dividend distribution or capital gains distribution check mailed to your address of record is returned as undeliverable, Vanguard will automatically reinvest the distribution and all future distributions until you provide us with a valid mailing address. Reinvestments will receive the net asset value calculated on the date of the reinvestment.
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Share Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The NAV per share is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, of the Fund by the number of Fund shares outstanding. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Stocks held by a Vanguard fund are valued at their market value when reliable market quotations are readily available from the principal exchange or market on which they are traded. Such securities are generally valued at their official closing price, the last reported sales price, or if there were no sales that day, the mean between the closing bid and asking prices. When a fund determines that market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund's pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges that close many hours before the fund's pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, merger announcement) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities.
21
Fair-value pricing may be used for domestic securities—for example, if (1) trading in a security is halted and does not resume before the fund's pricing time or a security does not trade in the course of a day and (2) the fund holds enough of the security that its price could affect the NAV.
Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard fund share prices are published daily on our website at vanguard.com/prices.
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Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
Vanguard Selected Value Fund Investor Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$27.59
$27.38
$33.15
$27.24
$28.15
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income
0.3681
0.4931
0.4931
0.4491
0.5271
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments
(3.163)
2.392
(3.153)
6.760
0.030
Total from Investment Operations
(2.795)
2.885
(2.660)
7.209
0.557
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(0.450)
(0.506)
(0.423)
(0.501)
(0.443)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
(1.565)
(2.169)
(2.687)
(0.798)
(1.024)
Total Distributions
(2.015)
(2.675)
(3.110)
(1.299)
(1.467)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$22.78
$27.59
$27.38
$33.15
$27.24
Total Return2
–11.25%
12.51%
–9.15%
27.17%
2.20%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$5,009
$7,892
$8,811
$10,574
$8,802
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets3
0.31%
0.33%
0.36%
0.39%
0.35%
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net
Assets
1.58%
1.89%
1.61%
1.47%
2.00%
Portfolio Turnover Rate
85%
31%
31%
22%
27%
1
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
2
Total returns do not include account service fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
3
Includes performance-based investment advisory fee increases (decreases) of (0.06%), (0.06%), (0.02%), 0.00%, and (0.04%).
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Investing With Vanguard
This section of the prospectus explains the basics of doing business with Vanguard. Vanguard fund shares can be held directly with Vanguard or indirectly through an intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. If you hold Vanguard fund shares directly with Vanguard, you should carefully read each topic within this section that pertains to your relationship with Vanguard. If you hold Vanguard fund shares indirectly through an intermediary (including shares held in a brokerage account through Vanguard Brokerage Services®), please see Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms, and also refer to your account agreement with the intermediary for information about transacting in that account. If you hold Vanguard fund shares through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, please see Employer-Sponsored Plans. Vanguard reserves the right to change the following policies without notice. Please call or check online for current information. See Contacting Vanguard.
For Vanguard fund shares held directly with Vanguard, each fund you hold in an account is a separate “fund account.” For example, if you hold three funds in a nonretirement account titled in your own name, two funds in a nonretirement account titled jointly with your spouse, and one fund in an individual retirement account, you have six fund accounts—and this is true even if you hold the same fund in multiple accounts. Note that each reference to “you” in this prospectus applies to any one or more registered account owners or persons authorized to transact on your account.
Purchasing Shares
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to increase or decrease the minimum amount required to open or maintain a fund account or to add to an existing fund account.
Investment minimums may differ for certain categories of investors.
Account Minimums
To open and maintain an account. $3,000. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Investor Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility.
To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
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How to Initiate a Purchase Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your purchase request.
Online. You may open certain types of accounts, request a purchase of shares, and request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to begin the account registration process or request that the account-opening forms be sent to you. You may also call Vanguard to request a purchase of shares in your account or to request an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send Vanguard your account registration form and check to open a new fund account. To add to an existing fund account, you may send your check with an Invest-by-Mail form (from a transaction confirmation or your account statement) or with a deposit slip (available online).
How to Pay for a Purchase
By electronic bank transfer. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund through an electronic transfer of money from a bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate the bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can purchase shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Investment Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your purchase request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. Wiring instructions vary for different types of purchases. Please call Vanguard for instructions and policies on purchasing shares by wire. See Contacting Vanguard.
By check. You may make initial or additional purchases to your fund account by sending a check with a deposit slip or by utilizing our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access. Also see How to Initiate a Purchase Request. Make your check payable to Vanguard and include the appropriate fund number (Vanguard—934).
By exchange. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund using the proceeds from the simultaneous redemption of shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail with an exchange form. See Exchanging Shares.
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Trade Date
The trade date for any purchase request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request, the manner in which you are paying, and the type of fund you are purchasing. Your purchase will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For purchases by check into all funds other than money market funds and for purchases by exchange, wire, or electronic bank transfer into all funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the same day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day.
For purchases by check into money market funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the second business day following the day Vanguard receives the purchase request. Because money market instruments must be purchased with federal funds and it takes a money market mutual fund one business day to convert check proceeds into federal funds, the trade date for the purchase will be one business day later than for other funds.
If your purchase request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
For further information about purchase transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Purchase Rules You Should Know
Check purchases. All purchase checks must be written in U.S. dollars, be drawn on a U.S. bank, and be accompanied by good order instructions. Vanguard does not accept cash, traveler’s checks, starter checks, or money orders. In addition, Vanguard may refuse checks that are not made payable to Vanguard.
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New accounts. We are required by law to obtain from you certain personal information that we will use to verify your identity. If you do not provide the information, we may not be able to open your account. If we are unable to verify your identity, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to close your account or take such other steps as we deem reasonable. Certain types of accounts may require additional documentation.
Refused or rejected purchase requests. Vanguard reserves the right to stop selling fund shares or to reject any purchase request at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, purchases requested by exchange from another Vanguard fund. This also includes the right to reject any purchase request because the investor has a history of frequent trading or because the purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
Large purchases. Call Vanguard before attempting to invest a large dollar amount.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any purchase request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a purchase request.
Redeeming Shares
How to Initiate a Redemption Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your redemption request.
Online. You may request a redemption of shares or request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to request a redemption of shares or an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send a form (available online) to Vanguard to redeem from a fund account or to make an exchange.
How to Receive Redemption Proceeds
By electronic bank transfer. You may have the proceeds of a fund redemption sent directly to a designated bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can redeem shares by
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electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Withdrawal Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your redemption request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. To receive your proceeds by wire, you may instruct Vanguard to wire your redemption proceeds ($100 minimum) to a previously designated bank account. To establish the wire redemption service, you generally must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form.
Please note that Vanguard charges a $10 wire fee for outgoing wire redemptions. The fee is assessed in addition to, rather than being withheld from, redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the fund in which you invest. For example, if you redeem $100 via a wire, you will receive the full $100, and the $10 fee will be assessed to your fund account through an additional redemption of fund shares. If you redeem your entire fund account, your redemption proceeds will be reduced by the amount of the fee. The wire fee does not apply to accounts held by Flagship and Flagship Select clients; accounts held through intermediaries, including Vanguard Brokerage Services; or accounts held by institutional clients.
By exchange. You may have the proceeds of a Vanguard fund redemption invested directly in shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Exchanging Shares.
By check. If you have not chosen another redemption method, Vanguard will mail you a redemption check, generally payable to all registered account owners, normally within two business days of your trade date, and generally to the address of record.
Trade Date
The trade date for any redemption request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request and the manner in which you are redeeming. Your redemption will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
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For redemptions by check, exchange, or wire: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from money market funds: For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day before 10:45 a.m., Eastern time (2 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund; 12:30 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business the same day. For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day after those cut-off times, or on a nonbusiness day, and for all requests other than by telephone, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from all other funds: For requests received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day. For requests received by Vanguard on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the second business day after Vanguard receives the request.
For redemptions by electronic bank transfer: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
If your redemption request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. If we are unable to send your redemption proceeds by wire or electronic bank transfer because the receiving institution rejects the transfer, Vanguard will make additional efforts to complete your transaction. If Vanguard is still unable to complete the transaction, we may send the proceeds of the redemption to you by check, generally payable to all registered account owners, or use your proceeds to purchase new shares of the fund from which you sold shares for the purpose of the wire or electronic bank transfer transaction. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
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If your redemption request is received in good order, we typically expect that redemption proceeds will be paid by the Fund within one business day of the trade date; however, in certain circumstances, investors may experience a longer settlement period at the time of the transaction. For further information, see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” and “Emergency circumstances.”
For further information about redemption transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Redemption Rules You Should Know
Documentation for certain accounts. Special documentation may be required to redeem from certain types of accounts, such as trust, corporate, nonprofit, or retirement accounts. Please call us before attempting to redeem from these types of accounts.
Potentially disruptive redemptions. Vanguard reserves the right to pay all or part of a redemption in kind—that is, in the form of securities—if we reasonably believe that a cash redemption would negatively affect the fund’s operation or performance or that the shareholder may be engaged in market-timing or frequent trading. Under these circumstances, Vanguard also reserves the right to delay payment of the redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. By calling us before you attempt to redeem a large dollar amount, you may avoid in-kind or delayed payment of your redemption. Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations for information about Vanguard’s policies to limit frequent trading.
Recently purchased shares. Although you can redeem shares at any time, proceeds may not be made available to you until the fund collects payment for your purchase. This may take up to seven calendar days for shares purchased by check or by electronic bank transfer. If you have written a check on a fund in an account with checkwriting privileges, that check may be rejected if your fund account does not have a sufficient available balance.
Address change. If you change your address online or by telephone, there may be up to a 14-day restriction (starting on the business day after your address is changed) on your ability to request check redemptions online and by telephone. You can request a redemption in writing (using a form available online) at any time. Confirmations of address changes are sent to both the old and new addresses.
Payment to a different person or address. At your request, we can make your redemption check payable, or wire your redemption proceeds, to a different person or send it to a different address. However, this generally requires the written consent of all registered account owners and may require additional
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documentation, such as a signature guarantee or a notarized signature. You may obtain a signature guarantee from some commercial or savings banks, credit unions, trust companies, or member firms of a U.S. stock exchange.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any redemption request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a redemption request.
Emergency circumstances. Vanguard funds can postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. In addition, Vanguard funds can suspend redemptions and/or postpone payments of redemption proceeds beyond seven calendar days at times when the NYSE is closed or during emergency circumstances, as determined by the SEC.
Exchanging Shares
An exchange occurs when you use the proceeds from the redemption of shares of one Vanguard fund to simultaneously purchase shares of a different Vanguard fund. You can make exchange requests online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Purchasing Shares and Redeeming Shares.
If the NYSE is open for regular trading (generally until 4 p.m., Eastern time, on a business day) at the time an exchange request is received in good order, the trade date generally will be the same day. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order for additional information on all transaction requests.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any exchange request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing an exchange request.
Call Vanguard before attempting to exchange a large dollar amount. By calling us before you attempt to exchange a large dollar amount, you may avoid delayed or rejected transactions.
Please note that Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise or terminate the exchange privilege, limit the amount of any exchange, or reject an exchange, at any time, for any reason. See Frequent-Trading Limitations for additional restrictions on exchanges.
Frequent-Trading Limitations
Because excessive transactions can disrupt management of a fund and increase the fund’s costs for all shareholders, the board of trustees of each Vanguard fund places certain limits on frequent trading in the funds. Each Vanguard fund (other
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than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) limits an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account. ETF Shares are not subject to these frequent-trading limits.
For Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, the limitations apply to exchanges made online or by telephone.
These frequent-trading limitations do not apply to the following:
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Transactions through Vanguard’s Automatic Investment Plan, Automatic Exchange Service, Direct Deposit Service, Automatic Withdrawal Plan, Required Minimum Distribution Service, and Vanguard Small Business Online®.
• Discretionary transactions through Vanguard Personal Advisor Services®, Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services®, and Vanguard Digital Advisor™.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans).
• Transfers and reregistrations of shares within the same fund.
• Purchases of shares by asset transfer or direct rollover.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Checkwriting redemptions.
• Section 529 college savings plans.
• Certain approved institutional portfolios and asset allocation programs, as well as trades made by funds or trusts managed by Vanguard or its affiliates that invest in other Vanguard funds. (Please note that shareholders of Vanguard’s funds of funds are subject to the limitations.)
For participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans,* the frequent-trading limitations do not apply to:
• Purchases of shares with participant payroll or employer contributions or loan repayments.
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan.
• Redemptions of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan.
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• Transactions executed through the Vanguard Managed Account Program.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Share or asset transfers or rollovers.
• Reregistrations of shares.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Exchange requests submitted by written request to Vanguard. (Exchange requests submitted by fax, if otherwise permitted, are subject to the limitations.)
* The following Vanguard fund accounts are subject to the frequent-trading limitations: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Accounts Held by Institutions (Other Than Defined Contribution Plans)
Vanguard will systematically monitor for frequent trading in institutional clients’ accounts. If we detect suspicious trading activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include applying to a client’s accounts the 30-day policy previously described, prohibiting a client’s purchases of fund shares, and/or revoking the client’s exchange privilege.
Accounts Held by Intermediaries
When intermediaries establish accounts in Vanguard funds for the benefit of their clients, we cannot always monitor the trading activity of the individual clients. However, we review trading activity at the intermediary (omnibus) level, and if we detect suspicious activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action. If necessary, Vanguard may prohibit additional purchases of fund shares by an intermediary, including for the benefit of certain of the intermediary’s clients. Intermediaries also may monitor their clients’ trading activities with respect to Vanguard funds.
For those Vanguard funds that charge purchase and/or redemption fees, intermediaries will be asked to assess these fees on client accounts and remit these fees to the funds. The application of purchase and redemption fees and frequent-trading limitations may vary among intermediaries. There are no assurances that Vanguard will successfully identify all intermediaries or that intermediaries will properly assess purchase and redemption fees or administer frequent-trading limitations. If you invest with Vanguard through an intermediary, please read that firm’s materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply.
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Other Rules You Should Know
Prospectus and Shareholder Report Mailings
When two or more shareholders have the same last name and address, just one summary prospectus (or prospectus) and/or shareholder report may be sent in an attempt to eliminate the unnecessary expense of duplicate mailings. You may request individual prospectuses and reports by contacting our Client Services Department in writing, by telephone, or online. See Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard.com
Registration. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can review your account holdings; buy, sell, or exchange shares of most Vanguard funds; and perform most other transactions through our website. You must register for this service online.
Electronic delivery. Vanguard can deliver your account statements, transaction confirmations, prospectuses, certain tax forms, and shareholder reports electronically. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can consent to the electronic delivery of these documents by logging on and changing your mailing preferences under “Account Maintenance.” You can revoke your electronic consent at any time through our website, and we will begin to send paper copies of these documents within 30 days of receiving your revocation.
Telephone Transactions
Automatic. When we set up your account, we will automatically enable you to do business with us by telephone, unless you instruct us otherwise in writing.
Tele-Account®. To obtain fund and account information through Vanguard’s automated telephone service, you must first establish a Personal Identification Number (PIN) by calling Tele-Account at 800-662-6273.
Proof of a caller’s authority. We reserve the right to refuse a telephone request if the caller is unable to provide the requested information or if we reasonably believe that the caller is not an individual authorized to act on the account. Before we allow a caller to act on an account, we may request the following information:
• Authorization to act on the account (as the account owner or by legal documentation or other means).
• Account registration and address.
• Fund name and account number, if applicable.
• Other information relating to the caller, the account owner, or the account.
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Good Order
We reserve the right to reject any transaction instructions that are not in “good order.” Good order generally means that your instructions:
• Are provided by the person(s) authorized in accordance with Vanguard’s policies and procedures to access the account and request transactions.
• Include the fund name and account number.
• Include the amount of the transaction (stated in dollars, shares, or percentage).
Written instructions also must generally be provided on a Vanguard form and include:
• Signature(s) and date from the authorized person(s).
• Signature guarantees or notarized signatures, if required for the type of transaction. (Call Vanguard for specific requirements.)
• Any supporting documentation that may be required.
Good order requirements may vary among types of accounts and transactions. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise the requirements for good order.
Future Trade-Date Requests
Vanguard does not accept requests to hold a purchase, redemption, or exchange transaction for a future date. All such requests will receive trade dates as previously described in Purchasing Shares, Redeeming Shares, and Exchanging Shares. Vanguard reserves the right to return future-dated purchase checks.
Accounts With More Than One Owner
If an account has more than one owner or authorized person, Vanguard generally will accept instructions from any one owner or authorized person.
Responsibility for Fraud
You should take precautions to protect yourself from fraud. Keep your account-related information private, and review any account confirmations, statements, or other information that we provide to you as soon as you receive them. Let us know immediately if you discover unauthorized activity or see something on your account that you do not understand or that looks unusual.
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Vanguard will not be responsible for losses that result from transactions by a person who we reasonably believe is authorized to act on your account.
Uncashed Checks
Please cash your distribution or redemption checks promptly. Vanguard will not pay interest on uncashed checks. Vanguard may be required to transfer assets related to uncashed checks to a state under the state’s abandoned property law.
Dormant Accounts
If your account has no activity in it for a period of time, Vanguard may be required to transfer it to a state under the state’s abandoned property law, subject to potential federal or state withholding taxes.
Unusual Circumstances
If you experience difficulty contacting Vanguard online or by telephone, you can send us your transaction request on a Vanguard form by regular or express mail.
Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms
You may purchase or sell shares of most Vanguard funds through a financial intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. Please consult your financial intermediary to determine which, if any, shares are available through that firm and to learn about other rules that may apply. Your financial intermediary can provide you with account information and any required tax forms. You may be required to pay a commission on purchases of mutual fund shares made through a financial intermediary.
Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of any purchase or redemption fees and the monitoring of frequent trading for accounts held by intermediaries.
Account Service Fee
Vanguard may charge a $20 account service fee on fund accounts that have a balance below $10,000 for any reason, including market fluctuation. The account service fee may be applied to both retirement and nonretirement fund accounts and may be assessed on fund accounts in all Vanguard funds, regardless of the account minimum. The fee, which will be collected by redeeming fund shares in the amount of $20, will be deducted from fund accounts subject to the fee once per calendar year.
If you elect to receive your statements and other materials electronically (i.e., by e-delivery), the account service fee will not be charged, so long as your election remains in effect. You can make your e-delivery election on vanguard.com.
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Beginning on January 1, 2021, you may elect to receive paper copies of shareholder reports free of charge as noted on the cover of this prospectus.
Certain account types have alternative fee structures, including SIMPLE IRAs, Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Low-Balance Accounts
The Fund reserves the right to liquidate a fund account whose balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. This liquidation policy applies to nonretirement fund accounts and accounts that are held through intermediaries. Any such liquidation will be preceded by written notice to the investor.
Right to Change Policies
In addition to the rights expressly stated elsewhere in this prospectus, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to (1) alter, add, or discontinue any conditions of purchase (including eligibility requirements), redemption, exchange, service, or privilege at any time and (2) alter, impose, discontinue, or waive any purchase fee, redemption fee, account service fee, or other fee charged to a shareholder or a group of shareholders. Changes may affect any or all investors. These actions will be taken when, at the sole discretion of Vanguard management, Vanguard believes they are in the best interest of a fund.
Account Restrictions
Vanguard reserves the right to: (1) redeem all or a portion of a fund/account to meet a legal obligation, including tax withholding, tax lien, garnishment order, or other obligation imposed on your account by a court or government agency; (2) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options in the case of threatening conduct or activity; (3) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options if Vanguard believes or suspects that not doing so could result in a suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal transaction; (4) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if it is required to do so by a court or government agency; (5) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if Vanguard believes that doing so will prevent fraud, financial exploitation or abuse, or to protect vulnerable investors; (6) freeze any account and/or suspend account services if Vanguard has received reasonable notice of a dispute regarding the assets in an account, including notice of a dispute between the registered or beneficial account owners; and (7) freeze any account and/or suspend account services upon initial notification to Vanguard of the death of an account owner.
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Fund and Account Updates
Confirmation Statements
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) a confirmation of your trade date and the amount of your transaction when you buy, sell, or exchange shares. However, we will not send confirmations reflecting only checkwriting redemptions or the reinvestment of dividend or capital gains distributions. For any month in which you had a checkwriting redemption, a Checkwriting Activity Statement will be sent to you itemizing the checkwriting redemptions for that month. Promptly review each confirmation statement that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on a confirmation statement, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Portfolio Summaries
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) quarterly portfolio summaries to help you keep track of your accounts throughout the year. Each summary shows the market value of your account at the close of the statement period, as well as all distributions, purchases, redemptions, exchanges, and transfers for the current calendar quarter (or month). Promptly review each summary that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on the summary, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Tax Information Statements
For most accounts, Vanguard (or your intermediary) is required to provide annual tax forms to assist you in preparing your income tax returns. These forms are generally available for each calendar year early in the following year. Registered users of vanguard.com can also view certain forms through our website. Vanguard (or your intermediary) may also provide you with additional tax-related documentation. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
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Annual and Semiannual Reports
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) reports about Vanguard Selected Value Fund twice a year, in June and December. These reports include overviews of the financial markets and provide the following specific Fund information:
• Performance assessments and comparisons with industry benchmarks.
• Reports from the advisors.
• Financial statements with listings of Fund holdings.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Employer-Sponsored Plans
Your plan administrator or your employee benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how to participate in your plan and how to elect the Fund as an investment option.
• If you have any questions about the Fund or Vanguard, including those about the Fund’s investment objective, strategies, or risks, contact Vanguard Participant Services toll-free at 800-523-1188 or visit our website at vanguard.com.
• If you have questions about your account, contact your plan administrator or the organization that provides recordkeeping services for your plan.
• Be sure to carefully read each topic that pertains to your transactions with Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right to change its policies without notice to shareholders.
Transactions
Processing times for your transaction requests may differ among recordkeepers or among transaction and funding types. Your plan’s recordkeeper (which may also be Vanguard) will determine the necessary processing time frames for your transaction requests prior to submission to the Fund. Consult your recordkeeper or plan administrator for more information.
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If Vanguard is serving as your plan recordkeeper and if your transaction involves one or more investments with an early cut-off time for processing or another trading restriction, your entire transaction will be subject to the restriction when the trade date for your transaction is determined.
Contacting Vanguard  
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For account information
For most account transactions
Participant Services 800-523-1188
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For information and services for participants in
employer-sponsored plans
Institutional Division
888-809-8102
For information and services for large institutional
investors
Financial Advisor and Intermediary
Sales Support 800-997-2798
For information and services for financial intermediaries
including financial advisors, broker-dealers, trust
institutions, and insurance companies
Financial Advisory and Intermediary
Trading Support 800-669-0498
For account information and trading support for
financial intermediaries including financial advisors,
broker-dealers, trust institutions, and insurance
companies
Additional Information  
 
Inception Date
Newspaper
Abbreviation
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
Selected Value Fund
2/15/1996
SelValu
934
921946109
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers
40
Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
41
Glossary of Investment Terms
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Cash Equivalent Investments. Cash deposits, short-term bank deposits, and money market instruments that include U.S. Treasury bills and notes, bank certificates of deposit (CDs), repurchase agreements, commercial paper, and banker’s acceptances.
Common Stock. A security representing ownership rights in a corporation.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Float Adjusted Index. An index that represents the entire U.S. stock market and tracks more than 5,000 stocks, excluding shares of securities not available for public trading.
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Median Market Capitalization. An indicator of the size of companies in which a fund invests; the midpoint of market capitalization (market price x shares outstanding) of a fund's stocks, weighted by the proportion of the fund's assets invested in each stock. Stocks representing half of the fund's assets have market capitalizations above the median, and the rest are below it.
42
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Price/Earnings (P/E) Ratio. The current share price of a stock, divided by its per-share earnings (profits). A stock selling for $20, with earnings of $2 per share, has a price/earnings ratio of 10.
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Russell Midcap Value Index. Measures the performance of those Russell Midcap Index companies with lower price/book ratios and lower predicted growth rates.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a mutual fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
 
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Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard Selected Value Fund, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about the Fund or other Vanguard funds, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
If you are an individual investor:
Telephone: 800-662-7447; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a participant in an employer-sponsored plan:
Telephone: 800-523-1188; Text telephone for people
with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a current Vanguard shareholder and would like information about your account, account transactions, and/or account statements, please call:
Client Services Department
Telephone: 800-662-2739; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 934 022021
 
Vanguard International Explorer™ Fund
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Investor Shares
Vanguard International Explorer Fund Investor Shares (VINEX)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
Fund Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
None
Purchase Fee
None
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
Redemption Fee
None
Account Service Fee Per Year
(for certain fund account balances below $10,000)
$20
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.36%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.03%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.39%
1
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund's shares. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$40
$125
$219
$493
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 71% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund invests primarily in the equity securities of small-capitalization companies located in numerous countries outside the United States that an advisor believes offer the potential for capital appreciation. In doing so, each advisor considers, among other things, whether the company has the potential for above-average earnings growth, whether the company’s securities are attractively valued, and whether the company has a sustainable competitive advantage. The Fund uses multiple investment advisors. Each advisor independently selects and maintains a portfolio of common stocks for the Fund.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance:
•  Stock market risk , which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund’s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S.
2
stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions.
•  Investment style risk , which is the chance that returns from non-U.S. small-capitalization growth stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Historically, non-U.S. small-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than the large-cap stocks that dominate the global markets, and they often perform quite differently. The stock prices of small companies tend to experience greater volatility because, among other things, these companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic conditions.
•  Country/regional risk , which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, including emerging markets, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/ regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Currency risk , which is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Manager risk , which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the Fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective. In addition, significant investment in the industrial sector subjects the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of this sector.
An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the Fund compare with those of the Fund's target index and another comparative index, which have investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Standard & Poor‘s EPAC SmallCap Index and MSCI ACWI ex USA Index returns are adjusted for withholding taxes. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not
3
indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard International Explorer Fund Investor Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
23.36%
June 30, 2020
Lowest
-28.35%
March 31, 2020
Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Vanguard International Explorer Fund Investor Shares
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
15.08%
8.04%
6.71%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
14.88
7.01
5.61
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
9.22
6.16
5.14
Comparative Indexes
(reflect no deduction for fees or expenses)
 
 
 
Standard & Poor's EPAC SmallCap Index
13.78%
9.16%
7.83%
MSCI ACWI ex USA Index
10.65
8.93
4.92
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on
4
Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisors
Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. (Schroders)

 

Wellington Management Company LLP (Wellington Management)

 

TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC (TimesSquare Capital)

 Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited (Baillie Gifford)
Portfolio Managers
Matthew Dobbs, Head of Global Small Companies for Schroders and Chair of the International Smallcap Investment Committee. He has managed a portion of the Fund since 2000 (co-managed since 2020).

 

Luke Biermann, CFA, Portfolio Manager at Schroders. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2020.

 

Mary Pryshlak, CFA, Senior Managing Director and Head of Investment Research at Wellington Management. She has managed a portion of the Fund since 2020.

 

Magnus S. Larsson, Director and Portfolio Manager at TimesSquare Capital. He has managed a portion of the Fund since 2017.

 

Brian Lum, CFA, Portfolio Manager and Chair of the International Smaller Companies Portfolio Construction Group at Baillie Gifford. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2020.

 

Stephen Vaughan, CFA, Portfolio Manager at Baillie Gifford. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2020.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for Investor Shares is $3,000. The minimum investment amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should
5
contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Investor Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility. If you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisors do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
6
More on the Fund
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any mutual fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to mutual fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All mutual funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are
deducted from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the
net assets of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated
in the Fees and Expenses section, Vanguard International Explorer Fund’s
expense ratio would be 0.39%, or $3.90 per $1,000 of average net assets.
The average expense ratio for international small-cap funds in 2019 was
1.50%, or $15.00 per $1,000 of average net assets (derived from data
provided by Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company, which reports on the
mutual fund industry).
 
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing a mutual fund. That is
because you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of
operating a fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or
sells securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross
income or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small
differences in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a
fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund's board of trustees, which oversees the Fund's management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote,
7
unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund’s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote.
Market Exposure
The Fund invests primarily in the equity securities of small-capitalization companies located outside the United States.
   
The Fund is subject to stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund‘s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions.  
Plain Talk About International Investing
U.S. investors who invest in foreign securities will encounter risks not
typically associated with U.S. companies because foreign stock and bond
markets operate differently from the U.S. markets. For instance, foreign
companies and governments may not be subject to the same or similar
accounting, auditing, legal, tax, and financial reporting standards and
practices as U.S. companies and the U.S. government, and their stocks and
bonds may not be as liquid as those of similar U.S. entities. In addition,
foreign stock exchanges, brokers, companies, bond markets, and dealers
may be subject to less government supervision and regulation than their
counterparts in the United States. These factors, among others, could
negatively affect the returns U.S. investors receive from foreign investments.
   
The Fund is subject to country/regional risk and currency risk. Country/regional risk is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, including emerging markets, the Fund‘s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Currency risk is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Country/regional risk and currency risk are especially high in emerging markets.
8
The Fund generally emphasizes developed markets in Europe and the Pacific, but may invest in companies located in emerging markets. Stocks of emerging market countries can be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than those of both U.S. and more developed foreign markets.
   
The Fund is subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from non-U.S. small-capitalization growth stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Historically, non-U.S. small-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than the large-cap stocks that dominate the global markets, and they often perform quite differently. The stock prices of small companies tend to experience greater volatility because, among other things, these companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic conditions.
Stocks of publicly traded companies are often classified according to market capitalization, which is the market value of a company’s outstanding shares. These classifications typically include small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap. It is important to understand that there are no “official” definitions of small-, mid-, and large-cap, even among Vanguard fund advisors, and that market capitalization ranges can change over time. The asset-weighted median market capitalization of the Fund’s stock holdings as of October 31, 2020, was $3 billion.

 

The Fund invests in companies that are smaller and generally less well known than larger, more widely held companies. Small companies tend to be more vulnerable to adverse developments than larger companies. Small companies may have limited product lines, markets, or financial resources, or they may depend on a limited management group. Their securities may trade infrequently and in limited volumes. As a result, the prices of these securities may fluctuate more than the prices of securities of larger, more widely traded companies. Also, there may be less publicly available information about small companies or less market interest in their securities as compared with larger companies, and it may take longer for the prices of these securities to reflect the full value of their issuers’ earnings potential or assets.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
Security Selection
The Fund uses multiple investment advisors. Each advisor independently selects and maintains a portfolio of common stocks for the Fund.

 

Each advisor employs active investment management methods, which means
9
that securities are bought and sold according to the advisor’s evaluations of companies and their financial prospects, the prices of the securities, and the stock market and economy in general. Each advisor will sell a security when it is no longer as attractive as an alternative investment or if the advisor deems it to be in the best interest of the Fund. Different advisors may reach different conclusions on the same security.

 

Schroders employs a fundamental investment approach that considers macroeconomic factors while focusing primarily on company-specific factors. These company-specific factors include the company’s potential for long-term growth, financial condition, quality of management, and sensitivity to cyclical factors, as well as the relative value of the company’s securities (compared with those of other companies and the market as a whole).

 

Schroders invests the Fund’s assets in non-U.S. small-cap companies that it believes offer the potential for capital appreciation. In doing so, Schroders considers, among other things, whether the company is likely to have above-average earnings growth, whether its securities are attractively valued, and whether the company has any proprietary advantages. Schroders generally sells a security when its market price approaches Schroders’ estimate of fair value or when Schroders identifies a significantly more attractive investment candidate.

 

Wellington Management allocates assets to a team of Wellington Management investment professionals who are primarily Global Industry Analysts (GIAs). The relative size of each analyst’s sub-portfolio of assets is roughly proportionate to the relative weight of the analyst’s coverage universe in the MSCI EAFE Small Cap Index.

 

Wellington Management employs a bottom-up approach that seeks to add value through in-depth fundamental research and understanding of its industries. Wellington Management believes that the experience of covering the same companies over a period of many years provides the GIAs with in-depth knowledge of their coverage, which in turn leads to better and more timely decisions and increases their potential to produce superior results. The strategy combines a blend of investment disciplines, which diversifies investment style risk, as individual analysts have developed valuation methodologies that have proved most relevant to their particular industries. The country weights are determined by the stock selection process.

 

TimesSquare Capital employs a bottom-up investment process driven by fundamental equity growth research conducted by its investment analysts, with
10
a particular emphasis on the assessment of management quality, an in-depth understanding of business models, and valuation discrepancies.

 

TimesSquare Capital invests the Fund’s assets in a diversified portfolio of common stocks that it believes, based on its research, will generate risk-adjusted returns. TimesSquare Capital’s research process begins with a collaborative team of skilled and experienced analysts, who identify growth businesses with market capitalizations less than $5 billion at the time of purchase. Once a company is identified, rigorous fundamental analysis is performed, projected growth rate and return potential is calculated, and the company’s valuation is assessed on a relative and absolute basis. A company’s relative value is compared to industry peers, as well as firms with similar business models and at a similar point on the value chain. TimesSquare Capital’s sell decisions are based on the same research process, and securities are generally sold when, among other things, there is no longer high conviction in the return potential of the investment, or when TimesSquare Capital identifies a significantly more attractive investment candidate.

 

Baillie Gifford follows an investment approach based on making long-term investments in well-researched and well-managed businesses with above-average growth potential. Baillie Gifford analyzes a company’s ability to grow at an above-average rate by considering the industry in which it operates, any sustainable competitive advantages the company has within that industry, the ability of management to execute on the market opportunity before them, and whether the company can fund growth with internally generated cash flows. Baillie Gifford also considers the valuation of the company to understand the extent to which the market has already appreciated these factors. Historically, Baillie Gifford has been willing to pay a premium for companies it believes can deliver superior growth.
   
The Fund is subject to manager risk, which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the Fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective. In addition, significant investment in the industrial sector subjects the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of this sector.  
11
Plain Talk About Growth Funds and Value Funds
Growth investing and value investing are two styles employed by stock-fund
managers. Growth funds generally invest in stocks of companies believed to
have above-average potential for growth in revenue, earnings, cash flow, or
other similar criteria. These stocks typically have low dividend yields, if any,
and above-average prices in relation to measures such as earnings and book
value. Value funds typically invest in stocks whose prices are below average
in relation to those measures; these stocks often have above-average
dividend yields. Value stocks also may remain undervalued by the market for
long periods of time. Growth and value stocks have historically produced
similar long-term returns, though each category has periods when it
outperforms the other.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
In addition to investing in non-U.S. small-cap growth stocks, the Fund may make other kinds of investments to achieve its investment objective.
The Fund may invest in preferred stocks and closed-end investment companies that invest primarily in foreign securities. When investing in preferred stocks, holders generally receive set dividends from the issuer; their claim on the issuer’s income and assets ranks before that of common-stock holders, but after that of bondholders. The Fund may also invest in convertible securities and warrants. Convertible securities are corporate debt securities that may be converted at either a stated price or a stated rate into underlying shares of common stock. Warrants are securities that permit their owners to purchase a specific number of stock shares at a predetermined price in the future.

 

The Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. Investments in derivatives may subject the Fund to risks different from, and possibly greater than, those of investments directly in the underlying securities or assets. The Fund will not use derivatives for speculation or for the purpose of leveraging (magnifying) investment returns.
The Fund may enter into foreign currency exchange forward contracts, which are a type of derivative. A foreign currency exchange forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell a currency at a specific price on a specific date, usually 30, 60, or 90 days in the future. In other words, the contract guarantees an exchange rate on a given date. Advisors of funds that invest in foreign securities
12
can use these contracts to guard against unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. These contracts, however, would not prevent the Fund’s securities from falling in value as a result of risks other than unfavorable currency exchange movements.  
Plain Talk About Derivatives
Derivatives can take many forms. Some forms of derivatives—such as
exchange-traded futures and options on securities, commodities, or
indexes—have been trading on regulated exchanges for decades. These
types of derivatives are standardized contracts that can easily be bought and
sold and whose market values are determined and published daily. On the
other hand, non-exchange-traded derivatives—such as certain swap
agreements and foreign currency exchange forward contracts—tend to be
more specialized or complex and may be more difficult to accurately value.
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard) administers a small portion of the Fund's assets to facilitate cash flows to and from the Fund's advisors. The Fund may invest these assets in equity futures, which are a type of derivative, and/or shares of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including ETF Shares issued by Vanguard stock funds. These equity futures and ETFs typically provide returns similar to those of common stocks. The Fund may also purchase futures or ETFs when doing so will reduce the Fund's transaction costs or have the potential to add value because the instruments are favorably priced. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in ETF Shares of other Vanguard funds. Fund assets invested in ETF Shares are excluded when allocating to the Fund its share of the costs of Vanguard operations.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Under normal circumstances, the Fund typically expects to meet redemptions with positive cash flows. When this is not an option, the Fund seeks to first meet redemptions from a cash or cash equivalent reserve. Alternatively, Vanguard may instruct the advisors to sell a cross section of the Fund’s holdings
13
to meet redemptions, while also factoring in transaction costs. Additionally, the Fund may work with larger clients to implement their redemptions in a manner that is least disruptive to the portfolio; see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section.
Under certain circumstances, including under stressed market conditions, there are additional tools that the Fund may use in order to meet redemptions, including advancing the settlement of market trades with counterparties to match investor redemption payments or delaying settlement of an investor’s transaction to match trade settlement within regulatory requirements. The Fund may also suspend payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven days; see “Emergency circumstances” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section. Additionally under these unusual circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when an advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case if the Fund is transitioning assets from one advisor to another or receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
In addition, the Fund may take temporary defensive positions that are inconsistent with its normal investment policies and strategies—for instance, by allocating substantial assets to cash equivalent investments or other less volatile instruments— in response to adverse or unusual market, economic, political, or other conditions. In doing so, the Fund may succeed in avoiding losses but may otherwise fail to achieve its investment objective.
Frequent Trading or Market-Timing
Background. Some investors try to profit from strategies involving frequent trading of mutual fund shares, such as market-timing. For funds holding foreign securities, investors may try to take advantage of an anticipated difference between the price of the fund’s shares and price movements in overseas markets, a practice also known as time-zone arbitrage. Investors also may try to engage in frequent trading of funds holding investments such as small-cap
14
stocks and high-yield bonds. As money is shifted into and out of a fund by a shareholder engaging in frequent trading, the fund incurs costs for buying and selling securities, resulting in increased brokerage and administrative costs. These costs are borne by all fund shareholders, including the long-term investors who do not generate the costs. In addition, frequent trading may interfere with an advisor’s ability to efficiently manage the fund.
Policies to address frequent trading. The Vanguard funds (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) do not knowingly accommodate frequent trading. The board of trustees of each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) has adopted policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and discourage frequent trading and, in some cases, to compensate the fund for the costs associated with it. These policies and procedures do not apply to ETF Shares because frequent trading in ETF Shares generally does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. Although there is no assurance that Vanguard will be able to detect or prevent frequent trading or market-timing in all circumstances, the following policies have been adopted to address these issues:
• Each Vanguard fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request—including exchanges from other Vanguard funds—without notice and regardless of size. For example, a purchase request could be rejected because the investor has a history of frequent trading or if Vanguard determines that such purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
• Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) generally prohibits, except as otherwise noted in the Investing With Vanguard section, an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account.
• Certain Vanguard funds charge shareholders purchase and/or redemption fees on transactions.
See the Investing With Vanguard section of this prospectus for further details on Vanguard’s transaction policies.
Each Vanguard fund (other than retail and government money market funds), in determining its net asset value, will use fair-value pricing when appropriate, as described in the Share Price section. Fair-value pricing may reduce or eliminate the profitability of certain frequent-trading strategies.
15
Do not invest with Vanguard if you are a market-timer.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
16
Investment Advisors
The Fund uses a multimanager approach. Each advisor independently manages its assigned portion of the Fund’s assets, subject to the supervision and oversight of Vanguard and the Fund’s board of trustees. The board of trustees designates the proportion of Fund assets to be managed by each advisor and may change these proportions at any time.
• Schroder Investment Management North America Inc., 7 Bryant Park,19th Floor, New York, NY 10018-3706, is a registered investment advisor that is part of a worldwide group of financial services companies that are wholly owned by Schroders plc. Schroders currently serves as investment advisor to the Fund, other mutual funds, and a broad range of institutional investors. As of October 31, 2020, Schroders plc, through its affiliates, managed approximately $693 billion in assets. Schroder Investment Management North America Limited (Schroder Limited), 1 London Wall Place, London, EC2Y 5AU, United Kingdom, serves as the sub-advisor for the Schroders portion of the Fund.

The Schroder International Smallcap Investment Committee is responsible for the management of the Fund. The Committee, composed of senior small-cap specialists, determines the country allocation of the Fund. Stock selection is primarily the responsibility of senior regional small-cap portfolio managers.
• Wellington Management Company LLP, 280 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210, a Delaware limited liability partnership, is an investment counseling firm that provides investment services to investment companies, employee benefit plans, endowments, foundations, and other institutions. Wellington Management and its predecessor organizations have provided investment advisory services for over 80 years. Wellington Management is owned by the partners of Wellington Management Group LLP, a Massachusetts limited liability partnership. As of October 31, 2020, Wellington Management and its investment advisory affiliates had investment management authority with respect to approximately $1.2 trillion in client assets.
• TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC, 7 Times Square, 42nd Floor, New York, NY 10036, is a registered investment advisor that specializes in small- and mid-cap growth equities. TimesSquare Capital’s institutional partner, Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (AMG), a publicly traded global asset management company, indirectly holds a majority equity interest in TimesSquare Capital, with the remaining portion owned by TimesSquare Capital principals. As of October 31, 2020, TimesSquare Capital managed approximately $13.7 billion in assets for AMG funds, corporations, public funds, unions, endowments and foundations, retirement plans, and other institutional accounts.
• Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd., Calton Square, 1 Greenside Row, Edinburgh, EH1 3AN, Scotland, is an investment advisory firm founded in 1983. Baillie Gifford
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Overseas Ltd. is wholly owned by Baillie Gifford & Co., a Scottish investment firm. Founded in 1908, Baillie Gifford & Co., one of the largest independently owned investment management firms in the United Kingdom, manages money primarily for institutional clients. Baillie Gifford began managing a portion of the Fund in 2020. As of October 31, 2020, the firm managed approximately $370 billion in assets.
The Fund pays each of its investment advisors a base fee plus or minus a performance adjustment. The base fee, which is paid quarterly, is a percentage of average daily net assets managed by the advisor during the most recent fiscal quarter. The base fee has breakpoints, which means that the percentage declines as assets go up. The performance adjustment, also paid quarterly, is based on the cumulative total return of each advisor’s portion of the Fund relative to that of the S&P/Citigroup Extended Market Europe and Pacific (EM EPAC) for Schroders; S&P EPAC SmallCap Index for TimesSquare Capital and Wellington Management and; MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) ex US Small-Cap Index for Baillie Gifford according to advisory agreements over the preceding 36-month period. When the performance adjustment is positive, the Fund’s expenses increase; when it is negative, expenses decrease.

 

Schroders pays a portion of its advisory fee to Schroder Limited for providing sub-advisory services.

 

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the aggregate advisory fee represented an effective annual rate of 0.25% of the Fund’s average net assets before a performance-based decrease of 0.04%.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
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For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory agreements, see the most recent annual report to shareholders covering the fiscal year ended October 31.
The managers primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund are:
Matthew Dobbs, Head of Global Small Companies for Schroders and Chair of its International Smallcap Investment Committee. He has been with Schroders since 1981 and has managed a portion of the Fund since 2000 (co-managed since 2020). Education: B.A., Worcester College, University of Oxford.

 Luke Biermann, CFA, Portfolio Manager at Schroders. He has worked in investment management since 2006, has managed investment portfolios for Schroders since 2011, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2020. Education: B.Sc., Bath University.

 

Mary L. Pryshlak, CFA, Senior Managing Director and Head of Investment Research at Wellington Management. She has worked in investment management since 1994, has been with Wellington Management since 2004, has managed investment portfolios for Wellington Management since 2007, and has managed a portion of the Fund since 2020. Education: B.A., Rutgers College.

 

Magnus S. Larsson, Director and Portfolio Manager at TimesSquare Capital. He has worked in investment management since 1995, has managed investment portfolios since 2000, has been with TimesSquare Capital since 2012, and has managed a portion of the Fund since 2017. Education: B.S., B.A., University of Orebro, Sweden.

 

Brian Lum, CFA, Portfolio Manager and Chair of the International Smaller Companies Portfolio Construction Group at Baillie Gifford. He has worked in investment management since 2006, has managed investment portfolios since 2009, has been with Baillie Gifford since 2006, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2020. Education: M.Sci. and B.A., University of Cambridge.

 

Stephen Vaughan, CFA, Portfolio Manager at Baillie Gifford. He has worked in investment management since 2012, has managed investment portfolios since 2015, has been with Baillie Gifford since 2012, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2020. Education: B.A., University of Oxford; M.A., University of Exeter.
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The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest and dividends, less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income and capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.
You can receive distributions of income or capital gains in cash, or you can have them automatically reinvested in more shares of the Fund. However, if you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your distributions will be automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares.  
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest and dividends as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of
investments. Income consists of both the dividends that the fund earns from
any stock holdings and the interest it receives from any money market and
bond investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells
securities for higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are
either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the
securities for one year or less or for more than one year.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional Fund shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
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• Any dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income. If you are an individual and meet certain holding-period requirements with respect to your Fund shares, you may be eligible for reduced tax rates on “qualified dividend income,” if any, or a special tax deduction on “qualified REIT dividends,” if any, distributed by the Fund.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned shares in the Fund.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund's normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling or exchanging your Fund shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
• Vanguard (or your intermediary) will send you a statement each year showing the tax status of all of your distributions.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale or exchange of Fund shares.
Dividend distributions and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale or exchange of Fund shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
The Fund may be subject to foreign taxes or foreign tax withholding on dividends, interest, and some capital gains that it receives on foreign securities. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so. You may qualify for an offsetting credit or deduction under U.S. tax laws for any
21
amount designated as your portion of the Fund’s foreign tax obligations, provided that you meet certain requirements. See your tax advisor or IRS publications for more information.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.  
Plain Talk About Buying a Dividend
Unless you are a tax-exempt investor or investing through a tax-advantaged
account (such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings
plan), you should consider avoiding a purchase of fund shares shortly before
the fund makes a distribution, because doing so can cost you money in
taxes. This is known as “buying a dividend.” For example: On December 15,
you invest $5,000, buying 250 shares for $20 each. If the fund pays a
distribution of $1 per share on December 16, its share price will drop to $19
(not counting market change). You still have only $5,000 (250 shares x $19 =
$4,750 in share value, plus 250 shares x $1 = $250 in distributions), but you
owe tax on the $250 distribution you received—even if you reinvest it in
more shares. To avoid buying a dividend, check a fund’s distribution schedule
before you invest.
General Information
Backup withholding. By law, Vanguard must withhold 24% of any taxable distributions or redemptions from your account if you do not:
• Provide your correct taxpayer identification number.
• Certify that the taxpayer identification number is correct.
• Confirm that you are not subject to backup withholding.
Similarly, Vanguard (or your intermediary) must withhold taxes from your account if the IRS instructs us to do so.
Foreign investors. Vanguard funds offered for sale in the United States (Vanguard U.S. funds), including the Fund offered in this prospectus, are not widely available outside the United States. Non-U.S. investors should be aware that U.S. withholding and estate taxes and certain U.S. tax reporting requirements may apply to any investments in Vanguard U.S. funds. Foreign investors should visit the non-U.S. investors page on our website at vanguard.com for information on Vanguard’s non-U.S. products.
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Invalid addresses. If a dividend distribution or capital gains distribution check mailed to your address of record is returned as undeliverable, Vanguard will automatically reinvest the distribution and all future distributions until you provide us with a valid mailing address. Reinvestments will receive the net asset value calculated on the date of the reinvestment.
Share Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The NAV per share is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, of the Fund by the number of Fund shares outstanding. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Stocks held by a Vanguard fund are valued at their market value when reliable market quotations are readily available from the principal exchange or market on which they are traded. Such securities are generally valued at their official closing price, the last reported sales price, or if there were no sales that day, the mean between the closing bid and asking prices. When a fund determines that market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund's pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign
23
exchanges that close many hours before the fund's pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, merger announcement) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities.
Fair-value pricing may be used for domestic securities—for example, if (1) trading in a security is halted and does not resume before the fund's pricing time or a security does not trade in the course of a day and (2) the fund holds enough of the security that its price could affect the NAV.
Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard fund share prices are published daily on our website at vanguard.com/prices.
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Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
Vanguard International Explorer Fund Investor Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$17.22
$17.86
$21.87
$16.82
$17.76
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income
0.2111
0.3791
0.3691
0.3331
0.318
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments
(0.081)
0.300
(3.032)
5.035
(0.334)
Total from Investment Operations
0.130
0.679
(2.663)
5.368
(0.016)
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(0.450)
(0.289)
(0.447)
(0.318)
(0.263)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
—
(1.030)
(0.900)
—
(0.661)
Total Distributions
(0.450)
(1.319)
(1.347)
(0.318)
(0.924)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$16.90
$17.22
$17.86
$21.87
$16.82
Total Return2
0.62%
4.85%
–13.08%
32.58%
–0.06%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$2,329
$3,163
$3,649
$3,980
$2,829
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets3
0.39%
0.39%
0.39%
0.38%
0.41%
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net
Assets
1.29%
2.28%
1.75%
1.68%
1.83%
Portfolio Turnover Rate
71%
35%
40%
43%
37%
1
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
2
Total returns do not include account service fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
3
Includes performance-based investment advisory fee increases (decreases) of (0.04%), (0.03%), (0.01%), (0.01%), and 0.00%.
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Investing With Vanguard
This section of the prospectus explains the basics of doing business with Vanguard. Vanguard fund shares can be held directly with Vanguard or indirectly through an intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. If you hold Vanguard fund shares directly with Vanguard, you should carefully read each topic within this section that pertains to your relationship with Vanguard. If you hold Vanguard fund shares indirectly through an intermediary (including shares held in a brokerage account through Vanguard Brokerage Services®), please see Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms, and also refer to your account agreement with the intermediary for information about transacting in that account. If you hold Vanguard fund shares through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, please see Employer-Sponsored Plans. Vanguard reserves the right to change the following policies without notice. Please call or check online for current information. See Contacting Vanguard.
For Vanguard fund shares held directly with Vanguard, each fund you hold in an account is a separate “fund account.” For example, if you hold three funds in a nonretirement account titled in your own name, two funds in a nonretirement account titled jointly with your spouse, and one fund in an individual retirement account, you have six fund accounts—and this is true even if you hold the same fund in multiple accounts. Note that each reference to “you” in this prospectus applies to any one or more registered account owners or persons authorized to transact on your account.
Purchasing Shares
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to increase or decrease the minimum amount required to open or maintain a fund account or to add to an existing fund account.
Investment minimums may differ for certain categories of investors.
Account Minimums
To open and maintain an account. $3,000. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Investor Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility.
To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
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How to Initiate a Purchase Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your purchase request.
Online. You may open certain types of accounts, request a purchase of shares, and request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to begin the account registration process or request that the account-opening forms be sent to you. You may also call Vanguard to request a purchase of shares in your account or to request an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send Vanguard your account registration form and check to open a new fund account. To add to an existing fund account, you may send your check with an Invest-by-Mail form (from a transaction confirmation or your account statement) or with a deposit slip (available online).
How to Pay for a Purchase
By electronic bank transfer. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund through an electronic transfer of money from a bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate the bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can purchase shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Investment Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your purchase request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. Wiring instructions vary for different types of purchases. Please call Vanguard for instructions and policies on purchasing shares by wire. See Contacting Vanguard.
By check. You may make initial or additional purchases to your fund account by sending a check with a deposit slip or by utilizing our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access. Also see How to Initiate a Purchase Request. Make your check payable to Vanguard and include the appropriate fund number (Vanguard—126).
By exchange. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund using the proceeds from the simultaneous redemption of shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail with an exchange form. See Exchanging Shares.
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Trade Date
The trade date for any purchase request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request, the manner in which you are paying, and the type of fund you are purchasing. Your purchase will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For purchases by check into all funds other than money market funds and for purchases by exchange, wire, or electronic bank transfer into all funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the same day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day.
For purchases by check into money market funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the second business day following the day Vanguard receives the purchase request. Because money market instruments must be purchased with federal funds and it takes a money market mutual fund one business day to convert check proceeds into federal funds, the trade date for the purchase will be one business day later than for other funds.
If your purchase request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
For further information about purchase transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Purchase Rules You Should Know
Check purchases. All purchase checks must be written in U.S. dollars, be drawn on a U.S. bank, and be accompanied by good order instructions. Vanguard does not accept cash, traveler’s checks, starter checks, or money orders. In addition, Vanguard may refuse checks that are not made payable to Vanguard.
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New accounts. We are required by law to obtain from you certain personal information that we will use to verify your identity. If you do not provide the information, we may not be able to open your account. If we are unable to verify your identity, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to close your account or take such other steps as we deem reasonable. Certain types of accounts may require additional documentation.
Refused or rejected purchase requests. Vanguard reserves the right to stop selling fund shares or to reject any purchase request at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, purchases requested by exchange from another Vanguard fund. This also includes the right to reject any purchase request because the investor has a history of frequent trading or because the purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
Large purchases. Call Vanguard before attempting to invest a large dollar amount.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any purchase request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a purchase request.
Redeeming Shares
How to Initiate a Redemption Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your redemption request.
Online. You may request a redemption of shares or request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to request a redemption of shares or an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send a form (available online) to Vanguard to redeem from a fund account or to make an exchange.
How to Receive Redemption Proceeds
By electronic bank transfer. You may have the proceeds of a fund redemption sent directly to a designated bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can redeem shares by
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electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Withdrawal Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your redemption request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. To receive your proceeds by wire, you may instruct Vanguard to wire your redemption proceeds ($100 minimum) to a previously designated bank account. To establish the wire redemption service, you generally must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form.
Please note that Vanguard charges a $10 wire fee for outgoing wire redemptions. The fee is assessed in addition to, rather than being withheld from, redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the fund in which you invest. For example, if you redeem $100 via a wire, you will receive the full $100, and the $10 fee will be assessed to your fund account through an additional redemption of fund shares. If you redeem your entire fund account, your redemption proceeds will be reduced by the amount of the fee. The wire fee does not apply to accounts held by Flagship and Flagship Select clients; accounts held through intermediaries, including Vanguard Brokerage Services; or accounts held by institutional clients.
By exchange. You may have the proceeds of a Vanguard fund redemption invested directly in shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Exchanging Shares.
By check. If you have not chosen another redemption method, Vanguard will mail you a redemption check, generally payable to all registered account owners, normally within two business days of your trade date, and generally to the address of record.
Trade Date
The trade date for any redemption request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request and the manner in which you are redeeming. Your redemption will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
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For redemptions by check, exchange, or wire: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from money market funds: For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day before 10:45 a.m., Eastern time (2 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund; 12:30 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business the same day. For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day after those cut-off times, or on a nonbusiness day, and for all requests other than by telephone, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from all other funds: For requests received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day. For requests received by Vanguard on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the second business day after Vanguard receives the request.
For redemptions by electronic bank transfer: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
If your redemption request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. If we are unable to send your redemption proceeds by wire or electronic bank transfer because the receiving institution rejects the transfer, Vanguard will make additional efforts to complete your transaction. If Vanguard is still unable to complete the transaction, we may send the proceeds of the redemption to you by check, generally payable to all registered account owners, or use your proceeds to purchase new shares of the fund from which you sold shares for the purpose of the wire or electronic bank transfer transaction. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
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If your redemption request is received in good order, we typically expect that redemption proceeds will be paid by the Fund within one business day of the trade date; however, in certain circumstances, investors may experience a longer settlement period at the time of the transaction. For further information, see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” and “Emergency circumstances.”
For further information about redemption transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Redemption Rules You Should Know
Documentation for certain accounts. Special documentation may be required to redeem from certain types of accounts, such as trust, corporate, nonprofit, or retirement accounts. Please call us before attempting to redeem from these types of accounts.
Potentially disruptive redemptions. Vanguard reserves the right to pay all or part of a redemption in kind—that is, in the form of securities—if we reasonably believe that a cash redemption would negatively affect the fund’s operation or performance or that the shareholder may be engaged in market-timing or frequent trading. Under these circumstances, Vanguard also reserves the right to delay payment of the redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. By calling us before you attempt to redeem a large dollar amount, you may avoid in-kind or delayed payment of your redemption. Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations for information about Vanguard’s policies to limit frequent trading.
Recently purchased shares. Although you can redeem shares at any time, proceeds may not be made available to you until the fund collects payment for your purchase. This may take up to seven calendar days for shares purchased by check or by electronic bank transfer. If you have written a check on a fund in an account with checkwriting privileges, that check may be rejected if your fund account does not have a sufficient available balance.
Address change. If you change your address online or by telephone, there may be up to a 14-day restriction (starting on the business day after your address is changed) on your ability to request check redemptions online and by telephone. You can request a redemption in writing (using a form available online) at any time. Confirmations of address changes are sent to both the old and new addresses.
Payment to a different person or address. At your request, we can make your redemption check payable, or wire your redemption proceeds, to a different person or send it to a different address. However, this generally requires the written consent of all registered account owners and may require additional
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documentation, such as a signature guarantee or a notarized signature. You may obtain a signature guarantee from some commercial or savings banks, credit unions, trust companies, or member firms of a U.S. stock exchange.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any redemption request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a redemption request.
Emergency circumstances. Vanguard funds can postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. In addition, Vanguard funds can suspend redemptions and/or postpone payments of redemption proceeds beyond seven calendar days at times when the NYSE is closed or during emergency circumstances, as determined by the SEC.
Exchanging Shares
An exchange occurs when you use the proceeds from the redemption of shares of one Vanguard fund to simultaneously purchase shares of a different Vanguard fund. You can make exchange requests online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Purchasing Shares and Redeeming Shares.
If the NYSE is open for regular trading (generally until 4 p.m., Eastern time, on a business day) at the time an exchange request is received in good order, the trade date generally will be the same day. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order for additional information on all transaction requests.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any exchange request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing an exchange request.
Call Vanguard before attempting to exchange a large dollar amount. By calling us before you attempt to exchange a large dollar amount, you may avoid delayed or rejected transactions.
Please note that Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise or terminate the exchange privilege, limit the amount of any exchange, or reject an exchange, at any time, for any reason. See Frequent-Trading Limitations for additional restrictions on exchanges.
Frequent-Trading Limitations
Because excessive transactions can disrupt management of a fund and increase the fund’s costs for all shareholders, the board of trustees of each Vanguard fund places certain limits on frequent trading in the funds. Each Vanguard fund (other
33
than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) limits an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account. ETF Shares are not subject to these frequent-trading limits.
For Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, the limitations apply to exchanges made online or by telephone.
These frequent-trading limitations do not apply to the following:
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Transactions through Vanguard’s Automatic Investment Plan, Automatic Exchange Service, Direct Deposit Service, Automatic Withdrawal Plan, Required Minimum Distribution Service, and Vanguard Small Business Online®.
• Discretionary transactions through Vanguard Personal Advisor Services®, Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services®, and Vanguard Digital Advisor™.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans).
• Transfers and reregistrations of shares within the same fund.
• Purchases of shares by asset transfer or direct rollover.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Checkwriting redemptions.
• Section 529 college savings plans.
• Certain approved institutional portfolios and asset allocation programs, as well as trades made by funds or trusts managed by Vanguard or its affiliates that invest in other Vanguard funds. (Please note that shareholders of Vanguard’s funds of funds are subject to the limitations.)
For participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans,* the frequent-trading limitations do not apply to:
• Purchases of shares with participant payroll or employer contributions or loan repayments.
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan.
• Redemptions of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan.
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• Transactions executed through the Vanguard Managed Account Program.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Share or asset transfers or rollovers.
• Reregistrations of shares.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Exchange requests submitted by written request to Vanguard. (Exchange requests submitted by fax, if otherwise permitted, are subject to the limitations.)
* The following Vanguard fund accounts are subject to the frequent-trading limitations: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Accounts Held by Institutions (Other Than Defined Contribution Plans)
Vanguard will systematically monitor for frequent trading in institutional clients’ accounts. If we detect suspicious trading activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include applying to a client’s accounts the 30-day policy previously described, prohibiting a client’s purchases of fund shares, and/or revoking the client’s exchange privilege.
Accounts Held by Intermediaries
When intermediaries establish accounts in Vanguard funds for the benefit of their clients, we cannot always monitor the trading activity of the individual clients. However, we review trading activity at the intermediary (omnibus) level, and if we detect suspicious activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action. If necessary, Vanguard may prohibit additional purchases of fund shares by an intermediary, including for the benefit of certain of the intermediary’s clients. Intermediaries also may monitor their clients’ trading activities with respect to Vanguard funds.
For those Vanguard funds that charge purchase and/or redemption fees, intermediaries will be asked to assess these fees on client accounts and remit these fees to the funds. The application of purchase and redemption fees and frequent-trading limitations may vary among intermediaries. There are no assurances that Vanguard will successfully identify all intermediaries or that intermediaries will properly assess purchase and redemption fees or administer frequent-trading limitations. If you invest with Vanguard through an intermediary, please read that firm’s materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply.
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Other Rules You Should Know
Prospectus and Shareholder Report Mailings
When two or more shareholders have the same last name and address, just one summary prospectus (or prospectus) and/or shareholder report may be sent in an attempt to eliminate the unnecessary expense of duplicate mailings. You may request individual prospectuses and reports by contacting our Client Services Department in writing, by telephone, or online. See Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard.com
Registration. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can review your account holdings; buy, sell, or exchange shares of most Vanguard funds; and perform most other transactions through our website. You must register for this service online.
Electronic delivery. Vanguard can deliver your account statements, transaction confirmations, prospectuses, certain tax forms, and shareholder reports electronically. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can consent to the electronic delivery of these documents by logging on and changing your mailing preferences under “Account Maintenance.” You can revoke your electronic consent at any time through our website, and we will begin to send paper copies of these documents within 30 days of receiving your revocation.
Telephone Transactions
Automatic. When we set up your account, we will automatically enable you to do business with us by telephone, unless you instruct us otherwise in writing.
Tele-Account®. To obtain fund and account information through Vanguard’s automated telephone service, you must first establish a Personal Identification Number (PIN) by calling Tele-Account at 800-662-6273.
Proof of a caller’s authority. We reserve the right to refuse a telephone request if the caller is unable to provide the requested information or if we reasonably believe that the caller is not an individual authorized to act on the account. Before we allow a caller to act on an account, we may request the following information:
• Authorization to act on the account (as the account owner or by legal documentation or other means).
• Account registration and address.
• Fund name and account number, if applicable.
• Other information relating to the caller, the account owner, or the account.
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Good Order
We reserve the right to reject any transaction instructions that are not in “good order.” Good order generally means that your instructions:
• Are provided by the person(s) authorized in accordance with Vanguard’s policies and procedures to access the account and request transactions.
• Include the fund name and account number.
• Include the amount of the transaction (stated in dollars, shares, or percentage).
Written instructions also must generally be provided on a Vanguard form and include:
• Signature(s) and date from the authorized person(s).
• Signature guarantees or notarized signatures, if required for the type of transaction. (Call Vanguard for specific requirements.)
• Any supporting documentation that may be required.
Good order requirements may vary among types of accounts and transactions. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise the requirements for good order.
Future Trade-Date Requests
Vanguard does not accept requests to hold a purchase, redemption, or exchange transaction for a future date. All such requests will receive trade dates as previously described in Purchasing Shares, Redeeming Shares, and Exchanging Shares. Vanguard reserves the right to return future-dated purchase checks.
Accounts With More Than One Owner
If an account has more than one owner or authorized person, Vanguard generally will accept instructions from any one owner or authorized person.
Responsibility for Fraud
You should take precautions to protect yourself from fraud. Keep your account-related information private, and review any account confirmations, statements, or other information that we provide to you as soon as you receive them. Let us know immediately if you discover unauthorized activity or see something on your account that you do not understand or that looks unusual.
37
Vanguard will not be responsible for losses that result from transactions by a person who we reasonably believe is authorized to act on your account.
Uncashed Checks
Please cash your distribution or redemption checks promptly. Vanguard will not pay interest on uncashed checks. Vanguard may be required to transfer assets related to uncashed checks to a state under the state’s abandoned property law.
Dormant Accounts
If your account has no activity in it for a period of time, Vanguard may be required to transfer it to a state under the state’s abandoned property law, subject to potential federal or state withholding taxes.
Unusual Circumstances
If you experience difficulty contacting Vanguard online or by telephone, you can send us your transaction request on a Vanguard form by regular or express mail.
Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms
You may purchase or sell shares of most Vanguard funds through a financial intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. Please consult your financial intermediary to determine which, if any, shares are available through that firm and to learn about other rules that may apply. Your financial intermediary can provide you with account information and any required tax forms. You may be required to pay a commission on purchases of mutual fund shares made through a financial intermediary.
Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of any purchase or redemption fees and the monitoring of frequent trading for accounts held by intermediaries.
Account Service Fee
Vanguard may charge a $20 account service fee on fund accounts that have a balance below $10,000 for any reason, including market fluctuation. The account service fee may be applied to both retirement and nonretirement fund accounts and may be assessed on fund accounts in all Vanguard funds, regardless of the account minimum. The fee, which will be collected by redeeming fund shares in the amount of $20, will be deducted from fund accounts subject to the fee once per calendar year.
If you elect to receive your statements and other materials electronically (i.e., by e-delivery), the account service fee will not be charged, so long as your election remains in effect. You can make your e-delivery election on vanguard.com.
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Beginning on January 1, 2021, you may elect to receive paper copies of shareholder reports free of charge as noted on the cover of this prospectus.
Certain account types have alternative fee structures, including SIMPLE IRAs, Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Low-Balance Accounts
The Fund reserves the right to liquidate a fund account whose balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. This liquidation policy applies to nonretirement fund accounts and accounts that are held through intermediaries. Any such liquidation will be preceded by written notice to the investor.
Right to Change Policies
In addition to the rights expressly stated elsewhere in this prospectus, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to (1) alter, add, or discontinue any conditions of purchase (including eligibility requirements), redemption, exchange, service, or privilege at any time and (2) alter, impose, discontinue, or waive any purchase fee, redemption fee, account service fee, or other fee charged to a shareholder or a group of shareholders. Changes may affect any or all investors. These actions will be taken when, at the sole discretion of Vanguard management, Vanguard believes they are in the best interest of a fund.
Account Restrictions
Vanguard reserves the right to: (1) redeem all or a portion of a fund/account to meet a legal obligation, including tax withholding, tax lien, garnishment order, or other obligation imposed on your account by a court or government agency; (2) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options in the case of threatening conduct or activity; (3) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options if Vanguard believes or suspects that not doing so could result in a suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal transaction; (4) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if it is required to do so by a court or government agency; (5) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if Vanguard believes that doing so will prevent fraud, financial exploitation or abuse, or to protect vulnerable investors; (6) freeze any account and/or suspend account services if Vanguard has received reasonable notice of a dispute regarding the assets in an account, including notice of a dispute between the registered or beneficial account owners; and (7) freeze any account and/or suspend account services upon initial notification to Vanguard of the death of an account owner.
39
Fund and Account Updates
Confirmation Statements
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) a confirmation of your trade date and the amount of your transaction when you buy, sell, or exchange shares. However, we will not send confirmations reflecting only checkwriting redemptions or the reinvestment of dividend or capital gains distributions. For any month in which you had a checkwriting redemption, a Checkwriting Activity Statement will be sent to you itemizing the checkwriting redemptions for that month. Promptly review each confirmation statement that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on a confirmation statement, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Portfolio Summaries
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) quarterly portfolio summaries to help you keep track of your accounts throughout the year. Each summary shows the market value of your account at the close of the statement period, as well as all distributions, purchases, redemptions, exchanges, and transfers for the current calendar quarter (or month). Promptly review each summary that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on the summary, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Tax Information Statements
For most accounts, Vanguard (or your intermediary) is required to provide annual tax forms to assist you in preparing your income tax returns. These forms are generally available for each calendar year early in the following year. Registered users of vanguard.com can also view certain forms through our website. Vanguard (or your intermediary) may also provide you with additional tax-related documentation. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
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Annual and Semiannual Reports
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) reports about Vanguard International Explorer™ Fund twice a year, in June and December. These reports include overviews of the financial markets and provide the following specific Fund information:
• Performance assessments and comparisons with industry benchmarks.
• Reports from the advisors.
• Financial statements with listings of Fund holdings.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Employer-Sponsored Plans
Your plan administrator or your employee benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how to participate in your plan and how to elect the Fund as an investment option.
• If you have any questions about the Fund or Vanguard, including those about the Fund’s investment objective, strategies, or risks, contact Vanguard Participant Services toll-free at 800-523-1188 or visit our website at vanguard.com.
• If you have questions about your account, contact your plan administrator or the organization that provides recordkeeping services for your plan.
• Be sure to carefully read each topic that pertains to your transactions with Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right to change its policies without notice to shareholders.
Transactions
Processing times for your transaction requests may differ among recordkeepers or among transaction and funding types. Your plan’s recordkeeper (which may also be Vanguard) will determine the necessary processing time frames for your transaction requests prior to submission to the Fund. Consult your recordkeeper or plan administrator for more information.
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If Vanguard is serving as your plan recordkeeper and if your transaction involves one or more investments with an early cut-off time for processing or another trading restriction, your entire transaction will be subject to the restriction when the trade date for your transaction is determined.
Contacting Vanguard  
Web
 
Vanguard.com
For the most complete source of Vanguard news
For fund, account, and service information
For most account transactions
For literature requests
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
 
Phone
Vanguard Tele-Account®
800-662-6273
For automated fund and account information
Toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Investor Information 800-662-7447
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For fund and service information
For literature requests
Client Services 800-662-2739
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For account information
For most account transactions
Participant Services 800-523-1188
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For information and services for participants in
employer-sponsored plans
Institutional Division
888-809-8102
For information and services for large institutional
investors
Financial Advisor and Intermediary
Sales Support 800-997-2798
For information and services for financial intermediaries
including financial advisors, broker-dealers, trust
institutions, and insurance companies
Financial Advisory and Intermediary
Trading Support 800-669-0498
For account information and trading support for
financial intermediaries including financial advisors,
broker-dealers, trust institutions, and insurance
companies
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Additional Information  
 
Inception Date
Newspaper
Abbreviation
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
International Explorer Fund
11/4/1996
IntlExplr
126
921946208
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
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Glossary of Investment Terms
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Cash Equivalent Investments. Cash deposits, short-term bank deposits, and money market instruments that include U.S. Treasury bills and notes, bank certificates of deposit (CDs), repurchase agreements, commercial paper, and banker’s acceptances.
Common Stock. A security representing ownership rights in a corporation.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
MSCI ACWI ex USA Index. An index that tracks stock markets in countries included in the MSCI EAFE Index plus Canada and a number of emerging markets, but excluding the United States.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
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Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Standard & Poor’s EPAC SmallCap Index. An index that measures the performance of the smallest companies from the European and Pacific countries represented in the S&P Broad Market Index. The Index represents companies whose assets place them in the bottom 15% of the total market capital of each country.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a mutual fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
   
Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard International Explorer™ Fund, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about the Fund or other Vanguard funds, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
If you are an individual investor:
Telephone: 800-662-7447; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a participant in an employer-sponsored plan:
Telephone: 800-523-1188; Text telephone for people
with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a current Vanguard shareholder and would like information about your account, account transactions, and/or account statements, please call:
Client Services Department
Telephone: 800-662-2739; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 126 022021
 
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Investor Shares
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund Investor Shares (VMGRX)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
Fund Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
None
Purchase Fee
None
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
Redemption Fee
None
Account Service Fee Per Year
(for certain fund account balances below $10,000)
$20
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.33%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.34%
1
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund's shares. This example assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$35
$109
$191
$431
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 74% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in common stocks of mid-size companies. In selecting investments, each advisor invests in those mid-size companies that it believes have the best prospects for future growth. The Fund uses multiple investment advisors. Each advisor independently selects and maintains a portfolio of common stocks for the Fund.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance:
•  Stock market risk , which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.
•  Investment style risk , which is the chance that returns from mid-capitalization growth stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Historically,
2
mid-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than the large-cap stocks that dominate the overall market, and they often perform quite differently. The stock prices of mid-size companies tend to experience greater volatility because, among other things, mid-size companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic conditions.
•  Manager risk , which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the Fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective. In addition, significant investment in the information technology sector subjects the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of this sector.
An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the Fund compare with those of a relevant market index and another comparative index, which have investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
3
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund Investor Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
30.65%
June 30, 2020
Lowest
-20.88%
March 31, 2020
Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund Investor Shares
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
33.41%
15.86%
13.71%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
31.54
14.06
11.79
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
21.13
12.36
10.79
Comparative Indexes
(reflect no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
 
 
 
Russell Midcap Growth Index
35.59%
18.66%
15.04%
Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Float Adjusted Index
20.79
15.36
13.74
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
4
Investment Advisors
Frontier Capital Management Co., LLC (Frontier Capital)

 

Victory Capital Management Inc. (Victory Capital) through its RS Investments franchise

 Wellington Management Company LLP (Wellington Management)
Portfolio Managers
Christopher J. Scarpa, Vice President and Portfolio Manager of Frontier Capital. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2018.

 

Ravi Dabas, Vice President and Portfolio Manager of Frontier Capital. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2019.

 

Stephen J. Bishop, Portfolio Manager and member of RS Investments. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2016.

 

Melissa Chadwick-Dunn, Portfolio Manager and member of RS Investments. She has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2016.

 

Christopher W. Clark, CFA, Portfolio Manager and member of RS Investments. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2016.

 

Paul Leung, CFA, Portfolio Manager and member of RS Investments. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2018.

 

D. Scott Tracy, CFA, Portfolio Manager and Chief Investment Officer of RS Investments. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2016.

 

Timothy N. Manning, Senior Managing Director and Equity Portfolio Manager of Wellington Management. He has managed a portion of the Fund since 2018.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for Investor Shares is $3,000. The minimum investment amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to
5
them regarding Investor Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility. If you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisors do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
6
More on the Fund
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any mutual fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to mutual fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All mutual funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are
deducted from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the
net assets of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated
in the Fees and Expenses section, Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s
expense ratio would be 0.34%, or $3.40 per $1,000 of average net assets.
The average expense ratio for mid-cap growth funds in 2019 was 1.02%, or
$10.20 per $1,000 of average net assets (derived from data provided by
Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company, which reports on the mutual
fund industry).
 
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing a mutual fund. That is
because you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of
operating a fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or
sells securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross
income or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small
differences in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a
fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund's board of trustees, which oversees the Fund's management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the
7
Fund’s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote. The Fund may change its 80% policy only upon 60 days‘ notice to shareholders.
Market Exposure
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in common stocks of mid-size companies. Additionally, in selecting investments, each advisor invests in those mid-size companies that it believes have the best prospects for future growth. However, the Fund has the flexibility to invest the balance of its assets in common stocks with other market capitalizations and in other security types.  
Plain Talk About Growth Funds and Value Funds
Growth investing and value investing are two styles employed by stock-fund
managers. Growth funds generally invest in stocks of companies believed to
have above-average potential for growth in revenue, earnings, cash flow, or
other similar criteria. These stocks typically have low dividend yields, if any,
and above-average prices in relation to measures such as earnings and book
value. Value funds typically invest in stocks whose prices are below average
in relation to those measures; these stocks often have above-average
dividend yields. Value stocks also may remain undervalued by the market for
long periods of time. Growth and value stocks have historically produced
similar long-term returns, though each category has periods when it
outperforms the other.
   
The Fund is subject to stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.
   
The Fund is subject to asset concentration risk, which is the chance that, because the Fund tends to invest a high percentage of assets in its ten largest holdings, the Fund‘s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few stocks.
8
   
The Fund is subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from mid-capitalization growth stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Historically, mid-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than the large-cap stocks that dominate the overall market, and they often perform quite differently. The stock prices of mid-size companies tend to experience greater volatility because, among other things, mid-size companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic conditions.
Stocks of publicly traded companies are often classified according to market capitalization, which is the market value of a company’s outstanding shares. These classifications typically include small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap. It is important to understand that there are no “official” definitions of small-, mid-, and large-cap, even among Vanguard fund advisors, and that market capitalization ranges can change over time. The asset-weighted median market capitalization of the Fund’s stock holdings as of October 31, 2020, was $19.9 billion.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
Security Selection
The Fund uses multiple investment advisors. Each advisor independently selects and maintains a portfolio of common stocks for the Fund.
Each advisor employs active investment management methods, which means that securities are bought and sold according to the advisor’s evaluations of companies and their financial prospects, the prices of the securities, and the stock market and the economy in general. Each advisor will sell a security when, in the view of the advisor, it is no longer as attractive as an alternative investment or if the advisor deems it to be in the best interest of the Fund. Different advisors may reach different conclusions on the same security.
Frontier Capital, employs a fundamental, bottom-up, and research-intensive investment approach to select mid-cap growth stocks. Frontier Capital seeks companies with above-average mid-cap growth prospects and competitive advantages that will allow them to earn superior rates of return on capital over a business cycle. The approach attempts to balance growth prospects with reasonable valuation and is long-term in nature; investment time frames are typically three to five years.
9
RS Growth, a Victory Capital franchise, employs both fundamental analysis and quantitative screening in seeking to identify companies it believes will produce sustainable earnings growth over a multi-year horizon. Investment candidates typically exhibit some or all of the following key criteria: strong organic revenue growth, expanding margins and profitability, innovative products or services, defensible competitive advantages, growing market share, and experienced management teams. Valuation is an integral part of the investment process and purchase decisions are based on RS Growth’s expectation of the potential reward relative to the risk of each security based in part on its proprietary earnings calculations.
Wellington Management uses traditional methods of stock selection—fundamental research and analysis—to identify companies that it believes have above average-growth prospects. Wellington Management believes there is a short-term bias in equity markets that rewards near-term cyclical growth and creates opportunity for long-term growth. The team focuses on sustainable earnings power and develops bottom-up valuations based on return on investment capital forecasts, price-to-sales, and quantitative risk factors. Wellington Management seeks to control risk by emphasizing larger positions in established growth stocks and holding smaller positions in emerging names.
   
The Fund is subject to manager risk, which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the Fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective. In addition, significant investment in the information technology sector subjects the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of this sector.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
In addition to investing in mid-capitalization growth stocks, the Fund may make other kinds of investments to achieve its investment objective.

 

Although the Fund typically does not make significant investments in foreign securities, it reserves the right to invest up to 25% of its assets in foreign securities, which may include depositary receipts. Foreign securities may be traded on U.S. or foreign markets. To the extent that it owns foreign securities, the Fund is subject to country risk and currency risk. Country risk is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries. In addition, the prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S.
10
stocks have, at times, moved in opposite directions. Currency risk is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates.
The Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. Investments in derivatives may subject the Fund to risks different from, and possibly greater than, those of investments directly in the underlying securities or assets. The Fund will not use derivatives for speculation or for the purpose of leveraging (magnifying) investment returns.
The Fund may enter into foreign currency exchange forward contracts, which are a type of derivative. A foreign currency exchange forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell a currency at a specific price on a specific date, usually 30, 60, or 90 days in the future. In other words, the contract guarantees an exchange rate on a given date. Advisors of funds that invest in foreign securities can use these contracts to guard against unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. These contracts, however, would not prevent the Fund‘s securities from falling in value as a result of risks other than unfavorable currency exchange movements.
Vanguard administers a small portion of the Fund's assets to facilitate cash flows to and from the Fund's advisors. The Fund may invest these assets in equity futures, which are a type of derivative, and/or shares of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including ETF Shares issued by Vanguard stock funds. These equity futures and ETFs typically provide returns similar to those of common stocks. The Fund may also purchase futures or ETFs when doing so will reduce the Fund's transaction costs or have the potential to add value because the instruments are favorably priced. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in ETF Shares of other Vanguard funds. Fund assets invested in ETF Shares are excluded when allocating to the Fund its share of the costs of Vanguard operations.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
11
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Under normal circumstances, the Fund typically expects to meet redemptions with positive cash flows. When this is not an option, the Fund seeks to first meet redemptions from a cash or cash equivalent reserve. Alternatively, Vanguard may instruct the advisors to sell a cross section of the Fund’s holdings to meet redemptions, while also factoring in transaction costs. Additionally, the Fund may work with larger clients to implement their redemptions in a manner that is least disruptive to the portfolio; see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section.
Under certain circumstances, including under stressed market conditions, there are additional tools that the Fund may use in order to meet redemptions, including advancing the settlement of market trades with counterparties to match investor redemption payments or delaying settlement of an investor’s transaction to match trade settlement within regulatory requirements. The Fund may also suspend payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven days; see “Emergency circumstances” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section. Additionally under these unusual circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when an advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case if the Fund is transitioning assets from one advisor to another or receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
In addition, the Fund may take temporary defensive positions that are inconsistent with its normal investment policies and strategies—for instance, by allocating substantial assets to cash equivalent investments or other less volatile instruments—in response to adverse or unusual market, economic, political, or other conditions. In doing so, the Fund may succeed in avoiding losses but may otherwise fail to achieve its investment objective.
12
Frequent Trading or Market-Timing
Background. Some investors try to profit from strategies involving frequent trading of mutual fund shares, such as market-timing. For funds holding foreign securities, investors may try to take advantage of an anticipated difference between the price of the fund’s shares and price movements in overseas markets, a practice also known as time-zone arbitrage. Investors also may try to engage in frequent trading of funds holding investments such as small-cap stocks and high-yield bonds. As money is shifted into and out of a fund by a shareholder engaging in frequent trading, the fund incurs costs for buying and selling securities, resulting in increased brokerage and administrative costs. These costs are borne by all fund shareholders, including the long-term investors who do not generate the costs. In addition, frequent trading may interfere with an advisor’s ability to efficiently manage the fund.
Policies to address frequent trading. The Vanguard funds (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) do not knowingly accommodate frequent trading. The board of trustees of each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) has adopted policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and discourage frequent trading and, in some cases, to compensate the fund for the costs associated with it. These policies and procedures do not apply to ETF Shares because frequent trading in ETF Shares generally does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. Although there is no assurance that Vanguard will be able to detect or prevent frequent trading or market-timing in all circumstances, the following policies have been adopted to address these issues:
• Each Vanguard fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request—including exchanges from other Vanguard funds—without notice and regardless of size. For example, a purchase request could be rejected because the investor has a history of frequent trading or if Vanguard determines that such purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
• Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) generally prohibits, except as otherwise noted in the Investing With Vanguard section, an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account.
• Certain Vanguard funds charge shareholders purchase and/or redemption fees on transactions.
13
See the Investing With Vanguard section of this prospectus for further details on Vanguard’s transaction policies.
Each Vanguard fund (other than retail and government money market funds), in determining its net asset value, will use fair-value pricing when appropriate, as described in the Share Price section. Fair-value pricing may reduce or eliminate the profitability of certain frequent-trading strategies.
Do not invest with Vanguard if you are a market-timer.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows the historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
14
Investment Advisors
The Fund uses a multimanager approach. Each advisor independently manages its assigned portion of the Fund’s assets, subject to the supervision and oversight of Vanguard and the Fund’s board of trustees. The board of trustees designates the proportion of Fund assets to be managed by each advisor and may change these proportions at any time.
• Frontier Capital Management Co., LLC, 99 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02110, is an investment management firm founded in 1980. As of October 31, 2020, the firm managed approximately $11.5 billion in assets.
• Victory Capital Management Inc.,15935 La Cantera Parkway, San Antonio, TX 78256, is an investment advisory firm and a wholly owned subsidiary of Victory Capital Holdings, Inc. Victory Capital is a diversified global asset manager comprised of multiple investment teams, referred to as investment franchises, each of which utilizes an independent approach to investing. RS Investments is the franchise responsible for the day-to-day investment management of a portion of the Fund. As of October 31, 2020, Victory Capital and its affiliates managed or advised approximately $131 billion in assets for individual and institutional clients.
• Wellington Management Company LLP, 280 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210, a Delaware limited liability partnership, is an investment counseling firm that provides investment services to investment companies, employee benefit plans, endowments, foundations, and other institutions. Wellington Management and its predecessor organizations have provided investment advisory services for over 80 years. Wellington Management is owned by the partners of Wellington Management Group LLP, a Massachusetts limited liability partnership. As of October 31, 2020, Wellington Management and its investment advisory affiliates had investment management authority with respect to approximately $1.2 trillion in client assets.
The Fund pays each of its investment advisors a base fee plus or minus a performance adjustment. The base fee, which is paid quarterly, is a percentage of average daily net assets managed by the advisor during the most recent fiscal quarter. The base fee has breakpoints, which means that the percentage declines as assets go up. The performance adjustment, also paid quarterly, is based on the cumulative total return of each advisor’s portion of the Fund relative to that of the Russell Midcap Growth Index over the preceding 36-month period. When the performance adjustment is positive, the Fund’s expenses increase; when it is negative, expenses decrease.

 
15


For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the aggregate advisory fee represented an effective annual rate of 0.19% of the Fund’s average net assets before a performance-based decrease of 0.05%.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund’s advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory agreements, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
The managers primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund are:
Christopher J. Scarpa, Vice President and Portfolio Manager of Frontier Capital. He has worked in investment management since 1998, has been with Frontier Capital since 2001, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2018. Education: B.A., Tufts University; M.B.A., Harvard Business School.

 

Ravi Dabas, Vice President and Portfolio Manager of Frontier Capital. He has worked in investment management since joining Frontier Capital in 2007, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2019. Education: B.E., Delhi College of Engineering; M.S., University of Houston; M.B.A., University of Pennsylvania.

 

Stephen J. Bishop, Portfolio Manager of RS Investments. He has worked in investment management since 1992, has been with RS Investments since 1996, has managed investment portfolios since 2007, and has been with Victory Capital and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2016. Education: B.A., University of Notre Dame; M.B.A., Harvard Business School.

 

Melissa Chadwick-Dunn, Portfolio Manager of RS Investments. She has worked
16
in investment management since 1992, has been with RS Investments since 2001, has managed investment portfolios since 2007, and has been with Victory Capital and co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2016. Education: B.A. and M.A., University of Chicago; M.B.A., The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Christopher W. Clark, CFA, Portfolio Manager of RS Investments. He has worked in investment management since 2001, has been with RS Investments since 2007, has managed investment portfolios since 2014, and has been with Victory Capital and co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2016. Education: B.A., University of Virginia.

 

Paul Leung, CFA, Portfolio Manager of RS Investments. He has worked in investment management since 1999, has been with RS lnvestments since 2012, and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2018. Education: B.A., Cornell University.

 

D. Scott Tracy, CFA, Portfolio Manager and Chief Investment Officer of RS Investments. He has worked in investment management since 1997, has been with RS Investments since 2001, has managed investment portfolios since 2007, and has been with Victory Capital and has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2016. Education: B.A., Trinity College; M.B.A., University of California at Berkeley.

 

Timothy M. Manning, Senior Managing Director and Equity Portfolio Manager of Wellington Management. He has worked in investment management since 1996, has been with Wellington Management since 2007, has managed investment portfolios since 2014, and has managed a portion of the Fund since 2018. Education: B.S., Boston University.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest and dividends, less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income and capital
17
gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.
You can receive distributions of income or capital gains in cash, or you can have them automatically reinvested in more shares of the Fund. However, if you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your distributions will be automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares.  
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest and dividends as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of
investments. Income consists of both the dividends that the fund earns from
any stock holdings and the interest it receives from any money market and
bond investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells
securities for higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are
either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the
securities for one year or less or for more than one year.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional Fund shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income. If you are an individual and meet certain holding period requirements with respect to your Fund shares, you may be eligible for reduced tax rates on “qualified dividend income,” if any, or a special tax deduction on “qualified REIT dividends,” if any, distributed by the Fund.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned shares in the Fund.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund's normal investment activities and cash flows.
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• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling or exchanging your Fund shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
• Vanguard (or your intermediary) will send you a statement each year showing the tax status of all of your distributions.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale or exchange of Fund shares.
Dividend distributions and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale or exchange of Fund shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.  
Plain Talk About Buying a Dividend
Unless you are a tax-exempt investor or investing through a tax-advantaged
account (such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings
plan), you should consider avoiding a purchase of fund shares shortly before
the fund makes a distribution, because doing so can cost you money in
taxes. This is known as “buying a dividend.” For example: On December 15,
you invest $5,000, buying 250 shares for $20 each. If the fund pays a
distribution of $1 per share on December 16, its share price will drop to $19
(not counting market change). You still have only $5,000 (250 shares x $19 =
$4,750 in share value, plus 250 shares x $1 = $250 in distributions), but you
owe tax on the $250 distribution you received—even if you reinvest it in
more shares. To avoid buying a dividend, check a fund’s distribution schedule
before you invest.
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General Information
Backup withholding. By law, Vanguard must withhold 24% of any taxable distributions or redemptions from your account if you do not:
• Provide your correct taxpayer identification number.
• Certify that the taxpayer identification number is correct.
• Confirm that you are not subject to backup withholding.
Similarly, Vanguard (or your intermediary) must withhold taxes from your account if the IRS instructs us to do so.
Foreign investors. Vanguard funds offered for sale in the United States (Vanguard U.S. funds), including the Fund offered in this prospectus, are not widely available outside the United States. Non-U.S. investors should be aware that U.S. withholding and estate taxes and certain U.S. tax reporting requirements may apply to any investments in Vanguard U.S. funds. Foreign investors should visit the non-U.S. investors page on our website at vanguard.com for information on Vanguard’s non-U.S. products.
Invalid addresses. If a dividend distribution or capital gains distribution check mailed to your address of record is returned as undeliverable, Vanguard will automatically reinvest the distribution and all future distributions until you provide us with a valid mailing address. Reinvestments will receive the net asset value calculated on the date of the reinvestment.
Share Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The NAV per share is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, of the Fund by the number of Fund shares outstanding. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
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Stocks held by a Vanguard fund are valued at their market value when reliable market quotations are readily available from the principal exchange or market on which they are traded. Such securities are generally valued at their official closing price, the last reported sales price, or if there were no sales that day, the mean between the closing bid and asking prices. When a fund determines that market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund's pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges that close many hours before the fund's pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, merger announcement) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities.
Fair-value pricing may be used for domestic securities—for example, if (1) trading in a security is halted and does not resume before the fund’s pricing time or a security does not trade in the course of a day and (2) the fund holds enough of the security that its price could affect the NAV.
Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard fund share prices are published daily on our website at vanguard.com/prices.
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Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund Investor Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$27.93
$28.08
$26.51
$21.75
$24.88
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income
0.0681
0.0741
0.1141
0.0931
0.1472
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments
4.680
3.027
2.379
4.817
-1.437
Total from Investment Operations
4.748
3.101
2.493
4.910
-1.290
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(0.067)
(0.099)
(0.095)
(0.150)
(0.070)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
(2.721)
(3.152)
(0.828)
—
(1.770)
Total Distributions
(2.788)
(3.251)
(0.923)
(0.150)
(1.840)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$29.89
$27.93
$28.08
$26.51
$21.75
Total Return3
18.33%
13.56%
9.61%
22.69%
–5.49%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$4,414
$4,536
$4,161
$4,240
$3,980
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets4
0.34%
0.36%
0.36%
0.36%
0.36%
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets
0.25%
0.27%
0.40%
0.39%
0.64%2
Portfolio Turnover Rate
74%
111%
75%
118%
91%
1
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
2
Net investment income per share and the ratio of net investment income to average net assets include $0.018 and 0.08%, respectively, resulting from a special dividend from Transdigm Group in October 2016.
3
Total returns do not include account service fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
4
Includes performance-based investment advisory fee increases (decreases) of (0.05%), (0.02%), (0.04%), (0.05%), and (0.04%).
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Investing With Vanguard
This section of the prospectus explains the basics of doing business with Vanguard. Vanguard fund shares can be held directly with Vanguard or indirectly through an intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. If you hold Vanguard fund shares directly with Vanguard, you should carefully read each topic within this section that pertains to your relationship with Vanguard. If you hold Vanguard fund shares indirectly through an intermediary (including shares held in a brokerage account through Vanguard Brokerage Services®), please see Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms, and also refer to your account agreement with the intermediary for information about transacting in that account. If you hold Vanguard fund shares through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, please see Employer-Sponsored Plans. Vanguard reserves the right to change the following policies without notice. Please call or check online for current information. See Contacting Vanguard.
For Vanguard fund shares held directly with Vanguard, each fund you hold in an account is a separate “fund account.” For example, if you hold three funds in a nonretirement account titled in your own name, two funds in a nonretirement account titled jointly with your spouse, and one fund in an individual retirement account, you have six fund accounts—and this is true even if you hold the same fund in multiple accounts. Note that each reference to “you” in this prospectus applies to any one or more registered account owners or persons authorized to transact on your account.
Purchasing Shares
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to increase or decrease the minimum amount required to open or maintain a fund account or to add to an existing fund account.
Investment minimums may differ for certain categories of investors.
Account Minimums
To open and maintain an account. $3,000. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Investor Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for information regarding your eligibility.
To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
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How to Initiate a Purchase Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your purchase request.
Online. You may open certain types of accounts, request a purchase of shares, and request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to begin the account registration process or request that the account-opening forms be sent to you. You may also call Vanguard to request a purchase of shares in your account or to request an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send Vanguard your account registration form and check to open a new fund account. To add to an existing fund account, you may send your check with an Invest-by-Mail form (from a transaction confirmation or your account statement) or with a deposit slip (available online).
How to Pay for a Purchase
By electronic bank transfer. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund through an electronic transfer of money from a bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate the bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can purchase shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Investment Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your purchase request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. Wiring instructions vary for different types of purchases. Please call Vanguard for instructions and policies on purchasing shares by wire. See Contacting Vanguard.
By check. You may make initial or additional purchases to your fund account by sending a check with a deposit slip or by utilizing our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access. Also see How to Initiate a Purchase Request. Make your check payable to Vanguard and include the appropriate fund number (Vanguard—301).
By exchange. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund using the proceeds from the simultaneous redemption of shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail with an exchange form. See Exchanging Shares.
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Trade Date
The trade date for any purchase request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request, the manner in which you are paying, and the type of fund you are purchasing. Your purchase will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For purchases by check into all funds other than money market funds and for purchases by exchange, wire, or electronic bank transfer into all funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the same day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day.
For purchases by check into money market funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the second business day following the day Vanguard receives the purchase request. Because money market instruments must be purchased with federal funds and it takes a money market mutual fund one business day to convert check proceeds into federal funds, the trade date for the purchase will be one business day later than for other funds.
If your purchase request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
For further information about purchase transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Purchase Rules You Should Know
Check purchases. All purchase checks must be written in U.S. dollars, be drawn on a U.S. bank, and be accompanied by good order instructions. Vanguard does not accept cash, traveler’s checks, starter checks, or money orders. In addition, Vanguard may refuse checks that are not made payable to Vanguard.
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New accounts. We are required by law to obtain from you certain personal information that we will use to verify your identity. If you do not provide the information, we may not be able to open your account. If we are unable to verify your identity, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to close your account or take such other steps as we deem reasonable. Certain types of accounts may require additional documentation.
Refused or rejected purchase requests. Vanguard reserves the right to stop selling fund shares or to reject any purchase request at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, purchases requested by exchange from another Vanguard fund. This also includes the right to reject any purchase request because the investor has a history of frequent trading or because the purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
Large purchases. Call Vanguard before attempting to invest a large dollar amount.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any purchase request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a purchase request.
Redeeming Shares
How to Initiate a Redemption Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your redemption request.
Online. You may request a redemption of shares or request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to request a redemption of shares or an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send a form (available online) to Vanguard to redeem from a fund account or to make an exchange.
How to Receive Redemption Proceeds
By electronic bank transfer. You may have the proceeds of a fund redemption sent directly to a designated bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can redeem shares by
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electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Withdrawal Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your redemption request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. To receive your proceeds by wire, you may instruct Vanguard to wire your redemption proceeds ($100 minimum) to a previously designated bank account. To establish the wire redemption service, you generally must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form.
Please note that Vanguard charges a $10 wire fee for outgoing wire redemptions. The fee is assessed in addition to, rather than being withheld from, redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the fund in which you invest. For example, if you redeem $100 via a wire, you will receive the full $100, and the $10 fee will be assessed to your fund account through an additional redemption of fund shares. If you redeem your entire fund account, your redemption proceeds will be reduced by the amount of the fee. The wire fee does not apply to accounts held by Flagship and Flagship Select clients; accounts held through intermediaries, including Vanguard Brokerage Services; or accounts held by institutional clients.
By exchange. You may have the proceeds of a Vanguard fund redemption invested directly in shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Exchanging Shares.
By check. If you have not chosen another redemption method, Vanguard will mail you a redemption check, generally payable to all registered account owners, normally within two business days of your trade date, and generally to the address of record.
Trade Date
The trade date for any redemption request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request and the manner in which you are redeeming. Your redemption will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
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For redemptions by check, exchange, or wire: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from money market funds: For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day before 10:45 a.m., Eastern time (2 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund; 12:30 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business the same day. For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day after those cut-off times, or on a nonbusiness day, and for all requests other than by telephone, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from all other funds: For requests received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day. For requests received by Vanguard on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the second business day after Vanguard receives the request.
For redemptions by electronic bank transfer: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
If your redemption request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. If we are unable to send your redemption proceeds by wire or electronic bank transfer because the receiving institution rejects the transfer, Vanguard will make additional efforts to complete your transaction. If Vanguard is still unable to complete the transaction, we may send the proceeds of the redemption to you by check, generally payable to all registered account owners, or use your proceeds to purchase new shares of the fund from which you sold shares for the purpose of the wire or electronic bank transfer transaction. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
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If your redemption request is received in good order, we typically expect that redemption proceeds will be paid by the Fund within one business day of the trade date; however, in certain circumstances, investors may experience a longer settlement period at the time of the transaction. For further information, see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” and “Emergency circumstances.”
For further information about redemption transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Redemption Rules You Should Know
Documentation for certain accounts. Special documentation may be required to redeem from certain types of accounts, such as trust, corporate, nonprofit, or retirement accounts. Please call us before attempting to redeem from these types of accounts.
Potentially disruptive redemptions. Vanguard reserves the right to pay all or part of a redemption in kind—that is, in the form of securities—if we reasonably believe that a cash redemption would negatively affect the fund’s operation or performance or that the shareholder may be engaged in market-timing or frequent trading. Under these circumstances, Vanguard also reserves the right to delay payment of the redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. By calling us before you attempt to redeem a large dollar amount, you may avoid in-kind or delayed payment of your redemption. Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations for information about Vanguard’s policies to limit frequent trading.
Recently purchased shares. Although you can redeem shares at any time, proceeds may not be made available to you until the fund collects payment for your purchase. This may take up to seven calendar days for shares purchased by check or by electronic bank transfer. If you have written a check on a fund in an account with checkwriting privileges, that check may be rejected if your fund account does not have a sufficient available balance.
Address change. If you change your address online or by telephone, there may be up to a 14-day restriction (starting on the business day after your address is changed) on your ability to request check redemptions online and by telephone. You can request a redemption in writing (using a form available online) at any time. Confirmations of address changes are sent to both the old and new addresses.
Payment to a different person or address. At your request, we can make your redemption check payable, or wire your redemption proceeds, to a different person or send it to a different address. However, this generally requires the written consent of all registered account owners and may require additional
29
documentation, such as a signature guarantee or a notarized signature. You may obtain a signature guarantee from some commercial or savings banks, credit unions, trust companies, or member firms of a U.S. stock exchange.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any redemption request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a redemption request.
Emergency circumstances. Vanguard funds can postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. In addition, Vanguard funds can suspend redemptions and/or postpone payments of redemption proceeds beyond seven calendar days at times when the NYSE is closed or during emergency circumstances, as determined by the SEC.
Exchanging Shares
An exchange occurs when you use the proceeds from the redemption of shares of one Vanguard fund to simultaneously purchase shares of a different Vanguard fund. You can make exchange requests online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Purchasing Shares and Redeeming Shares.
If the NYSE is open for regular trading (generally until 4 p.m., Eastern time, on a business day) at the time an exchange request is received in good order, the trade date generally will be the same day. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order for additional information on all transaction requests.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any exchange request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing an exchange request.
Call Vanguard before attempting to exchange a large dollar amount. By calling us before you attempt to exchange a large dollar amount, you may avoid delayed or rejected transactions.
Please note that Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise or terminate the exchange privilege, limit the amount of any exchange, or reject an exchange, at any time, for any reason. See Frequent-Trading Limitations for additional restrictions on exchanges.
Frequent-Trading Limitations
Because excessive transactions can disrupt management of a fund and increase the fund’s costs for all shareholders, the board of trustees of each Vanguard fund places certain limits on frequent trading in the funds. Each Vanguard fund (other
30
than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) limits an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account. ETF Shares are not subject to these frequent-trading limits.
For Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, the limitations apply to exchanges made online or by telephone.
These frequent-trading limitations do not apply to the following:
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Transactions through Vanguard’s Automatic Investment Plan, Automatic Exchange Service, Direct Deposit Service, Automatic Withdrawal Plan, Required Minimum Distribution Service, and Vanguard Small Business Online®.
• Discretionary transactions through Vanguard Personal Advisor Services®, Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services®, and Vanguard Digital Advisor™.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans).
• Transfers and reregistrations of shares within the same fund.
• Purchases of shares by asset transfer or direct rollover.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Checkwriting redemptions.
• Section 529 college savings plans.
• Certain approved institutional portfolios and asset allocation programs, as well as trades made by funds or trusts managed by Vanguard or its affiliates that invest in other Vanguard funds. (Please note that shareholders of Vanguard’s funds of funds are subject to the limitations.)
For participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans,* the frequent-trading limitations do not apply to:
• Purchases of shares with participant payroll or employer contributions or loan repayments.
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan.
• Redemptions of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan.
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• Transactions executed through the Vanguard Managed Account Program.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Share or asset transfers or rollovers.
• Reregistrations of shares.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Exchange requests submitted by written request to Vanguard. (Exchange requests submitted by fax, if otherwise permitted, are subject to the limitations.)
* The following Vanguard fund accounts are subject to the frequent-trading limitations: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Accounts Held by Institutions (Other Than Defined Contribution Plans)
Vanguard will systematically monitor for frequent trading in institutional clients’ accounts. If we detect suspicious trading activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include applying to a client’s accounts the 30-day policy previously described, prohibiting a client’s purchases of fund shares, and/or revoking the client’s exchange privilege.
Accounts Held by Intermediaries
When intermediaries establish accounts in Vanguard funds for the benefit of their clients, we cannot always monitor the trading activity of the individual clients. However, we review trading activity at the intermediary (omnibus) level, and if we detect suspicious activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action. If necessary, Vanguard may prohibit additional purchases of fund shares by an intermediary, including for the benefit of certain of the intermediary’s clients. Intermediaries also may monitor their clients’ trading activities with respect to Vanguard funds.
For those Vanguard funds that charge purchase and/or redemption fees, intermediaries will be asked to assess these fees on client accounts and remit these fees to the funds. The application of purchase and redemption fees and frequent-trading limitations may vary among intermediaries. There are no assurances that Vanguard will successfully identify all intermediaries or that intermediaries will properly assess purchase and redemption fees or administer frequent-trading limitations. If you invest with Vanguard through an intermediary, please read that firm’s materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply.
32
Other Rules You Should Know
Prospectus and Shareholder Report Mailings
When two or more shareholders have the same last name and address, just one summary prospectus (or prospectus) and/or shareholder report may be sent in an attempt to eliminate the unnecessary expense of duplicate mailings. You may request individual prospectuses and reports by contacting our Client Services Department in writing, by telephone, or online. See Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard.com
Registration. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can review your account holdings; buy, sell, or exchange shares of most Vanguard funds; and perform most other transactions through our website. You must register for this service online.
Electronic delivery. Vanguard can deliver your account statements, transaction confirmations, prospectuses, certain tax forms, and shareholder reports electronically. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can consent to the electronic delivery of these documents by logging on and changing your mailing preferences under “Account Maintenance.” You can revoke your electronic consent at any time through our website, and we will begin to send paper copies of these documents within 30 days of receiving your revocation.
Telephone Transactions
Automatic. When we set up your account, we will automatically enable you to do business with us by telephone, unless you instruct us otherwise in writing.
Tele-Account®. To obtain fund and account information through Vanguard’s automated telephone service, you must first establish a Personal Identification Number (PIN) by calling Tele-Account at 800-662-6273.
Proof of a caller’s authority. We reserve the right to refuse a telephone request if the caller is unable to provide the requested information or if we reasonably believe that the caller is not an individual authorized to act on the account. Before we allow a caller to act on an account, we may request the following information:
• Authorization to act on the account (as the account owner or by legal documentation or other means).
• Account registration and address.
• Fund name and account number, if applicable.
• Other information relating to the caller, the account owner, or the account.
33
Good Order
We reserve the right to reject any transaction instructions that are not in “good order.” Good order generally means that your instructions:
• Are provided by the person(s) authorized in accordance with Vanguard’s policies and procedures to access the account and request transactions.
• Include the fund name and account number.
• Include the amount of the transaction (stated in dollars, shares, or percentage).
Written instructions also must generally be provided on a Vanguard form and include:
• Signature(s) and date from the authorized person(s).
• Signature guarantees or notarized signatures, if required for the type of transaction. (Call Vanguard for specific requirements.)
• Any supporting documentation that may be required.
Good order requirements may vary among types of accounts and transactions. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise the requirements for good order.
Future Trade-Date Requests
Vanguard does not accept requests to hold a purchase, redemption, or exchange transaction for a future date. All such requests will receive trade dates as previously described in Purchasing Shares, Redeeming Shares, and Exchanging Shares. Vanguard reserves the right to return future-dated purchase checks.
Accounts With More Than One Owner
If an account has more than one owner or authorized person, Vanguard generally will accept instructions from any one owner or authorized person.
Responsibility for Fraud
You should take precautions to protect yourself from fraud. Keep your account-related information private, and review any account confirmations, statements, or other information that we provide to you as soon as you receive them. Let us know immediately if you discover unauthorized activity or see something on your account that you do not understand or that looks unusual.
34
Vanguard will not be responsible for losses that result from transactions by a person who we reasonably believe is authorized to act on your account.
Uncashed Checks
Please cash your distribution or redemption checks promptly. Vanguard will not pay interest on uncashed checks. Vanguard may be required to transfer assets related to uncashed checks to a state under the state’s abandoned property law.
Dormant Accounts
If your account has no activity in it for a period of time, Vanguard may be required to transfer it to a state under the state’s abandoned property law, subject to potential federal or state withholding taxes.
Unusual Circumstances
If you experience difficulty contacting Vanguard online or by telephone, you can send us your transaction request on a Vanguard form by regular or express mail.
Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms
You may purchase or sell shares of most Vanguard funds through a financial intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. Please consult your financial intermediary to determine which, if any, shares are available through that firm and to learn about other rules that may apply. Your financial intermediary can provide you with account information and any required tax forms. You may be required to pay a commission on purchases of mutual fund shares made through a financial intermediary.
Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of any purchase or redemption fees and the monitoring of frequent trading for accounts held by intermediaries.
Account Service Fee
Vanguard may charge a $20 account service fee on fund accounts that have a balance below $10,000 for any reason, including market fluctuation. The account service fee may be applied to both retirement and nonretirement fund accounts and may be assessed on fund accounts in all Vanguard funds, regardless of the account minimum. The fee, which will be collected by redeeming fund shares in the amount of $20, will be deducted from fund accounts subject to the fee once per calendar year.
If you elect to receive your statements and other materials electronically (i.e., by e-delivery), the account service fee will not be charged, so long as your election remains in effect. You can make your e-delivery election on vanguard.com.
35
Beginning on January 1, 2021, you may elect to receive paper copies of shareholder reports free of charge as noted on the cover of this prospectus.
Certain account types have alternative fee structures, including SIMPLE IRAs, Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Low-Balance Accounts
The Fund reserves the right to liquidate a fund account whose balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. This liquidation policy applies to nonretirement fund accounts and accounts that are held through intermediaries. Any such liquidation will be preceded by written notice to the investor.
Right to Change Policies
In addition to the rights expressly stated elsewhere in this prospectus, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to (1) alter, add, or discontinue any conditions of purchase (including eligibility requirements), redemption, exchange, service, or privilege at any time and (2) alter, impose, discontinue, or waive any purchase fee, redemption fee, account service fee, or other fee charged to a shareholder or a group of shareholders. Changes may affect any or all investors. These actions will be taken when, at the sole discretion of Vanguard management, Vanguard believes they are in the best interest of a fund.
Account Restrictions
Vanguard reserves the right to: (1) redeem all or a portion of a fund/account to meet a legal obligation, including tax withholding, tax lien, garnishment order, or other obligation imposed on your account by a court or government agency; (2) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options in the case of threatening conduct or activity; (3) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options if Vanguard believes or suspects that not doing so could result in a suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal transaction; (4) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if it is required to do so by a court or government agency; (5) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if Vanguard believes that doing so will prevent fraud, financial exploitation or abuse, or to protect vulnerable investors; (6) freeze any account and/or suspend account services if Vanguard has received reasonable notice of a dispute regarding the assets in an account, including notice of a dispute between the registered or beneficial account owners; and (7) freeze any account and/or suspend account services upon initial notification to Vanguard of the death of an account owner.
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Fund and Account Updates
Confirmation Statements
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) a confirmation of your trade date and the amount of your transaction when you buy, sell, or exchange shares. However, we will not send confirmations reflecting only checkwriting redemptions or the reinvestment of dividend or capital gains distributions. For any month in which you had a checkwriting redemption, a Checkwriting Activity Statement will be sent to you itemizing the checkwriting redemptions for that month. Promptly review each confirmation statement that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on a confirmation statement, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Portfolio Summaries
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) quarterly portfolio summaries to help you keep track of your accounts throughout the year. Each summary shows the market value of your account at the close of the statement period, as well as all distributions, purchases, redemptions, exchanges, and transfers for the current calendar quarter (or month). Promptly review each summary that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on the summary, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Tax Information Statements
For most accounts, Vanguard (or your intermediary) is required to provide annual tax forms to assist you in preparing your income tax returns. These forms are generally available for each calendar year early in the following year. Registered users of vanguard.com can also view certain forms through our website. Vanguard (or your intermediary) may also provide you with additional tax-related documentation. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
37
Annual and Semiannual Reports
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) reports about Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund twice a year, in June and December. These reports include overviews of the financial markets and provide the following specific Fund information:
• Performance assessments and comparisons with industry benchmarks.
• Reports from the advisors.
• Financial statements with listings of Fund holdings.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Employer-Sponsored Plans
Your plan administrator or your employee benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how to participate in your plan and how to elect the Fund as an investment option.
• If you have any questions about the Fund or Vanguard, including those about the Fund’s investment objective, strategies, or risks, contact Vanguard Participant Services toll-free at 800-523-1188 or visit our website at vanguard.com.
• If you have questions about your account, contact your plan administrator or the organization that provides recordkeeping services for your plan.
• Be sure to carefully read each topic that pertains to your transactions with Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right to change its policies without notice to shareholders.
Transactions
Processing times for your transaction requests may differ among recordkeepers or among transaction and funding types. Your plan’s recordkeeper (which may also be Vanguard) will determine the necessary processing time frames for your transaction requests prior to submission to the Fund. Consult your recordkeeper or plan administrator for more information.
38
If Vanguard is serving as your plan recordkeeper and if your transaction involves one or more investments with an early cut-off time for processing or another trading restriction, your entire transaction will be subject to the restriction when the trade date for your transaction is determined.
39
Contacting Vanguard  
Web
 
Vanguard.com
For the most complete source of Vanguard news
For fund, account, and service information
For most account transactions
For literature requests
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
 
Phone
Vanguard Tele-Account®
800-662-6273
For automated fund and account information
Toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Investor Information 800-662-7447
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For fund and service information
For literature requests
Client Services 800-662-2739
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For account information
For most account transactions
Participant Services 800-523-1188
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For information and services for participants in
employer-sponsored plans
Institutional Division
888-809-8102
For information and services for large institutional
investors
Financial Advisor and Intermediary
Sales Support 800-997-2798
For information and services for financial intermediaries
including financial advisors, broker-dealers, trust
institutions, and insurance companies
Financial Advisory and Intermediary
Trading Support 800-669-0498
For account information and trading support for
financial intermediaries including financial advisors,
broker-dealers, trust institutions, and insurance
companies
Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Newspaper
Abbreviation
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
Mid-Cap Growth Fund
12/31/1997
MidCpGro
301
921946307
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
40
Glossary of Investment Terms
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Cash Equivalent Investments. Cash deposits, short-term bank deposits, and money market instruments that include U.S. Treasury bills and notes, bank certificates of deposit (CDs), repurchase agreements, commercial paper, and banker’s acceptances.
Common Stock. A security representing ownership rights in a corporation.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Float Adjusted Index. An index that represents the entire U.S. stock market and tracks more than 5,000 stocks, excluding shares of securities not available for public trading.
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Median Market Capitalization. An indicator of the size of companies in which a fund invests; the midpoint of market capitalization (market price x shares outstanding) of a fund's stocks, weighted by the proportion of the fund's assets invested in each stock. Stocks representing half of the fund's assets have market capitalizations above the median, and the rest are below it.
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Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Russell Midcap Growth Index. An index that measures the performance of those Russell Midcap Index companies with higher price/book ratios and higher predicted growth rates.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a mutual fund’s net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
 
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Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about the Fund or other Vanguard funds, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
If you are an individual investor:
Telephone: 800-662-7447; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a participant in an employer-sponsored plan:
Telephone: 800-523-1188; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a current Vanguard shareholder and would like information about your account, account transactions, and/or account statements, please call:
Client Services Department
Telephone: 800-662-2739; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 301 022021
 
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Exchange-traded fund shares that are not individually redeemable and are listed on NYSE Arca
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares (VYM)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
ETF Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of common stocks of companies that are characterized by high dividend yield.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell ETF Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Transaction Fee on Purchases and Sales
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Transaction Fee on Reinvested Dividends
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Transaction Fee on Conversion to ETF Shares
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.05%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.06%
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Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s ETF Shares with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund’s shares. This example assumes that the shares provide a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to sell your shares at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$6
$19
$34
$77
This example does not include the brokerage commissions that you may pay to buy and sell ETF Shares of the Fund.
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 11% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index, which consists of common stocks of companies that pay dividends that generally are higher than average. The Fund attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index.
2
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund’s share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund’s performance:
•  Stock market risk , which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund’s target index tracks a subset of the U.S. stock market, which could cause the Fund to perform differently from the overall stock market. In addition, the Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
•  Investment style risk , which is the chance that returns from high-dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Specific types of stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than the stock market in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
Because ETF Shares are traded on an exchange, they are subject to additional risks:
• The Fund’s ETF Shares are listed for trading on NYSE Arca and are bought and sold on the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of an ETF Share typically will approximate its net asset value (NAV), there may be times when the market price and the NAV differ significantly. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy ETF Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares.
• Although the Fund’s ETF Shares are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, it is possible that an active trading market may not be maintained.
• Trading of the Fund’s ETF Shares may be halted by the activation of individual or marketwide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). Trading of the Fund’s ETF Shares may also be halted if (1) the shares are delisted from NYSE Arca without first being listed on another exchange or (2) NYSE Arca officials determine that such action is appropriate in the interest of a fair and orderly market or for the protection of investors.
An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
3
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund's ETF Shares (based on NAV) has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the ETF Shares compare with those of the Fund's target index and another comparative index, which have investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
14.07%
December 31, 2020
Lowest
-23.96%
March 31, 2020
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Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares
 
 
 
Based on NAV
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
1.14%
9.98%
11.50%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
0.30
9.14
10.74
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
1.15
7.79
9.41
Based on Market Price
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
1.21
9.98
11.50
Comparative Indexes
(reflect no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
 
 
 
FTSE High Dividend Yield Index
1.16%
10.03%
11.57%
Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Float Adjusted Index
20.79
15.36
13.74
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Portfolio Managers
Gerard C. O’Reilly, Principal of Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since 2016.
William A. Coleman, CFA, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since 2016.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
ETF Shares may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a brokerage firm. The price you pay or receive for ETF Shares will be the prevailing market price, which may be more (premium) or less (discount) than the NAV of the shares. The brokerage firm may charge you a commission to execute the
5
transaction. Unless imposed by your brokerage firm, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest and no minimum number of shares you must buy. ETF Shares of the Fund cannot be directly purchased from or redeemed with the Fund, except by certain authorized broker-dealers. These broker-dealers may purchase and redeem ETF Shares only in large blocks (Creation Units), typically in exchange for baskets of securities.
 
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (bid-ask spread). Recent information, including information on the Fund's NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.vanguard.com.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisor do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
6
Investing in Vanguard ETF® Shares
What Are Vanguard ETF Shares?
Vanguard ETF Shares are an exchange-traded class of shares issued by certain Vanguard funds. ETF Shares represent an interest in the portfolio of stocks or bonds held by the issuing fund. This prospectus describes Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF, a class of shares issued by Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund. In addition to ETF Shares, the Fund offers one conventional (not exchange-traded) class of shares. This prospectus, however, relates only to ETF Shares.
How Are Vanguard ETF Shares Different From Conventional Mutual Fund Shares?
Conventional mutual fund shares can be directly purchased from and redeemed with the issuing fund for cash at the net asset value (NAV), typically calculated once a day. ETF Shares, by contrast, cannot be purchased directly from or redeemed directly with the issuing fund by an individual investor. Rather, ETF Shares can only be purchased or redeemed directly from the issuing fund by certain authorized broker-dealers. These broker-dealers may purchase and redeem ETF Shares only in large blocks (Creation Units), usually in exchange for baskets of securities and not for cash (although some funds issue and redeem Creation Units in exchange for cash or a combination of cash and securities).
An organized secondary trading market is expected to exist for ETF Shares, unlike conventional mutual fund shares, because ETF Shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange. Individual investors can purchase and sell ETF Shares on the secondary market through a broker. Secondary-market transactions occur not at NAV, but at market prices that are subject to change throughout the day based on the supply of and demand for ETF Shares, changes in the prices of the fund’s portfolio holdings, and other factors.
The market price of a fund's ETF Shares typically will differ somewhat from the NAV of those shares. The difference between market price and NAV is expected to be small most of the time, but in times of market disruption or extreme market volatility, the difference may become significant.
7
How Do I Buy and Sell Vanguard ETF Shares?
ETF Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca. You can buy and sell ETF Shares on the secondary market in the same way you buy and sell any other exchange-traded security—through a broker. Your broker may charge a commission to execute a transaction. You will also incur the cost of the “bid-ask spread,” which is the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market. Because secondary-market transactions occur at market prices, you may pay more (premium) or less (discount) than NAV when you buy ETF Shares and receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. In times of severe market disruption, the bid-ask spread and premiums/discounts can increase significantly. Unless imposed by your broker, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest and no minimum number of ETF Shares you must buy.
Your ownership of ETF Shares will be shown on the records of the broker through which you hold the shares. Vanguard will not have any record of your ownership. Your account information will be maintained by your broker, which will provide you with account statements, confirmations of your purchases and sales of ETF Shares, and tax information. Your broker also will be responsible for ensuring that you receive income and capital gains distributions, as well as shareholder reports and other communications from the fund whose ETF Shares you own. You will receive other services (e.g., dividend reinvestment and average cost information) only if your broker offers these services.
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Investing in Index Funds
What Is Indexing?
Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or “index.” An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets—such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments—such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. One cannot invest directly in an index.
The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index and the weighting of each security in the index. Under normal circumstances, the index sponsor will rebalance an index on a regular schedule. An index sponsor may carry out additional ad hoc index rebalances or delay or cancel a scheduled rebalance. Generally, the index sponsor does not provide any warranty, or accept any liability, with respect to the quality, accuracy, or completeness of either the target index or its related data. Errors made by the index sponsor may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index sponsor for a period of time or at all. Vanguard does not provide any warranty or guarantee against such errors. Therefore, the gains, losses, or costs associated with the index sponsor’s errors will generally be borne by the index fund and its shareholders.
An index fund seeks to hold all, or a representative sample, of the securities that make up its target index. Index funds attempt to mirror the performance of the target index, for better or worse. However, an index fund generally does not perform exactly like its target index. For example, index funds have operating expenses and transaction costs. Market indexes do not, and therefore they will usually have a slight performance advantage over funds that track them. The ability of an index fund to match its performance to that of its target index can also be impacted by, among other things, the timing and size of cash flows and the size of the fund. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could also have an adverse effect on a fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the index.
Index funds typically have the following characteristics:
•  Variety of investments . Depending on a fund’s benchmark index, the fund may invest in the securities of a variety of companies, industries, and/or governments or government agencies.
•  Relative performance consistency . Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
•  Low cost . Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity—and thus brokerage commissions and other transaction costs—to a minimum compared with actively managed funds.
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More on the Fund and ETF Shares
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.
Share Class Overview
This prospectus offers the Fund’s ETF Shares, an exchange-traded class of shares. A separate prospectus offers the Fund’s Admiral Shares.
Both share classes offered by the Fund have the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. However, different share classes have different expenses; as a result, their investment returns will differ.
A Note to Investors
Vanguard ETF Shares can be purchased directly from the issuing Fund only by certain authorized broker-dealers in exchange for a basket of securities (or, in some cases, for cash or a combination of cash and securities). Individual investors generally will not be able to purchase ETF Shares directly from the Fund. Instead, these investors will purchase ETF Shares on the secondary market through a broker.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are deducted
from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the net assets
of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated in the Fees
and Expenses section, Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares’
expense ratio would be 0.06%, or $0.60 per $1,000 of average net assets.
The average expense ratio for equity income funds in 2019 was 1.11%, or
$11.10 per $1,000 of average net assets (derived from data provided by
Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company, which reports on the fund industry).
 
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Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing an ETF. That is because
you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of operating a
fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or sells
securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross income
or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small differences
in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund’s board of trustees, which oversees the Fund's management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund’s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in the stocks that make up its target index. The Fund may change its 80% policy only upon 60 days‘ notice to shareholders.
Market Exposure
The Fund invests mainly in common stocks of companies that are characterized by high dividend yields relative to the overall market’s yield. Stocks purchased by the Fund are expected to pay high dividends and may also have the potential for long-term capital appreciation.
   
The Fund is subject to stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund‘s target index tracks a subset of the U.S. stock market, which could cause the Fund to perform differently from the overall stock market. In addition, the Fund‘s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
Stocks of publicly traded companies are often classified according to market capitalization, which is the market value of a company’s outstanding shares. These classifications typically include small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap. It is important to understand that there are no “official” definitions of small-, mid-, and large-cap, even among Vanguard fund advisors, and that market capitalization ranges can change over time. The asset-weighted median market capitalization of the Fund’s stock holdings as of October 31, 2020, was $116 billion.
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The Fund is subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from high-dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Specific types of stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than the stock market in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
Security Selection
The Fund attempts to track the investment performance of the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index, which consists of companies whose common stocks are characterized by high dividend yields relative to the overall stock market. The FTSE High Dividend Yield Index is maintained by FTSE Group (FTSE), a widely known global index provider.
 
The Fund uses the replication method of indexing. This means that the Fund holds each security found in the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index in approximately the same proportion as represented in the Index itself. For example, if 5% of the Index were made up of the stock of a specific company, the Fund would invest approximately 5% of its assets in that company.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the index it currently tracks if the current index is discontinued, if the Fund's agreement with the sponsor of its target index is terminated, or for any other reason determined in good faith by the Fund’s board of trustees. In any such instance, the substitute index would represent the same market segment as the current index.
The Fund may invest in foreign securities to the extent necessary to carry out its investment strategy of holding all, or substantially all, of the stocks that make up the index it tracks. It is not expected that the Fund will invest more than 5% of its assets in foreign securities.
To track its target index as closely as possible, the Fund attempts to remain fully invested in stocks. To help stay fully invested and to reduce transaction costs, the Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives, including equity futures. The Fund may also use derivatives such as total return swaps to obtain exposure to a stock, a basket of stocks, or an index. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. Investments in derivatives may subject the
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Fund to risks different from, and possibly greater than, those of investments directly in the underlying securities or assets. The Fund will not use derivatives for speculation or for the purpose of leveraging (magnifying) investment returns.
Cash Management
The Fund‘s daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Redemptions of ETF Shares are typically met through a combination of cash and securities held by the Fund; see “How Are Vanguard ETF Shares Different From Conventional Mutual Fund Shares?” If cash is used to meet redemptions, the Fund typically obtains such cash through positive cash flows or the sale of Fund holdings consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and strategy. Please consult the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information for further information on redemptions of ETF Shares.
Under certain circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when the advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case when the Fund receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
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Special Risks of Exchange-Traded Shares
   
ETF Shares are not individually redeemable. They can be redeemed with the issuing Fund at NAV only by certain authorized broker-dealers and only in large blocks known as Creation Units. Consequently, if you want to liquidate some or all of your ETF Shares, you must sell them on the secondary market at prevailing market prices.
   
The market price of ETF Shares may differ from NAV. Although it is expected that the market price of an ETF Share typically will approximate its NAV, there may be times when the market price and the NAV differ significantly. Thus, you may pay more (premium) or less (discount) than NAV when you buy ETF Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. These discounts and premiums are likely to be greatest during times of market disruption or extreme market volatility.
Vanguard’s website at vanguard.com shows the previous day’s closing NAV and closing market price for the Fund’s ETF Shares. The website also discloses, in the Premium/Discount Analysis section of the ETF Shares’ Price & Performance page, how frequently the Fund’s ETF Shares traded at a premium or discount to NAV (based on closing NAVs and market prices) and the magnitudes of such premiums and discounts.
   
An active trading market may not exist. Although Vanguard ETF Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not be maintained. Although this could happen at any time, it is more likely to occur during times of severe market disruption. If you attempt to sell your ETF Shares when an active trading market is not functioning, you may have to sell at a significant discount to NAV. In extreme cases, you may not be able to sell your shares at all.
   
Trading may be halted. Trading of Vanguard ETF Shares on an exchange may be halted by the activation of individual or marketwide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). Trading of ETF Shares may also be halted if (1) the shares are delisted from the listing exchange without first being listed on another exchange or (2) exchange officials determine that such action is appropriate in the interest of a fair and orderly market or for the protection of investors.
Conversion Privilege
Owners of conventional shares issued by the Fund may convert those shares to ETF Shares of equivalent value of the same fund. Please note that investors who own conventional shares through a 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored
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retirement or benefit plan generally may not convert those shares to ETF Shares and should check with their plan sponsor or recordkeeper. ETF Shares, whether acquired through a conversion or purchased on the secondary market, cannot be converted to conventional shares by a shareholder. Also, ETF Shares of one fund cannot be exchanged for ETF Shares of another fund.
You must hold ETF Shares in a brokerage account. Thus, before converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, you must have an existing, or open a new, brokerage account. This account may be with Vanguard Brokerage Services® or with any other brokerage firm. To initiate a conversion of conventional shares to ETF Shares, please contact your broker.
Vanguard Brokerage Services does not impose a fee on conversions from Vanguard conventional shares to Vanguard ETF Shares. However, other brokerage firms may charge a fee to process a conversion. Vanguard reserves the right, in the future, to impose a transaction fee on conversions or to limit, temporarily suspend, or terminate the conversion privilege.
Converting conventional shares to ETF Shares is generally accomplished as follows. First, after your broker notifies Vanguard of your request to convert, Vanguard will transfer your conventional shares from your account to the broker’s omnibus account with Vanguard (an account maintained by the broker on behalf of all its customers who hold conventional Vanguard fund shares through the broker). After the transfer, Vanguard’s records will reflect your broker, not you, as the owner of the shares. Next, your broker will instruct Vanguard to convert the appropriate number or dollar amount of conventional shares in its omnibus account to ETF Shares of equivalent value, based on the respective NAVs of the two share classes.
Your Fund’s transfer agent will reflect ownership of all ETF Shares in the name of the Depository Trust Company (DTC). The DTC will keep track of which ETF Shares belong to your broker, and your broker, in turn, will keep track of which ETF Shares belong to you.
Because the DTC is unable to handle fractional shares, only whole shares can be converted. For example, if you owned 300.25 conventional shares, and this was equivalent in value to 90.75 ETF Shares, the DTC account would receive 90 ETF Shares. Conventional shares with a value equal to 0.75 ETF Shares (in this example, that would be 2.481 conventional shares) would remain in the broker’s omnibus account with Vanguard. Your broker then could either (1) credit your account with 0.75 ETF Shares or (2) redeem the 2.481 conventional shares for cash at NAV and deliver that cash to your account. If your broker chose to redeem your conventional shares, you would realize a gain or loss on the redemption that must be reported on your tax return (unless you hold the shares
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in an IRA or other tax-deferred account). Please consult your broker for information on how it will handle the conversion process, including whether it will impose a fee to process a conversion.
If you convert your conventional shares to ETF Shares through Vanguard Brokerage Services, all conventional shares for which you request conversion will be converted to ETF Shares of equivalent value. Because no fractional shares will have to be sold, the transaction will not be taxable.
Here are some important points to keep in mind when converting conventional shares of a Vanguard fund to ETF Shares:
• The conversion process can take anywhere from several days to several weeks, depending on your broker. Vanguard generally will process conversion requests either on the day they are received or on the next business day. Vanguard imposes conversion blackout windows around the dates when a fund with ETF Shares declares dividends. This is necessary to prevent a shareholder from collecting a dividend from both the conventional share class currently held and also from the ETF share class to which the shares will be converted.
• Until the conversion process is complete, you will remain fully invested in a fund’s conventional shares, and your investment will increase or decrease in value in tandem with the NAV of those shares.
• The conversion transaction is nontaxable except, if applicable, to the very limited extent previously described.
A precautionary note to investment companies: Vanguard ETF Shares are issued by registered investment companies, and therefore the acquisition of such shares by other investment companies is subject to the restrictions of Section 12(d)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Vanguard has obtained an SEC exemptive order that allows registered investment companies to invest in the issuing funds beyond the limits of Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions, including the requirement to enter into a participation agreement with Vanguard.
Frequent Trading and Market-Timing
Unlike frequent trading of a Vanguard fund’s conventional (i.e., not exchange-traded) classes of shares, frequent trading of ETF Shares does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. The vast majority of trading in ETF Shares occurs on the secondary market. Because these trades do not involve the issuing fund, they do not harm the fund or its shareholders. Certain broker-dealers are authorized to purchase and redeem ETF Shares directly with the issuing fund. Because these trades typically are effected in kind (i.e., for securities and not for cash), or are assessed a transaction fee
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when effected in cash, they do not cause any of the harmful effects to the issuing fund (as previously noted) that may result from frequent trading. For these reasons, the board of trustees of each fund that issues ETF Shares has determined that it is not necessary to adopt policies and procedures to detect and deter frequent trading and market-timing of ETF Shares.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. Generally, an index fund sells securities in response to redemption requests from shareholders of conventional (not exchange-traded) shares or to changes in the composition of its target index. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
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Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc., P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482, which began operations in 1975, serves as advisor to the Fund through its Equity Index Group. As of October 31, 2020, Vanguard served as advisor for approximately $5.2 trillion in assets. Vanguard provides investment advisory services to the Fund pursuant to the Funds’ Service Agreement and subject to the supervision and oversight of the trustees and officers of the Fund.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the advisory expenses represented an effective annual rate of 0.01% of the Fund’s average net assets.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory arrangement, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
The managers primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund are:
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Gerard C. O’Reilly, Principal of Vanguard. He has been with Vanguard since 1992, has managed investment portfolios since 1994, and has co-managed the Fund since 2016. Education: B.S., Villanova University.
William A. Coleman, CFA, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has worked in investment management since joining Vanguard in 2006 and has co-managed the Fund since 2016. Education: B.S., King’s College; M.S., Saint Joseph’s University.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest and dividends, less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income dividends generally are distributed quarterly in March, June, September, and December; capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.  
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest and dividends as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of
investments. Income consists of both the dividends that the fund earns from
any stock holdings and the interest it receives from any money market and
bond investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells
securities for higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are
either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the
securities for one year or less or for more than one year.
Reinvestment of Distributions
In order to reinvest dividend and capital gains distributions, investors in the Fund’s ETF Shares must hold their shares at a broker that offers a reinvestment service. This can be the broker’s own service or a service made available by a
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third party, such as the broker’s outside clearing firm or the DTC. If a reinvestment service is available, distributions of income and capital gains can automatically be reinvested in additional whole and fractional ETF Shares of the Fund. If a reinvestment service is not available, investors will receive their distributions in cash. To determine whether a reinvestment service is available and whether there is a commission or other charge for using this service, consult your broker.
As with all exchange-traded funds, reinvestment of dividend and capital gains distributions in additional ETF Shares will occur four business days or more after the ex-dividend date (the date when a distribution of dividends or capital gains is deducted from the price of the Fund’s shares). The exact number of days depends on your broker. During that time, the amount of your distribution will not be invested in the Fund and therefore will not share in the Fund’s income, gains, and losses.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional ETF Shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income. If you are an individual and meet certain holding period requirements with respect to your ETF Shares, you may be eligible for reduced tax rates on “qualified dividend income,” if any, or a special tax deduction on “qualified REIT dividends,” if any, distributed by the Fund.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned ETF Shares.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund’s normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling your ETF Shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
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• A sale of ETF Shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale of ETF Shares.
Dividend distributions and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale of ETF Shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.
Share Price and Market Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. Each share class has its own NAV, which is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Remember: If you buy or sell ETF Shares on the secondary market, you will pay or receive the market price, which may be higher or lower than NAV. Your transaction will be priced at NAV only if you purchase or redeem your ETF Shares in Creation Unit blocks (an option available only to certain authorized broker-dealers) or if you convert your conventional fund shares to ETF Shares.
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Stocks held by a Vanguard fund are valued at their market value when reliable market quotations are readily available from the principal exchange or market on which they are traded. Such securities are generally valued at their official closing price, the last reported sales price, or if there were no sales that day, the mean between the closing bid and asking prices. When a fund determines that market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund's pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges that close many hours before the fund's pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, merger announcement) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities.
Fair-value pricing may be used for domestic securities—for example, if (1) trading in a security is halted and does not resume before the fund’s pricing time or a security does not trade in the course of a day and (2) the fund holds enough of the security that its price could affect the NAV.
Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard’s website will show the previous day’s closing NAV and closing market price for the Fund’s ETF Shares.
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Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
High Dividend Yield Index Fund
 
 
 
ETF Shares
11/10/2006
923
921946406
Certain affiliates of the Fund and the advisor may purchase and resell ETF Shares pursuant to the prospectus.
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
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Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$89.60
$83.26
$82.46
$71.19
$67.88
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income
2.9501
2.8911
2.6231
2.3941
2.203
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments
(10.184)
6.251
0.731
11.301
3.245
Total from Investment Operations
(7.234)
9.142
3.354
13.695
5.448
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(2.876)
(2.802)
(2.554)
(2.425)
(2.138)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
—
—
—
—
—
Total Distributions
(2.876)
(2.802)
(2.554)
(2.425)
(2.138)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$79.49
$89.60
$83.26
$82.46
$71.19
Total Return
–8.17%
11.31%
4.05%
19.46%
8.18%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$26,279
$26,816
$21,328
$20,010
$15,497
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets
0.06%
0.06%
0.06%
0.08%
0.08%
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net
Assets
3.53%
3.38%
3.08%
3.07%
3.26%
Portfolio Turnover Rate2
11%
7%
13%
9%
7%
1
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
2
Excludes the value of portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of in-kind purchases or redemptions of the Fund’s capital shares, including ETF Creation Units.
24
 CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
London Stock Exchange Group companies include FTSE International Limited (“FTSE”), Frank Russell Company (“Russell”), MTS Next Limited (“MTS”), and FTSE TMX Global Debt Capital Markets Inc. (“FTSE TMX”). All rights reserved. “FTSE®”, “Russell®”, “MTS®“, “FTSE TMX®” and “FTSE Russell” and other service marks and trademarks related to the FTSE or Russell indexes are trademarks of the London Stock Exchange Group companies and are used by FTSE, MTS, FTSE TMX and Russell under license. All information is provided for information purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure that all information given in this publication is accurate, but no responsibility or liability can be accepted by the London Stock Exchange Group companies nor its licensors for any errors or for any loss from use of this publication. Neither the London Stock Exchange Group companies nor any of their licensors make any claim, prediction, warranty or representation whatsoever, expressly or impliedly, either as to the results to be obtained from the use of the Indices or the fitness or suitability of the Indices for any particular purpose to which they might be put. The London Stock Exchange Group companies do not provide investment advice and nothing in this document should be taken as constituting financial or investment advice. The London Stock Exchange Group companies make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in any asset. A decision to invest in any such asset should not be made in reliance on any information herein. Indexes cannot be invested in directly. Inclusion of an asset in an index is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold that asset. The general information contained in this publication should not be acted upon without obtaining specific legal, tax, and investment advice from a licensed professional. No part of this information may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the London Stock Exchange Group companies. Distribution of the London Stock Exchange Group companies’ index values and the use of their indexes to create financial products require a license with FTSE, FTSE TMX, MTS and/or Russell and/or its licensors.
25
Glossary of Investment Terms
Authorized Participant. Institutional investors that are permitted to purchase Creation Units directly from, and redeem Creation Units directly with, the issuing fund. To be an Authorized Participant, an entity must be a participant in the Depository Trust Company and must enter into an agreement with the fund’s Distributor.
Bid-Ask Spread. The difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market.
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Common Stock. A security representing ownership rights in a corporation.
Creation Unit. A large block of a specified number of ETF Shares. Certain broker-dealers known as “Authorized Participants” may purchase and redeem ETF Shares from the issuing fund in Creation Unit size blocks.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Float Adjusted Index. An index that represents the entire U.S. stock market and tracks more than 5,000 stocks, excluding shares of securities not available for public trading.
Ex-Dividend Date. The date when a distribution of dividends and/or capital gains is deducted from the share price of a mutual fund, ETF, or stock. On the ex-dividend date, the share price drops by the amount of the distribution per share (plus or minus any market activity).
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund (or one of its share classes) are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
26
Indexing. A low-cost investment strategy in which a fund attempts to track—rather than outperform—a specified market benchmark, or “index.”
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund’s board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Median Market Capitalization. An indicator of the size of companies in which a fund invests; the midpoint of market capitalization (market price x shares outstanding) of a fund's stocks, weighted by the proportion of the fund's assets invested in each stock. Stocks representing half of the fund's assets have market capitalizations above the median, and the rest are below it.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, a return of capital reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
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Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund’s investments is available in the Fund’s annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund’s performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund’s ETF Shares and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about Vanguard ETF Shares, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
Telephone: 866-499-8473; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund’s Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.U.S. Patent Nos. 6,879,964; 7,337,138; 7,720,749; 7,925,573; 8,090,646; and 8,417,623.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 923 022021
 
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Admiral™ Shares
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund Admiral Shares (VHYAX)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
Fund Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of common stocks of companies that are characterized by high dividend yield.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell Admiral Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
None
Purchase Fee
None
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
Redemption Fee
None
Account Service Fee Per Year
(for certain fund account balances below $10,000)
$20
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.07%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.08%
1
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s Admiral Shares with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund's shares. This example assumes that the shares provide a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$8
$26
$45
$103
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 11% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index, which consists of common stocks of companies that pay dividends that generally are higher than average. The Fund attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance:
•  Stock market risk , which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund’s target index tracks a subset of the U.S. stock market, which could cause the Fund to perform differently from the overall stock market. In addition, the Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a
2
particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
•  Investment style risk , which is the chance that returns from high-dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Specific types of stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than the stock market in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows the performance of the Fund‘s Admiral Shares in its first full calendar year. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the Admiral Shares compare with those of the Fund‘s target index and another comparative index, which have investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund Admiral Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
14.07%
December 31, 2020
Lowest
-23.94%
March 31, 2020
3
Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
Since
Inception
(Feb. 7,
2019)
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Admiral Shares
 
 
Return Before Taxes
1.14%
9.12%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
0.30
8.22
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
1.15
6.92
Comparative Indexes
(reflect no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
 
 
FTSE High Dividend Yield Index
1.16%
9.17%
Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Float Adjusted Index
20.79
21.75
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Portfolio Managers
Gerard C. O’Reilly, Principal of Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since 2016.
William A. Coleman, CFA, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since 2016.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for Admiral Shares is $3,000. The minimum
4
investment amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility. If you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisor do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
5
Investing in Index Funds
What Is Indexing?
Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or “index.” An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets—such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments—such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. One cannot invest directly in an index.
The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index and the weighting of each security in the index. Under normal circumstances, the index sponsor will rebalance an index on a regular schedule. An index sponsor may carry out additional ad hoc index rebalances or delay or cancel a scheduled rebalance. Generally, the index sponsor does not provide any warranty, or accept any liability, with respect to the quality, accuracy, or completeness of either the target index or its related data. Errors made by the index sponsor may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index sponsor for a period of time or at all. Vanguard does not provide any warranty or guarantee against such errors. Therefore, the gains, losses, or costs associated with the index sponsor’s errors will generally be borne by the index fund and its shareholders.
An index fund seeks to hold all, or a representative sample, of the securities that make up its target index. Index funds attempt to mirror the performance of the target index, for better or worse. However, an index fund generally does not perform exactly like its target index. For example, index funds have operating expenses and transaction costs. Market indexes do not, and therefore they will usually have a slight performance advantage over funds that track them. The ability of an index fund to match its performance to that of its target index can also be impacted by, among other things, the timing and size of cash flows and the size of the fund. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could also have an adverse effect on a fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the index.
Index funds typically have the following characteristics:
•  Variety of investments . Depending on a fund’s benchmark index, the fund may invest in the securities of a variety of companies, industries, and/or governments or government agencies.
•  Relative performance consistency . Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
•  Low cost . Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity—and thus brokerage commissions and other transaction costs—to a minimum compared with actively managed funds.
6
More on the Fund
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any mutual fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to mutual fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.
Share Class Overview
This prospectus offers the Fund’s Admiral Shares. A separate prospectus offers the Fund’s ETF Shares, an exchange-traded class of shares.
Both share classes offered by the Fund have the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. However, different share classes have different expenses; as a result, their investment returns will differ.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All mutual funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are
deducted from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the
net assets of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated
in the Fees and Expenses section, Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Admiral Shares’ expense ratio would be 0.08%, or $0.80 per $1,000 of
average net assets. The average expense ratio for equity income funds in
2019 was 1.11%, or $11.10 per $1,000 of average net assets (derived from
data provided by Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company, which reports on the
mutual fund industry).
 
7
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing a mutual fund. That is
because you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of
operating a fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or
sells securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross
income or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small
differences in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a
fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund's board of trustees, which oversees the Fund's management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund’s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in the stocks that make up its target index. The Fund may change its 80% policy only upon 60 days‘ notice to shareholders.
Market Exposure
The Fund invests mainly in common stocks of companies that are characterized by high dividend yields relative to the overall market’s yield. Stocks purchased by the Fund are expected to pay high dividends and may also have the potential for long-term capital appreciation.
   
The Fund is subject to stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund‘s target index tracks a subset of the U.S. stock market, which could cause the Fund to perform differently from the overall stock market. In addition, the Fund‘s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
Stocks of publicly traded companies are often classified according to market capitalization, which is the market value of a company’s outstanding shares. These classifications typically include small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap. It is important to understand that there are no “official” definitions of small-, mid-,
8
and large-cap, even among Vanguard fund advisors, and that market capitalization ranges can change over time. The asset-weighted median market capitalization of the Fund’s stock holdings as of October 31, 2020, was $116 billion.
   
The Fund is subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from high-dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Specific types of stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than the stock market in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
Security Selection
The Fund attempts to track the investment performance of the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index, which consists of companies whose common stocks are characterized by high dividend yields relative to the overall stock market. The FTSE High Dividend Yield Index is maintained by FTSE Group (FTSE), a widely known global index provider.
 
The Fund uses the replication method of indexing. This means that the Fund holds each security found in the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index in approximately the same proportion as represented in the Index itself. For example, if 5% of the Index were made up of the stock of a specific company, the Fund would invest approximately 5% of its assets in that company.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the index it currently tracks if the current index is discontinued, if the Fund's agreement with the sponsor of its target index is terminated, or for any other reason determined in good faith by the Fund’s board of trustees. In any such instance, the substitute index would represent the same market segment as the current index.
The Fund may invest in foreign securities to the extent necessary to carry out its investment strategy of holding all, or substantially all, of the stocks that make up the index it tracks. It is not expected that the Fund will invest more than 5% of its assets in foreign securities.
To track its target index as closely as possible, the Fund attempts to remain fully invested in stocks. To help stay fully invested and to reduce transaction costs, the Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives, including equity futures.
9
The Fund may also use derivatives such as total return swaps to obtain exposure to a stock, a basket of stocks, or an index. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. Investments in derivatives may subject the Fund to risks different from, and possibly greater than, those of investments directly in the underlying securities or assets. The Fund will not use derivatives for speculation or for the purpose of leveraging (magnifying) investment returns.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Under normal circumstances, the Fund typically expects to meet redemptions with positive cash flows. When this is not an option, the Fund seeks to maintain its risk exposure by selling a cross section of the Fund’s holdings to meet redemptions, while also factoring in transaction costs. Additionally, the Fund may work with larger clients to implement their redemptions in a manner that is least disruptive to the portfolio; see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section.
Under certain circumstances, including under stressed market conditions, there are additional tools that the Fund may use in order to meet redemptions, including advancing the settlement of market trades with counterparties to match investor redemption payments or delaying settlement of an investor’s transaction to match trade settlement within regulatory requirements. The Fund may also suspend payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven days; see “Emergency circumstances” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section. Additionally under these unusual circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
10
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when the advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case when the Fund receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
Frequent Trading or Market-Timing
Background. Some investors try to profit from strategies involving frequent trading of mutual fund shares, such as market-timing. For funds holding foreign securities, investors may try to take advantage of an anticipated difference between the price of the fund’s shares and price movements in overseas markets, a practice also known as time-zone arbitrage. Investors also may try to engage in frequent trading of funds holding investments such as small-cap stocks and high-yield bonds. As money is shifted into and out of a fund by a shareholder engaging in frequent trading, the fund incurs costs for buying and selling securities, resulting in increased brokerage and administrative costs. These costs are borne by all fund shareholders, including the long-term investors who do not generate the costs. In addition, frequent trading may interfere with an advisor’s ability to efficiently manage the fund.
Policies to address frequent trading. The Vanguard funds (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) do not knowingly accommodate frequent trading. The board of trustees of each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) has adopted policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and discourage frequent trading and, in some cases, to compensate the fund for the costs associated with it. These policies and procedures do not apply to ETF Shares because frequent trading in ETF Shares generally does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. Although there is no assurance that Vanguard will be able to detect or prevent frequent trading or market-timing in all circumstances, the following policies have been adopted to address these issues:
• Each Vanguard fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request—including exchanges from other Vanguard funds—without notice and regardless of size. For example, a purchase request could be rejected because the investor has a history of frequent trading or if Vanguard determines that such purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
11
• Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) generally prohibits, except as otherwise noted in the Investing With Vanguard section, an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account.
• Certain Vanguard funds charge shareholders purchase and/or redemption fees on transactions.
See the Investing With Vanguard section of this prospectus for further details on Vanguard’s transaction policies.
Each Vanguard fund (other than retail and government money market funds), in determining its net asset value, will use fair-value pricing when appropriate, as described in the Share Price section. Fair-value pricing may reduce or eliminate the profitability of certain frequent-trading strategies.
Do not invest with Vanguard if you are a market-timer.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. Generally, an index fund sells securities in response to redemption requests from shareholders of conventional (not exchange-traded) shares or to changes in the composition of its target index. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
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Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc., P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482, which began operations in 1975, serves as advisor to the Fund through its Equity Index Group. As of October 31, 2020, Vanguard served as advisor for approximately $5.2 trillion in assets. Vanguard provides investment advisory services to the Fund pursuant to the Funds’ Service Agreement and subject to the supervision and oversight of the trustees and officers of the Fund.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the advisory expenses represented an effective annual rate of 0.01% of the Fund’s average net assets.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
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For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory arrangement, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
The managers primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund are:
Gerard C. O’Reilly, Principal of Vanguard. He has been with Vanguard since 1992, has managed investment portfolios since 1994, and has co-managed the Fund since 2016. Education: B.S., Villanova University.
William A. Coleman, CFA, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has worked in investment management since joining Vanguard in 2006 and has co-managed the Fund since 2016. Education: B.S., King’s College; M.S., Saint Joseph’s University.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest and dividends, less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income dividends generally are distributed quarterly in March, June, September, and December; capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.
You can receive distributions of income or capital gains in cash, or you can have them automatically reinvested in more shares of the Fund. However, if you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your distributions will be automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares.  
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Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest and dividends as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of
investments. Income consists of both the dividends that the fund earns from
any stock holdings and the interest it receives from any money market and
bond investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells
securities for higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are
either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the
securities for one year or less or for more than one year.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional Fund shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income. If you are an individual and meet certain holding-period requirements with respect to your Fund shares, you may be eligible for reduced tax rates on “qualified dividend income,” if any, or a special tax deduction on “qualified REIT dividends,” if any, distributed by the Fund.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned shares in the Fund.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund's normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling or exchanging your Fund shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
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• Any conversion between classes of shares of the same fund is a nontaxable event. By contrast, an exchange between classes of shares of different funds is a taxable event.
• Vanguard (or your intermediary) will send you a statement each year showing the tax status of all of your distributions.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale or exchange of Fund shares.
Dividend distributions and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale or exchange of Fund shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.  
Plain Talk About Buying a Dividend
Unless you are a tax-exempt investor or investing through a tax-advantaged
account (such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings
plan), you should consider avoiding a purchase of fund shares shortly before
the fund makes a distribution, because doing so can cost you money in
taxes. This is known as “buying a dividend.” For example: On December 15,
you invest $5,000, buying 250 shares for $20 each. If the fund pays a
distribution of $1 per share on December 16, its share price will drop to $19
(not counting market change). You still have only $5,000 (250 shares x $19 =
$4,750 in share value, plus 250 shares x $1 = $250 in distributions), but you
owe tax on the $250 distribution you received—even if you reinvest it in
more shares. To avoid buying a dividend, check a fund’s distribution schedule
before you invest.
General Information
Backup withholding. By law, Vanguard must withhold 24% of any taxable distributions or redemptions from your account if you do not:
• Provide your correct taxpayer identification number.
• Certify that the taxpayer identification number is correct.
• Confirm that you are not subject to backup withholding.
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Similarly, Vanguard (or your intermediary) must withhold taxes from your account if the IRS instructs us to do so.
Foreign investors. Vanguard funds offered for sale in the United States (Vanguard U.S. funds), including the Fund offered in this prospectus, are not widely available outside the United States. Non-U.S. investors should be aware that U.S. withholding and estate taxes and certain U.S. tax reporting requirements may apply to any investments in Vanguard U.S. funds. Foreign investors should visit the non-U.S. investors page on our website at vanguard.com for information on Vanguard’s non-U.S. products.
Invalid addresses. If a dividend distribution or capital gains distribution check mailed to your address of record is returned as undeliverable, Vanguard will automatically reinvest the distribution and all future distributions until you provide us with a valid mailing address. Reinvestments will receive the net asset value calculated on the date of the reinvestment.
Share Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. Each share class has its own NAV, which is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Stocks held by a Vanguard fund are valued at their market value when reliable market quotations are readily available from the principal exchange or market on which they are traded. Such securities are generally valued at their official closing price, the last reported sales price, or if there were no sales that day, the mean between the closing bid and asking prices. When a fund determines that market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
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The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund's pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges that close many hours before the fund's pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, merger announcement) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities.
Fair-value pricing may be used for domestic securities—for example, if (1) trading in a security is halted and does not resume before the fund's pricing time or a security does not trade in the course of a day and (2) the fund holds enough of the security that its price could affect the NAV.
Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard fund share prices are published daily on our website at vanguard.com/prices.
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Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund Admiral Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
February 7, 20191 to October 31,
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each
Period
2020
2019
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$27.02
$25.00
Investment Operations
 
 
Net Investment Income2
0.887
0.624
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments
(3.075)
2.010
Total from Investment Operations
(2.188)
2.634
Distributions
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(0.862)
(0.614)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
—
—
Total Distributions
(0.862)
(0.614)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
23.97
27.02
Total Return3
–8.19%
10.64%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$7,665
$8,814
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net
Assets
0.08%
0.08%4
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average
Net Assets
3.52%
3.24%4
Portfolio Turnover Rate5
11%
7%6
1
Inception.
2
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
3
Total returns do not include account service fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
4
Annualized.
5
Excludes the value of portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of in-kind purchases or redemptions of the Fund’s capital shares, including ETF Creation Units.
6
Reflects the Fund’s portfolio turnover for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2019.
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Investing With Vanguard
This section of the prospectus explains the basics of doing business with Vanguard. Vanguard fund shares can be held directly with Vanguard or indirectly through an intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. If you hold Vanguard fund shares directly with Vanguard, you should carefully read each topic within this section that pertains to your relationship with Vanguard. If you hold Vanguard fund shares indirectly through an intermediary (including shares held in a brokerage account through Vanguard Brokerage Services®), please see Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms, and also refer to your account agreement with the intermediary for information about transacting in that account. If you hold Vanguard fund shares through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, please see Employer-Sponsored Plans. Vanguard reserves the right to change the following policies without notice. Please call or check online for current information. See Contacting Vanguard.
For Vanguard fund shares held directly with Vanguard, each fund you hold in an account is a separate “fund account.” For example, if you hold three funds in a nonretirement account titled in your own name, two funds in a nonretirement account titled jointly with your spouse, and one fund in an individual retirement account, you have six fund accounts—and this is true even if you hold the same fund in multiple accounts. Note that each reference to “you” in this prospectus applies to any one or more registered account owners or persons authorized to transact on your account.
Purchasing Shares
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to increase or decrease the minimum amount required to open, convert shares to, or maintain a fund account or to add to an existing fund account.
Investment minimums may differ for certain categories of investors.
Account Minimums for Admiral Shares
To open and maintain an account. $3,000. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility.
To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
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How to Initiate a Purchase Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your purchase request.
Online. You may open certain types of accounts, request a purchase of shares, and request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to begin the account registration process or request that the account-opening forms be sent to you. You may also call Vanguard to request a purchase of shares in your account or to request an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send Vanguard your account registration form and check to open a new fund account. To add to an existing fund account, you may send your check with an Invest-by-Mail form (from a transaction confirmation or your account statement) or with a deposit slip (available online).
How to Pay for a Purchase
By electronic bank transfer. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund through an electronic transfer of money from a bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate the bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can purchase shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Investment Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your purchase request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. Wiring instructions vary for different types of purchases. Please call Vanguard for instructions and policies on purchasing shares by wire. See Contacting Vanguard.
By check. You may make initial or additional purchases to your fund account by sending a check with a deposit slip or by utilizing our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access. Also see How to Initiate a Purchase Request. Make your check payable to Vanguard and include the appropriate fund number (e.g., Vanguard—5023).
By exchange. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund using the proceeds from the simultaneous redemption of shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail with an exchange form. See Exchanging Shares.
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Trade Date
The trade date for any purchase request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request, the manner in which you are paying, and the type of fund you are purchasing. Your purchase will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For purchases by check into all funds other than money market funds and for purchases by exchange, wire, or electronic bank transfer into all funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the same day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day.
For purchases by check into money market funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the second business day following the day Vanguard receives the purchase request. Because money market instruments must be purchased with federal funds and it takes a money market mutual fund one business day to convert check proceeds into federal funds, the trade date for the purchase will be one business day later than for other funds.
If your purchase request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
For further information about purchase transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Purchase Rules You Should Know
Check purchases. All purchase checks must be written in U.S. dollars, be drawn on a U.S. bank, and be accompanied by good order instructions. Vanguard does not accept cash, traveler’s checks, starter checks, or money orders. In addition, Vanguard may refuse checks that are not made payable to Vanguard.
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New accounts. We are required by law to obtain from you certain personal information that we will use to verify your identity. If you do not provide the information, we may not be able to open your account. If we are unable to verify your identity, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to close your account or take such other steps as we deem reasonable. Certain types of accounts may require additional documentation.
Refused or rejected purchase requests. Vanguard reserves the right to stop selling fund shares or to reject any purchase request at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, purchases requested by exchange from another Vanguard fund. This also includes the right to reject any purchase request because the investor has a history of frequent trading or because the purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
Large purchases. Call Vanguard before attempting to invest a large dollar amount.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any purchase request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a purchase request.
Converting Shares
If you convert from Admiral Shares to ETF Shares, the transaction will be based on the respective NAVs of the separate share classes on the trade date of the conversion.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any self-directed conversion request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a conversion request.
A conversion between share classes of the same fund is a nontaxable event.
Conversions to ETF Shares
Owners of conventional shares (i.e., not exchange-traded shares) issued by the Fund may convert those shares to ETF Shares of equivalent value of the same fund. Please note that investors who own conventional shares through a 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored retirement or benefit plan generally may not convert those shares to ETF Shares and should check with their plan sponsor or recordkeeper. ETF Shares, whether acquired through a conversion or purchased on the secondary market, cannot be converted to conventional shares by a shareholder. Also, ETF Shares of one fund cannot be exchanged for ETF Shares of another fund.
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ETF Shares must be held in a brokerage account. Thus, before converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, you must have an existing, or open a new, brokerage account. This account may be with Vanguard Brokerage Services or with any other brokerage firm.
Vanguard Brokerage Services does not impose a fee on conversions from conventional shares to Vanguard ETF Shares. However, other brokerage firms may charge a fee to process a conversion. Vanguard reserves the right, in the future, to impose a transaction fee on conversions or to limit, temporarily suspend, or terminate the conversion privilege. For additional information on converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, please contact Vanguard to obtain a prospectus for ETF Shares. See Contacting Vanguard.
Redeeming Shares
How to Initiate a Redemption Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your redemption request.
Online. You may request a redemption of shares or request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to request a redemption of shares or an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send a form (available online) to Vanguard to redeem from a fund account or to make an exchange.
How to Receive Redemption Proceeds
By electronic bank transfer. You may have the proceeds of a fund redemption sent directly to a designated bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can redeem shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Withdrawal Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your redemption request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
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By wire. To receive your proceeds by wire, you may instruct Vanguard to wire your redemption proceeds ($100 minimum) to a previously designated bank account. To establish the wire redemption service, you generally must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form.
Please note that Vanguard charges a $10 wire fee for outgoing wire redemptions. The fee is assessed in addition to, rather than being withheld from, redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the fund in which you invest. For example, if you redeem $100 via a wire, you will receive the full $100, and the $10 fee will be assessed to your fund account through an additional redemption of fund shares. If you redeem your entire fund account, your redemption proceeds will be reduced by the amount of the fee. The wire fee does not apply to accounts held by Flagship and Flagship Select clients; accounts held through intermediaries, including Vanguard Brokerage Services; or accounts held by institutional clients.
By exchange. You may have the proceeds of a Vanguard fund redemption invested directly in shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Exchanging Shares.
By check. If you have not chosen another redemption method, Vanguard will mail you a redemption check, generally payable to all registered account owners, normally within two business days of your trade date, and generally to the address of record.
Trade Date
The trade date for any redemption request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request and the manner in which you are redeeming. Your redemption will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For redemptions by check, exchange, or wire: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If
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the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from money market funds: For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day before 10:45 a.m., Eastern time (2 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund; 12:30 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business the same day. For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day after those cut-off times, or on a nonbusiness day, and for all requests other than by telephone, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from all other funds: For requests received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day. For requests received by Vanguard on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the second business day after Vanguard receives the request.
For redemptions by electronic bank transfer: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
If your redemption request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. If we are unable to send your redemption proceeds by wire or electronic bank transfer because the receiving institution rejects the transfer, Vanguard will make additional efforts to complete your transaction. If Vanguard is still unable to complete the transaction, we may send the proceeds of the redemption to you by check, generally payable to all registered account owners, or use your proceeds to purchase new shares of the fund from which you sold shares for the purpose of the wire or electronic bank transfer transaction. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
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If your redemption request is received in good order, we typically expect that redemption proceeds will be paid by the Fund within one business day of the trade date; however, in certain circumstances, investors may experience a longer settlement period at the time of the transaction. For further information, see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” and “Emergency circumstances.”
For further information about redemption transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Redemption Rules You Should Know
Documentation for certain accounts. Special documentation may be required to redeem from certain types of accounts, such as trust, corporate, nonprofit, or retirement accounts. Please call us before attempting to redeem from these types of accounts.
Potentially disruptive redemptions. Vanguard reserves the right to pay all or part of a redemption in kind—that is, in the form of securities—if we reasonably believe that a cash redemption would negatively affect the fund’s operation or performance or that the shareholder may be engaged in market-timing or frequent trading. Under these circumstances, Vanguard also reserves the right to delay payment of the redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. By calling us before you attempt to redeem a large dollar amount, you may avoid in-kind or delayed payment of your redemption. Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations for information about Vanguard’s policies to limit frequent trading.
Recently purchased shares. Although you can redeem shares at any time, proceeds may not be made available to you until the fund collects payment for your purchase. This may take up to seven calendar days for shares purchased by check or by electronic bank transfer. If you have written a check on a fund in an account with checkwriting privileges, that check may be rejected if your fund account does not have a sufficient available balance.
Address change. If you change your address online or by telephone, there may be up to a 14-day restriction (starting on the business day after your address is changed) on your ability to request check redemptions online and by telephone. You can request a redemption in writing (using a form available online) at any time. Confirmations of address changes are sent to both the old and new addresses.
Payment to a different person or address. At your request, we can make your redemption check payable, or wire your redemption proceeds, to a different person or send it to a different address. However, this generally requires the written consent of all registered account owners and may require additional
27
documentation, such as a signature guarantee or a notarized signature. You may obtain a signature guarantee from some commercial or savings banks, credit unions, trust companies, or member firms of a U.S. stock exchange.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any redemption request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a redemption request.
Emergency circumstances. Vanguard funds can postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. In addition, Vanguard funds can suspend redemptions and/or postpone payments of redemption proceeds beyond seven calendar days at times when the NYSE is closed or during emergency circumstances, as determined by the SEC.
Exchanging Shares
An exchange occurs when you use the proceeds from the redemption of shares of one Vanguard fund to simultaneously purchase shares of a different Vanguard fund. You can make exchange requests online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Purchasing Shares and Redeeming Shares.
If the NYSE is open for regular trading (generally until 4 p.m., Eastern time, on a business day) at the time an exchange request is received in good order, the trade date generally will be the same day. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order for additional information on all transaction requests.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any exchange request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing an exchange request.
Call Vanguard before attempting to exchange a large dollar amount. By calling us before you attempt to exchange a large dollar amount, you may avoid delayed or rejected transactions.
Please note that Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise or terminate the exchange privilege, limit the amount of any exchange, or reject an exchange, at any time, for any reason. See Frequent-Trading Limitations for additional restrictions on exchanges.
Frequent-Trading Limitations
Because excessive transactions can disrupt management of a fund and increase the fund’s costs for all shareholders, the board of trustees of each Vanguard fund places certain limits on frequent trading in the funds. Each Vanguard fund (other
28
than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) limits an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account. ETF Shares are not subject to these frequent-trading limits.
For Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, the limitations apply to exchanges made online or by telephone.
These frequent-trading limitations do not apply to the following:
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Transactions through Vanguard’s Automatic Investment Plan, Automatic Exchange Service, Direct Deposit Service, Automatic Withdrawal Plan, Required Minimum Distribution Service, and Vanguard Small Business Online®.
• Discretionary transactions through Vanguard Personal Advisor Services®, Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services®, and Vanguard Digital Advisor™.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans).
• Transfers and reregistrations of shares within the same fund.
• Purchases of shares by asset transfer or direct rollover.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Checkwriting redemptions.
• Section 529 college savings plans.
• Certain approved institutional portfolios and asset allocation programs, as well as trades made by funds or trusts managed by Vanguard or its affiliates that invest in other Vanguard funds. (Please note that shareholders of Vanguard’s funds of funds are subject to the limitations.)
For participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans,* the frequent-trading limitations do not apply to:
• Purchases of shares with participant payroll or employer contributions or loan repayments.
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan.
• Redemptions of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan.
29
• Transactions executed through the Vanguard Managed Account Program.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Share or asset transfers or rollovers.
• Reregistrations of shares.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Exchange requests submitted by written request to Vanguard. (Exchange requests submitted by fax, if otherwise permitted, are subject to the limitations.)
* The following Vanguard fund accounts are subject to the frequent-trading limitations: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Accounts Held by Institutions (Other Than Defined Contribution Plans)
Vanguard will systematically monitor for frequent trading in institutional clients’ accounts. If we detect suspicious trading activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include applying to a client’s accounts the 30-day policy previously described, prohibiting a client’s purchases of fund shares, and/or revoking the client’s exchange privilege.
Accounts Held by Intermediaries
When intermediaries establish accounts in Vanguard funds for the benefit of their clients, we cannot always monitor the trading activity of the individual clients. However, we review trading activity at the intermediary (omnibus) level, and if we detect suspicious activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action. If necessary, Vanguard may prohibit additional purchases of fund shares by an intermediary, including for the benefit of certain of the intermediary’s clients. Intermediaries also may monitor their clients’ trading activities with respect to Vanguard funds.
For those Vanguard funds that charge purchase and/or redemption fees, intermediaries will be asked to assess these fees on client accounts and remit these fees to the funds. The application of purchase and redemption fees and frequent-trading limitations may vary among intermediaries. There are no assurances that Vanguard will successfully identify all intermediaries or that intermediaries will properly assess purchase and redemption fees or administer frequent-trading limitations. If you invest with Vanguard through an intermediary, please read that firm’s materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply.
30
Other Rules You Should Know
Prospectus and Shareholder Report Mailings
When two or more shareholders have the same last name and address, just one summary prospectus (or prospectus) and/or shareholder report may be sent in an attempt to eliminate the unnecessary expense of duplicate mailings. You may request individual prospectuses and reports by contacting our Client Services Department in writing, by telephone, or online. See Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard.com
Registration. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can review your account holdings; buy, sell, or exchange shares of most Vanguard funds; and perform most other transactions through our website. You must register for this service online.
Electronic delivery. Vanguard can deliver your account statements, transaction confirmations, prospectuses, certain tax forms, and shareholder reports electronically. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can consent to the electronic delivery of these documents by logging on and changing your mailing preferences under “Account Maintenance.” You can revoke your electronic consent at any time through our website, and we will begin to send paper copies of these documents within 30 days of receiving your revocation.
Telephone Transactions
Automatic. When we set up your account, we will automatically enable you to do business with us by telephone, unless you instruct us otherwise in writing.
Tele-Account®. To obtain fund and account information through Vanguard’s automated telephone service, you must first establish a Personal Identification Number (PIN) by calling Tele-Account at 800-662-6273.
Proof of a caller’s authority. We reserve the right to refuse a telephone request if the caller is unable to provide the requested information or if we reasonably believe that the caller is not an individual authorized to act on the account. Before we allow a caller to act on an account, we may request the following information:
• Authorization to act on the account (as the account owner or by legal documentation or other means).
• Account registration and address.
• Fund name and account number, if applicable.
• Other information relating to the caller, the account owner, or the account.
31
Good Order
We reserve the right to reject any transaction instructions that are not in “good order.” Good order generally means that your instructions:
• Are provided by the person(s) authorized in accordance with Vanguard’s policies and procedures to access the account and request transactions.
• Include the fund name and account number.
• Include the amount of the transaction (stated in dollars, shares, or percentage).
Written instructions also must generally be provided on a Vanguard form and include:
• Signature(s) and date from the authorized person(s).
• Signature guarantees or notarized signatures, if required for the type of transaction. (Call Vanguard for specific requirements.)
• Any supporting documentation that may be required.
Good order requirements may vary among types of accounts and transactions. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise the requirements for good order.
Future Trade-Date Requests
Vanguard does not accept requests to hold a purchase, conversion, redemption, or exchange transaction for a future date. All such requests will receive trade dates as previously described in Purchasing Shares, Converting Shares, Redeeming Shares, and Exchanging Shares. Vanguard reserves the right to return future-dated purchase checks.
Accounts With More Than One Owner
If an account has more than one owner or authorized person, Vanguard generally will accept instructions from any one owner or authorized person.
Responsibility for Fraud
You should take precautions to protect yourself from fraud. Keep your account-related information private, and review any account confirmations, statements, or other information that we provide to you as soon as you receive them. Let us know immediately if you discover unauthorized activity or see something on your account that you do not understand or that looks unusual.
32
Vanguard will not be responsible for losses that result from transactions by a person who we reasonably believe is authorized to act on your account.
Uncashed Checks
Please cash your distribution or redemption checks promptly. Vanguard will not pay interest on uncashed checks. Vanguard may be required to transfer assets related to uncashed checks to a state under the state’s abandoned property law.
Dormant Accounts
If your account has no activity in it for a period of time, Vanguard may be required to transfer it to a state under the state’s abandoned property law, subject to potential federal or state withholding taxes.
Unusual Circumstances
If you experience difficulty contacting Vanguard online or by telephone, you can send us your transaction request on a Vanguard form by regular or express mail.
Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms
You may purchase or sell shares of most Vanguard funds through a financial intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. Please consult your financial intermediary to determine which, if any, shares are available through that firm and to learn about other rules that may apply. Your financial intermediary can provide you with account information and any required tax forms. You may be required to pay a commission on purchases of mutual fund shares made through a financial intermediary.
Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of any purchase or redemption fees and the monitoring of frequent trading for accounts held by intermediaries.
Account Service Fee
Vanguard may charge a $20 account service fee on fund accounts that have a balance below $10,000 for any reason, including market fluctuation. The account service fee may be applied to both retirement and nonretirement fund accounts and may be assessed on fund accounts in all Vanguard funds, regardless of the account minimum. The fee, which will be collected by redeeming fund shares in the amount of $20, will be deducted from fund accounts subject to the fee once per calendar year.
If you elect to receive your statements and other materials electronically (i.e., by e-delivery), the account service fee will not be charged, so long as your election remains in effect. You can make your e-delivery election on vanguard.com.
33
Beginning on January 1, 2021, you may elect to receive paper copies of shareholder reports free of charge as noted on the cover of this prospectus.
Certain account types have alternative fee structures, including SIMPLE IRAs, Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Low-Balance Accounts
The Fund reserves the right to liquidate a fund account whose balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. This liquidation policy applies to nonretirement fund accounts and accounts that are held through intermediaries. Any such liquidation will be preceded by written notice to the investor.
Right to Change Policies
In addition to the rights expressly stated elsewhere in this prospectus, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to (1) alter, add, or discontinue any conditions of purchase (including eligibility requirements), redemption, exchange, conversion, service, or privilege at any time and (2) alter, impose, discontinue, or waive any purchase fee, redemption fee, account service fee, or other fee charged to a shareholder or a group of shareholders. Changes may affect any or all investors. These actions will be taken when, at the sole discretion of Vanguard management, Vanguard believes they are in the best interest of a fund.
Account Restrictions
Vanguard reserves the right to: (1) redeem all or a portion of a fund/account to meet a legal obligation, including tax withholding, tax lien, garnishment order, or other obligation imposed on your account by a court or government agency; (2) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options in the case of threatening conduct or activity; (3) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options if Vanguard believes or suspects that not doing so could result in a suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal transaction; (4) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if it is required to do so by a court or government agency; (5) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if Vanguard believes that doing so will prevent fraud, financial exploitation or abuse, or to protect vulnerable investors; (6) freeze any account and/or suspend account services if Vanguard has received reasonable notice of a dispute regarding the assets in an account, including notice of a dispute between the registered or beneficial account owners; and (7) freeze any account and/or suspend account services upon initial notification to Vanguard of the death of an account owner.
34
Share Classes
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to change the eligibility requirements of its share classes, including the types of clients who are eligible to purchase each share class.
Fund and Account Updates
Confirmation Statements
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) a confirmation of your trade date and the amount of your transaction when you buy, sell, exchange, or convert shares. However, we will not send confirmations reflecting only checkwriting redemptions or the reinvestment of dividend or capital gains distributions. For any month in which you had a checkwriting redemption, a Checkwriting Activity Statement will be sent to you itemizing the checkwriting redemptions for that month. Promptly review each confirmation statement that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on a confirmation statement, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Portfolio Summaries
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) quarterly portfolio summaries to help you keep track of your accounts throughout the year. Each summary shows the market value of your account at the close of the statement period, as well as all distributions, purchases, redemptions, exchanges, transfers, and conversions for the current calendar quarter (or month). Promptly review each summary that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on the summary, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Tax Information Statements
For most accounts, Vanguard (or your intermediary) is required to provide annual tax forms to assist you in preparing your income tax returns. These forms are generally available for each calendar year early in the following year. Registered users of vanguard.com can also view certain forms through our website. Vanguard (or your intermediary) may also provide you with additional tax-related documentation. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
35
Annual and Semiannual Reports
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) reports about Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund twice a year, in June and December. These reports include overviews of the financial markets and provide the following specific Fund information:
• Performance assessments and comparisons with industry benchmarks.
• Financial statements with listings of Fund holdings.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Employer-Sponsored Plans
Your plan administrator or your employee benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how to participate in your plan and how to elect the Fund as an investment option.
• If you have any questions about the Fund or Vanguard, including those about the Fund’s investment objective, strategies, or risks, contact Vanguard Participant Services toll-free at 800-523-1188 or visit our website at vanguard.com.
• If you have questions about your account, contact your plan administrator or the organization that provides recordkeeping services for your plan.
• Be sure to carefully read each topic that pertains to your transactions with Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right to change its policies without notice to shareholders.
Transactions
Processing times for your transaction requests may differ among recordkeepers or among transaction and funding types. Your plan’s recordkeeper (which may also be Vanguard) will determine the necessary processing time frames for your transaction requests prior to submission to the Fund. Consult your recordkeeper or plan administrator for more information.
If Vanguard is serving as your plan recordkeeper and if your transaction involves one or more investments with an early cut-off time for processing or another trading restriction, your entire transaction will be subject to the restriction when the trade date for your transaction is determined.
36
Contacting Vanguard  
Web
 
Vanguard.com
For the most complete source of Vanguard news
For fund, account, and service information
For most account transactions
For literature requests
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
 
Phone
Vanguard Tele-Account®
800-662-6273
For automated fund and account information
Toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Investor Information 800-662-7447
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For fund and service information
For literature requests
Client Services 800-662-2739
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For account information
For most account transactions
Participant Services 800-523-1188
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For information and services for participants in
employer-sponsored plans
Institutional Division
888-809-8102
For information and services for large institutional
investors
Financial Advisor and Intermediary
Sales Support 800-997-2798
For information and services for financial intermediaries
including financial advisors, broker-dealers, trust
institutions, and insurance companies
Financial Advisory and Intermediary
Trading Support 800-669-0498
For account information and trading support for
financial intermediaries including financial advisors,
broker-dealers, trust institutions, and insurance
companies
Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Newspaper
Abbreviation
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
High Dividend Yield Index Fund
 
 
 
 
Admiral Shares
2/7/2019
HiDvdYldAdml
5023
921946786
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
37
London Stock Exchange Group companies include FTSE International Limited (“FTSE”), Frank Russell Company (“Russell”), MTS Next Limited (“MTS”), and FTSE TMX Global Debt Capital Markets Inc. (“FTSE TMX”). All rights reserved. “FTSE®”, “Russell®”, “MTS®“, “FTSE TMX®” and “FTSE Russell” and other service marks and trademarks related to the FTSE or Russell indexes are trademarks of the London Stock Exchange Group companies and are used by FTSE, MTS, FTSE TMX and Russell under license. All information is provided for information purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure that all information given in this publication is accurate, but no responsibility or liability can be accepted by the London Stock Exchange Group companies nor its licensors for any errors or for any loss from use of this publication. Neither the London Stock Exchange Group companies nor any of their licensors make any claim, prediction, warranty or representation whatsoever, expressly or impliedly, either as to the results to be obtained from the use of the Indices or the fitness or suitability of the Indices for any particular purpose to which they might be put. The London Stock Exchange Group companies do not provide investment advice and nothing in this document should be taken as constituting financial or investment advice. The London Stock Exchange Group companies make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in any asset. A decision to invest in any such asset should not be made in reliance on any information herein. Indexes cannot be invested in directly. Inclusion of an asset in an index is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold that asset. The general information contained in this publication should not be acted upon without obtaining specific legal, tax, and investment advice from a licensed professional. No part of this information may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the London Stock Exchange Group companies. Distribution of the London Stock Exchange Group companies’ index values and the use of their indexes to create financial products require a license with FTSE, FTSE TMX, MTS and/or Russell and/or its licensors.
38
Glossary of Investment Terms
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Common Stock. A security representing ownership rights in a corporation.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Float Adjusted Index. An index that represents the entire U.S. stock market and tracks more than 5,000 stocks, excluding shares of securities not available for public trading.
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund (or one of its share classes) are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Indexing. A low-cost investment strategy in which a mutual fund attempts to track—rather than outperform—a specified market benchmark, or “index.”
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Median Market Capitalization. An indicator of the size of companies in which a fund invests; the midpoint of market capitalization (market price x shares outstanding) of a fund's stocks, weighted by the proportion of the fund's assets invested in each stock. Stocks representing half of the fund's assets have market capitalizations above the median, and the rest are below it.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
39
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, a return of capital reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a mutual fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
40
   
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Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about the Fund or other Vanguard funds, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
If you are an individual investor:
Telephone: 800-662-7447; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a participant in an employer-sponsored plan:
Telephone: 800-523-1188; Text telephone for people
with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a current Vanguard shareholder and would like information about your account, account transactions, and/or account statements, please call:
Client Services Department
Telephone: 800-662-2739; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 5023 022021
 
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Exchange-traded fund shares that are not individually redeemable and are listed on Nasdaq
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund ETF Shares (VWOB)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
ETF Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of U.S. dollar-denominated bonds issued by governments and government-related issuers in emerging market countries.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell ETF Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Transaction Fee on Purchases and Sales
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Transaction Fee on Reinvested Dividends
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Transaction Fee on Conversion to ETF Shares
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.23%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.25%
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s ETF Shares with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund’s shares. This example assumes that the shares provide a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to sell your shares at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$26
$80
$141
$318
1
This example does not include the brokerage commissions that you may pay to buy and sell ETF Shares of the Fund.
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 21% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index. This Index includes U.S. dollar-denominated bonds that have maturities longer than one year and that were issued by emerging market governments and government-related issuers. The Index is capped, which means that its exposure to any particular bond issuer is limited to a maximum of 20% and its aggregate exposure to issuers that individually constitute 5% or more of the Index is limited to 48%. If the Index, as constituted based on market weights, exceeds the 20% or 48% limits, the excess is reallocated to bonds of other issuers represented in the Index.

 

The Fund invests by sampling the Index, meaning that it holds a range of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the full Index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. All of the Fund’s investments will be selected through the sampling process, and under normal circumstances at least 80% of the Fund’s assets will be invested in bonds included in the Index. The Fund maintains a dollar-weighted average maturity consistent with that of the Index. As of October 31, 2020, the dollar-weighted average maturity of the Index was 13.2 years.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund’s share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund’s performance, and the level of risk may vary based on market conditions:
•  Country/regional risk , which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value and/or liquidity of securities issued by foreign governments, government
2
agencies, and government-owned corporations. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in bonds of issuers located in any one country or region, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Emerging markets risk , which is the chance that the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets. Emerging markets risk is high for the Fund.
•  Nondiversification risk , which is the chance that the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of bonds issued by just a few issuers or even a single issuer. The Fund is considered nondiversified, which means that it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in bonds issued by a small number of issuers as compared with diversified mutual funds.
•  Credit risk , which is the chance that a bond issuer will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline. Credit risk should be high for the Fund because it invests a large portion of its assets in bonds rated below investment-grade (also known as high-yield or junk bonds).
•  Liquidity risk , which is the chance that the Fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired price.
•  Interest rate risk , which is the chance that bond prices overall will decline because of rising interest rates. Interest rate risk should be moderate for the Fund because it invests primarily in short- and intermediate-term bonds, whose prices are less sensitive to interest rate changes than are the prices of long-term bonds.
•  Income risk , which is the chance that the Fund's income will decline because of falling interest rates. Income risk should be moderate for the Fund, so investors should expect the Fund’s monthly income to fluctuate accordingly.
•  Index sampling risk , which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund's target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.
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•  Call risk , which is the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call (redeem) securities with higher coupon rates or interest rates before their maturity dates. The Fund would then lose any price appreciation above the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income. Such redemptions and subsequent reinvestments would also increase the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate.
•  Extension risk , which is the chance that during periods of rising interest rates, certain debt securities will be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated, and the value of those securities may fall.
Because ETF Shares are traded on an exchange, they are subject to additional risks:
• The Fund’s ETF Shares are listed for trading on Nasdaq and are bought and sold on the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of an ETF Share typically will approximate its net asset value (NAV), there may be times when the market price and the NAV differ significantly. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy ETF Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares.
• Although the Fund’s ETF Shares are listed for trading on Nasdaq, it is possible that an active trading market may not be maintained.
• Trading of the Fund’s ETF Shares may be halted by the activation of individual or marketwide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). Trading of the Fund’s ETF Shares may also be halted if (1) the shares are delisted from Nasdaq without first being listed on another exchange or (2) Nasdaq officials determine that such action is appropriate in the interest of a fair and orderly market or for the protection of investors.
A Note on Risk: Many investors invest in bonds and bond funds in an attempt to lower the overall risk of their portfolios. This strategy makes sense when the bonds owned are U.S. bonds because U.S. bond returns typically are not highly correlated with, and are far less volatile than, stock returns. The strategy is less likely to be effective, however, when the bonds owned are emerging market bonds. Returns of emerging market bonds, even dollar-denominated bonds like those owned by the Fund, can be quite volatile. The correlation between emerging market bond and stock returns (both U.S. and foreign) is often higher than the correlation between U.S. bond and stock returns. Consequently, if your goal is to lower risk and volatility, this Fund may not be an appropriate investment.
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An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund‘s ETF Shares (based on NAV) has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the ETF Shares compare with those of the Fund's target index and another comparative index, which have investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund ETF Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
11.63%
June 30, 2020
Lowest
-12.60%
March 31, 2020
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Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
5 Years
Since
Inception
(May 31,
2013)
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index
Fund ETF Shares
 
 
 
Based on NAV
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
5.82%
6.91%
5.00%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
3.93
4.88
3.00
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
3.36
4.41
2.90
Based on Market Price
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
5.76
6.93
5.12
Comparative Indexes
(reflect no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
 
 
 
Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government
RIC Capped Index
5.79%
6.99%
5.09%
Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index ex USD
10.11
4.89
2.30
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Portfolio Manager
Joshua C. Barrickman, CFA, Principal of Vanguard and co-head of Vanguard’s Fixed Income Indexing Americas. He has managed the Fund since its inception in 2013.
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Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
ETF Shares may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a brokerage firm. The price you pay or receive for ETF Shares will be the prevailing market price, which may be more (premium) or less (discount) than the NAV of the shares. The brokerage firm may charge you a commission to execute the transaction. Unless imposed by your brokerage firm, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest and no minimum number of shares you must buy. ETF Shares of the Fund cannot be directly purchased from or redeemed with the Fund, except by certain authorized broker-dealers. These broker-dealers may purchase and redeem ETF Shares only in large blocks (Creation Units), typically in exchange for baskets of securities.
 
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (bid-ask spread). Recent information, including information on the Fund's NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.vanguard.com.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisor do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
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Investing in Vanguard ETF® Shares
What Are Vanguard ETF Shares?
Vanguard ETF Shares are an exchange-traded class of shares issued by certain Vanguard funds. ETF Shares represent an interest in the portfolio of stocks or bonds held by the issuing fund. This prospectus describes Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF, a class of shares issued by Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund. In addition to ETF Shares, the Fund offers two conventional (not exchange-traded) classes of shares. This prospectus, however, relates only to ETF Shares.
How Are Vanguard ETF Shares Different From Conventional Mutual Fund Shares?
Conventional mutual fund shares can be directly purchased from and redeemed with the issuing fund for cash at the net asset value (NAV), typically calculated once a day. ETF Shares, by contrast, cannot be purchased directly from or redeemed directly with the issuing fund by an individual investor. Rather, ETF Shares can only be purchased or redeemed directly from the issuing fund by certain authorized broker-dealers. These broker-dealers may purchase and redeem ETF Shares only in large blocks (Creation Units), usually in exchange for baskets of securities and not for cash (although some funds issue and redeem Creation Units in exchange for cash or a combination of cash and securities).
An organized secondary trading market is expected to exist for ETF Shares, unlike conventional mutual fund shares, because ETF Shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange. Individual investors can purchase and sell ETF Shares on the secondary market through a broker. Secondary-market transactions occur not at NAV, but at market prices that are subject to change throughout the day based on the supply of and demand for ETF Shares, changes in the prices of the fund’s portfolio holdings, and other factors.
The market price of a fund's ETF Shares typically will differ somewhat from the NAV of those shares. The difference between market price and NAV is expected to be small most of the time, but in times of market disruption or extreme market volatility, the difference may become significant.
How Do I Buy and Sell Vanguard ETF Shares?
ETF Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on Nasdaq. You can buy and sell ETF Shares on the secondary market in the same way you buy and sell any other exchange-traded security—through a broker. Your broker may charge a commission to execute a transaction. You will also incur the cost of the “bid-ask spread,” which is the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market. Because secondary-market transactions occur at market prices, you may pay
8
more (premium) or less (discount) than NAV when you buy ETF Shares and receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. In times of severe market disruption, the bid-ask spread and premiums/discounts can increase significantly. Unless imposed by your broker, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest and no minimum number of ETF Shares you must buy.
Your ownership of ETF Shares will be shown on the records of the broker through which you hold the shares. Vanguard will not have any record of your ownership. Your account information will be maintained by your broker, which will provide you with account statements, confirmations of your purchases and sales of ETF Shares, and tax information. Your broker also will be responsible for ensuring that you receive income and capital gains distributions, as well as shareholder reports and other communications from the fund whose ETF Shares you own. You will receive other services (e.g., dividend reinvestment and average cost information) only if your broker offers these services.
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Investing in Index Funds
What Is Indexing?
Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or “index.” An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets—such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments—such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. One cannot invest directly in an index.
The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index and the weighting of each security in the index. Under normal circumstances, the index sponsor will rebalance an index on a regular schedule. An index sponsor may carry out additional ad hoc index rebalances or delay or cancel a scheduled rebalance. Generally, the index sponsor does not provide any warranty, or accept any liability, with respect to the quality, accuracy, or completeness of either the target index or its related data. Errors made by the index sponsor may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index sponsor for a period of time or at all. Vanguard does not provide any warranty or guarantee against such errors. Therefore, the gains, losses, or costs associated with the index sponsor’s errors will generally be borne by the index fund and its shareholders.
An index fund seeks to hold all, or a representative sample, of the securities that make up its target index. Index funds attempt to mirror the performance of the target index, for better or worse. However, an index fund generally does not perform exactly like its target index. For example, index funds have operating expenses and transaction costs. Market indexes do not, and therefore they will usually have a slight performance advantage over funds that track them. The ability of an index fund to match its performance to that of its target index can also be impacted by, among other things, the timing and size of cash flows and the size of the fund. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could also have an adverse effect on a fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the index.
Index funds typically have the following characteristics:
•  Variety of investments . Depending on a fund’s benchmark index, the fund may invest in the securities of a variety of companies, industries, and/or governments or government agencies.
•  Relative performance consistency . Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
•  Low cost . Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity—and thus dealer markups and other transaction costs—to a minimum compared with actively managed funds.
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More on the Fund and ETF Shares
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.
Share Class Overview
This prospectus offers the Fund‘s ETF Shares, an exchange-traded class of shares. A separate prospectus offers the Fund‘s Admiral™ Shares, which generally have an investment minimum of $3,000. In addition, another prospectus offers the Fund‘s Institutional Shares, which are generally for investors who invest a minimum of $5 million.

 

All share classes offered by the Fund have the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. However, different share classes have different expenses; as a result, their investment returns will differ.
A Note to Investors
Vanguard ETF Shares can be purchased directly from the issuing Fund only by certain authorized broker-dealers in exchange for a basket of securities (or, in some cases, for cash or a combination of cash and securities). Individual investors generally will not be able to purchase ETF Shares directly from the Fund. Instead, these investors will purchase ETF Shares on the secondary market through a broker.  
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Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are deducted
from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the net assets
of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated in the Fees
and Expenses section, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index
Fund ETF Shares’ expense ratio would be 0.25%, or $2.50 per $1,000 of
average net assets. The average expense ratio for emerging markets hard
currency debt funds in 2019 was 1.05%, or $10.50 per $1,000 of average net
assets (derived from data provided by Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company,
which reports on the fund industry).
 
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing an ETF. That is because
you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of operating a
fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or sells
securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross income
or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small differences
in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund’s board of trustees, which oversees the Fund's management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund‘s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote. The Fund may change its 80% policy of investing its assets in securities that are included in its target index only upon 60 days‘ notice shareholders.
12
Market Exposure
   
The Fund is subject to interest rate risk, which is the chance that bond prices will decline because of rising interest rates. Interest rate risk should be moderate for the Fund because it invests primarily in short- and intermediate-term bonds, whose prices are less sensitive to interest rate changes than are the prices of long-term bonds.
Although bonds are often thought to be less risky than stocks, there have been periods when bond prices have fallen significantly because of rising interest rates. For instance, prices of long-term U.S. bonds fell by almost 48% between December 1976 and September 1981. Note that over any particular time period, the prices of foreign bonds and U.S. bonds may increase or decrease by different amounts and, in some cases, may move in opposite directions.
To illustrate the relationship between bond prices and interest rates, the following table shows the effect of a 1% and a 2% change (both up and down) in interest rates on the values of three noncallable bonds (i.e., bonds that cannot be redeemed by the issuer) of different maturities, each with a face value of $1,000.
How Interest Rate Changes Affect the Value of a $1,000 Bond1  
Type of Bond (Maturity)
After a 1%
Increase
After a 1%
Decrease
After a 2%
Increase
After a 2%
Decrease
Short-Term (2.5 years)
$ 977
$ 1,024
$ 954
$ 1,049
Intermediate-Term (10 years)
922
1,086
851
1,180
Long-Term (20 years)
874
1,150
769
1,328
1 Assuming a 4% coupon rate.
These figures are for illustration only; you should not regard them as an indication of future performance of foreign bonds generally or the Fund in particular.  
13
Plain Talk About Bonds and Interest Rates
As a rule, when interest rates rise, bond prices fall. The opposite is also true:
Bond prices go up when interest rates fall. Why do bond prices and interest
rates move in opposite directions? Let’s assume that you hold a bond
offering a 4% yield. A year later, interest rates are on the rise and bonds of
comparable quality and maturity are offered with a 5% yield. With
higher-yielding bonds available, you would have trouble selling your 4% bond
for the price you paid—you would probably have to lower your asking price.
On the other hand, if interest rates were falling and 3% bonds were being
offered, you should be able to sell your 4% bond for more than you paid.
Changes in interest rates can affect bond income as well as bond prices.
   
The Fund is subject to income risk, which is the chance that the Fund’s income will decline because of falling interest rates. A fund’s income declines when interest rates fall because the fund then must invest new cash flow and cash from maturing bonds in lower-yielding bonds. Income risk should be moderate for the Fund, so investors should expect the Fund‘s monthly income to fluctuate accordingly.  
Plain Talk About Bond Maturities
A bond is issued with a specific maturity date—the date when the issuer
must pay back the bond’s principal (face value). Bond maturities range from
less than 1 year to more than 30 years. Typically, the longer a bond’s maturity,
the more price risk you, as a bond investor, will face as interest rates
rise—but also the higher the potential yield you could receive. Longer-term
bonds are more suitable for investors willing to take a greater risk of price
fluctuations to get higher and more stable interest income. Shorter-term
bond investors should be willing to accept lower yields and greater income
variability in return for less fluctuation in the value of their investment. The
stated maturity of a bond may differ from the effective maturity of a bond,
which takes into consideration that an action such as a call or refunding may
cause bonds to be repaid before their stated maturity dates.
Although falling interest rates tend to strengthen bond prices, they can cause other problems for bond fund investors—bond calls and prepayments.
14
   
The Fund is subject to call risk, which is the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call (redeem) securities with higher coupon rates or interest rates before their maturity dates. The Fund would then lose any price appreciation above the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income. Such redemptions and subsequent reinvestments would also increase the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate.
   
The Fund is subject to extension risk, which is the chance that during periods of rising interest rates, certain debt securities will be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated, and the value of those securities may fall.
   
The Fund is subject to credit risk, which is the chance that a bond issuer will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline. Credit risk should be high for the Fund because it invests a large portion of its assets in bonds rated below investment-grade (also known as high-yield or junk bonds).  
Plain Talk About Credit Quality
A bond’s credit quality rating is an assessment of the issuer’s ability to pay
interest on the bond and, ultimately, to repay the principal. The lower the
credit quality, the greater the perceived chance that the bond issuer will
default, or fail to meet its payment obligations. All things being equal, the
lower a bond’s credit quality, the higher its yield should be to compensate
investors for assuming additional risk.
   
The Fund is subject to emerging markets risk, which is the chance that the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in emerging market countries will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging market countries can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets. Emerging markets risk is especially high for the Fund.
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The Fund is subject to country/regional risk, which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value and/or liquidity of securities issued by foreign governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in bonds of issuers located in any one country or region, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
   
The Fund is subject to liquidity risk, which is the chance that the Fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired price.  
Plain Talk About International Investing
U.S. investors who invest in foreign securities will encounter risks not
typically associated with U.S. companies because foreign stock and bond
markets operate differently from the U.S. markets. For instance, foreign
companies and governments may not be subject to the same or similar
accounting, auditing, legal, tax, and financial reporting standards and
practices as U.S. companies and the U.S. government, and their stocks and
bonds may not be as liquid as those of similar U.S. entities. In addition,
foreign stock exchanges, brokers, companies, bond markets, and dealers
may be subject to less government supervision and regulation than their
counterparts in the United States. These factors, among others, could
negatively affect the returns U.S. investors receive from foreign investments.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
   
The Fund is subject to nondiversification risk, which is the chance that the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of bonds issued by just a few issuers or even a single issuer. The Fund is considered nondiversified, which means that it may invest a significant percentage of its assets in bonds issued by a small number of issuers as compared with diversified mutual funds.
Security Selection
Index sampling strategy. Because it would be very expensive and inefficient to buy and sell all of the bonds held in its target index—which is an indexing strategy called “replication”—the Fund uses index “sampling” techniques to
16
select securities. Using computer programs, the Fund’s advisor generally selects a representative sample of securities that approximates the full target index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. These factors include country of origin, duration, cash flow, credit quality, and callability of the underlying bonds. Because the Fund does not hold all of the securities in its target index, some of the securities (and issuers) that are held will likely be overweighted (or underweighted) compared with the target index.
   
The Fund is subject to index sampling risk, which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund's target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.
Types of bonds. The Fund tracks the Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index, which includes dollar-denominated bonds with maturities of more than one year issued by emerging market governments such as government agencies and government-owned corporations and banks. The number of bonds in the Fund’s target index was 621 as of October 31, 2020. The Index is capped, which means that its exposure to any particular bond issuer is limited to a maximum of 20% and its aggregate exposure to issuers that individually constitute 5% or more of the Index is limited to 48%. If the Index, as constituted based on market weights, exceeds the 20% or 48% limits, the excess is reallocated to bonds of other issuers represented in the Index. The objective of the reallocation, which is handled by Barclays, is to keep the Index compliant with Internal Revenue Code guidelines and as close to market-cap weight as possible.

 

A “dollar-denominated” bond is a bond that is bought and sold in U.S. dollars. Because the bonds are priced in dollars, rather than in the local currency of the issuer, a U.S. investor is not exposed to currency risk; rather, the issuer assumes this risk, usually to attract U.S. investors. The issuer’s assumption of currency risk can affect the credit risk of its bonds because the issuer would have a large burden if its local currency weakens significantly compared with the U.S. dollar. If an issuer’s local currency declines relative to the U.S. dollar, it could negatively affect perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make payments, which could cause the issuer’s bonds to decline in value. Many issuers manage this risk by hedging currency exposure, and their effectiveness in doing so is typically reflected in their credit rating.

 

Except for an occasional small investment in U.S. government securities (typically less than 1% of Fund assets), all of the bonds held by the Fund will be
17
issued by foreign issuers. The primary market for most of these bonds is in the United States, although some bonds may be bought and sold in foreign bond markets.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in bonds held in its target index. The target index, and therefore the Fund itself, is expected to include a significant allocation to nonpublic securities, generally referred to as 144A securities. Although they are nonpublic and therefore restricted, 144A securities can be traded among qualified institutional buyers and are expected to be liquid (meaning that the advisor believes they can be sold or disposed of within seven days in the ordinary course of business at approximately the price at which they are valued). Subject to a 20% limit, the Fund may also purchase other investments that are not included in its target index or may hold bonds that, when acquired, were included in the index but subsequently were removed.
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the index it currently tracks if the current index is discontinued, if the Fund's agreement with the sponsor of its target index is terminated, or for any other reason determined in good faith by the Fund’s board of trustees. In any such instance, the substitute index would represent the same market segment as the current index.
The Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. The Fund may invest in derivatives only if the expected risks and rewards of the derivatives are consistent with the investment objective, policies, strategies, and risks of the Fund as disclosed in this prospectus. In particular, derivatives will be used only when they may help the advisor to accomplish one or more of the following:
• Invest in eligible asset classes with greater efficiency and lower cost than is possible through direct investment.
• Add value when these instruments are attractively priced.
• Adjust the Fund's sensitivity to changes in interest rates.
The Fund's derivative investments may include fixed income futures contracts, fixed income options, interest rate swaps, total return swaps, credit default swaps, or other derivatives. Losses (or gains) involving futures contracts can
18
sometimes be substantial—in part because a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in an immediate and substantial loss (or gain) for a fund. Similar risks exist for other types of derivatives.  
Plain Talk About Derivatives
Derivatives can take many forms. Some forms of derivatives—such as
exchange-traded futures and options on securities, commodities, or
indexes—have been trading on regulated exchanges for decades. These
types of derivatives are standardized contracts that can easily be bought and
sold and whose market values are determined and published daily. On the
other hand, non-exchange-traded derivatives—such as certain swap
agreements—tend to be more specialized or complex and may be more
difficult to accurately value.
The Fund may invest a small portion of its assets in fixed income futures, which are a type of derivative, and/or shares of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These fixed income futures and ETFs typically provide returns similar to those of the bonds listed in the index, or in a subset of the index, the Fund seeks to track. The Fund may purchase futures or ETFs when doing so will reduce the Fund’s transaction costs, facilitate cash management, mitigate risk, or have the potential to add value because the instruments are favorably priced. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in ETF Shares of other Vanguard funds. Fund assets invested in ETF Shares are excluded when allocating to the Fund its share of the costs of Vanguard operations.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Redemptions of ETF Shares are typically met through a combination of cash and securities held by the Fund; see “How Are Vanguard ETF Shares Different From Conventional Mutual Fund Shares?” If cash is used to meet redemptions, the Fund typically obtains such cash through positive cash flows or the sale of Fund
19
holdings consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and strategy. Please consult the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information for further information on redemptions of ETF Shares.
Under certain circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when the advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case when the Fund receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
Special Risks of Exchange-Traded Shares
   
ETF Shares are not individually redeemable. They can be redeemed with the issuing Fund at NAV only by certain authorized broker-dealers and only in large blocks known as Creation Units. Consequently, if you want to liquidate some or all of your ETF Shares, you must sell them on the secondary market at prevailing market prices.
   
The market price of ETF Shares may differ from NAV. Although it is expected that the market price of an ETF Share typically will approximate its NAV, there may be times when the market price and the NAV differ significantly. Thus, you may pay more (premium) or less (discount) than NAV when you buy ETF Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. These discounts and premiums are likely to be greatest during times of market disruption or extreme market volatility.
Vanguard’s website at vanguard.com shows the previous day’s closing NAV and closing market price for the Fund’s ETF Shares. The website also discloses, in the Premium/Discount Analysis section of the ETF Shares’ Price & Performance page, how frequently the Fund’s ETF Shares traded at a premium or discount to NAV (based on closing NAVs and market prices) and the magnitudes of such premiums and discounts.
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An active trading market may not exist. Although Vanguard ETF Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not be maintained. Although this could happen at any time, it is more likely to occur during times of severe market disruption. If you attempt to sell your ETF Shares when an active trading market is not functioning, you may have to sell at a significant discount to NAV. In extreme cases, you may not be able to sell your shares at all.
   
Trading may be halted. Trading of Vanguard ETF Shares on an exchange may be halted by the activation of individual or marketwide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). Trading of ETF Shares may also be halted if (1) the shares are delisted from the listing exchange without first being listed on another exchange or (2) exchange officials determine that such action is appropriate in the interest of a fair and orderly market or for the protection of investors.
Conversion Privilege
Owners of conventional shares issued by the Fund may convert those shares to ETF Shares of equivalent value of the same fund. Please note that investors who own conventional shares through a 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored retirement or benefit plan generally may not convert those shares to ETF Shares and should check with their plan sponsor or recordkeeper. ETF Shares, whether acquired through a conversion or purchased on the secondary market, cannot be converted to conventional shares by a shareholder. Also, ETF Shares of one fund cannot be exchanged for ETF Shares of another fund.
You must hold ETF Shares in a brokerage account. Thus, before converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, you must have an existing, or open a new, brokerage account. This account may be with Vanguard Brokerage Services® or with any other brokerage firm. To initiate a conversion of conventional shares to ETF Shares, please contact your broker.
Vanguard Brokerage Services does not impose a fee on conversions from Vanguard conventional shares to Vanguard ETF Shares. However, other brokerage firms may charge a fee to process a conversion. Vanguard reserves the right, in the future, to impose a transaction fee on conversions or to limit, temporarily suspend, or terminate the conversion privilege.
Converting conventional shares to ETF Shares is generally accomplished as follows. First, after your broker notifies Vanguard of your request to convert, Vanguard will transfer your conventional shares from your account to the broker’s omnibus account with Vanguard (an account maintained by the broker on behalf of all its customers who hold conventional Vanguard fund shares
21
through the broker). After the transfer, Vanguard’s records will reflect your broker, not you, as the owner of the shares. Next, your broker will instruct Vanguard to convert the appropriate number or dollar amount of conventional shares in its omnibus account to ETF Shares of equivalent value, based on the respective NAVs of the two share classes.
Your Fund’s transfer agent will reflect ownership of all ETF Shares in the name of the Depository Trust Company (DTC). The DTC will keep track of which ETF Shares belong to your broker, and your broker, in turn, will keep track of which ETF Shares belong to you.
Because the DTC is unable to handle fractional shares, only whole shares can be converted. For example, if you owned 300.25 conventional shares, and this was equivalent in value to 90.75 ETF Shares, the DTC account would receive 90 ETF Shares. Conventional shares with a value equal to 0.75 ETF Shares (in this example, that would be 2.481 conventional shares) would remain in the broker’s omnibus account with Vanguard. Your broker then could either (1) credit your account with 0.75 ETF Shares or (2) redeem the 2.481 conventional shares for cash at NAV and deliver that cash to your account. If your broker chose to redeem your conventional shares, you would realize a gain or loss on the redemption that must be reported on your tax return (unless you hold the shares in an IRA or other tax-deferred account). Please consult your broker for information on how it will handle the conversion process, including whether it will impose a fee to process a conversion.
If you convert your conventional shares to ETF Shares through Vanguard Brokerage Services, all conventional shares for which you request conversion will be converted to ETF Shares of equivalent value. Because no fractional shares will have to be sold, the transaction will not be taxable.
Here are some important points to keep in mind when converting conventional shares of a Vanguard fund to ETF Shares:
• The conversion process can take anywhere from several days to several weeks, depending on your broker. Vanguard generally will process conversion requests either on the day they are received or on the next business day. Vanguard imposes conversion blackout windows around the dates when a fund with ETF Shares declares dividends. This is necessary to prevent a shareholder from collecting a dividend from both the conventional share class currently held and also from the ETF share class to which the shares will be converted.
• Until the conversion process is complete, you will remain fully invested in a fund’s conventional shares, and your investment will increase or decrease in value in tandem with the NAV of those shares.
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• The conversion transaction is nontaxable except, if applicable, to the very limited extent previously described.
A precautionary note to investment companies: Vanguard ETF Shares are issued by registered investment companies, and therefore the acquisition of such shares by other investment companies is subject to the restrictions of Section 12(d)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Vanguard has obtained an SEC exemptive order that allows registered investment companies to invest in the issuing funds beyond the limits of Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions, including the requirement to enter into a participation agreement with Vanguard.
Frequent Trading and Market-Timing
Unlike frequent trading of a Vanguard fund’s conventional (i.e., not exchange-traded) classes of shares, frequent trading of ETF Shares does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. The vast majority of trading in ETF Shares occurs on the secondary market. Because these trades do not involve the issuing fund, they do not harm the fund or its shareholders. Certain broker-dealers are authorized to purchase and redeem ETF Shares directly with the issuing fund. Because these trades typically are effected in kind (i.e., for securities and not for cash), or are assessed a transaction fee when effected in cash, they do not cause any of the harmful effects to the issuing fund (as previously noted) that may result from frequent trading. For these reasons, the board of trustees of each fund that issues ETF Shares has determined that it is not necessary to adopt policies and procedures to detect and deter frequent trading and market-timing of ETF Shares.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. Generally, an index fund sells securities in response to redemption requests from shareholders of conventional (not exchange-traded) shares or to changes in the composition of its target index or in an effort to manage the fund's duration. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact
23
transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc., P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482, which began operations in 1975, serves as advisor to the Fund through its Fixed Income Group. As of October 31, 2020, Vanguard served as advisor for approximately $5.2 trillion in assets. Vanguard provides investment advisory services to the Fund pursuant to the Funds’ Service Agreement and subject to the supervision and oversight of the trustees and officers of the Fund.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the advisory expenses represented an effective annual rate of less than 0.01% of the Fund’s average net assets.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party
24
investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory arrangement, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
The manager primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund is:
Joshua C. Barrickman, CFA, Principal of Vanguard and co-head of Vanguard’s Fixed Income Indexing Americas. He has been with Vanguard since 1998, has worked in investment management since 1999, has managed investment portfolios since 2005, and has managed the Fund since its inception in 2013. Education: B.S., Ohio Northern University; M.B.A., Lehigh University.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about the portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income dividends generally are declared monthly and distributed monthly; capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.  
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Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of investments. Income
consists of interest the fund earns from its money market and bond
investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells securities for
higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are either short-term
or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the securities for one year
or less or for more than one year.
Reinvestment of Distributions
In order to reinvest dividend and capital gains distributions, investors in the Fund’s ETF Shares must hold their shares at a broker that offers a reinvestment service. This can be the broker’s own service or a service made available by a third party, such as the broker’s outside clearing firm or the Depository Trust Company (DTC). If a reinvestment service is available, distributions of income and capital gains can automatically be reinvested in additional whole and fractional ETF Shares of the Fund. If a reinvestment service is not available, investors will receive their distributions in cash. To determine whether a reinvestment service is available and whether there is a commission or other charge for using this service, consult your broker.
As with all exchange-traded funds, reinvestment of dividend and capital gains distributions in additional ETF Shares will occur four business days or more after the ex-dividend date (the date when a distribution of dividends or capital gains is deducted from the price of the Fund’s shares). The exact number of days depends on your broker. During that time, the amount of your distribution will not be invested in the Fund and therefore will not share in the Fund’s income, gains, and losses.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional ETF Shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any income dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income.
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• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned ETF Shares.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund’s normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling or exchanging your ETF Shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale of ETF Shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale of ETF Shares.
Income dividends and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale of ETF Shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
The Fund may be subject to foreign taxes or foreign tax withholding on dividends, interest, and some capital gains that it receives on foreign securities. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so. You may qualify for an offsetting credit or deduction under U.S. tax laws for any amount designated as your portion of the Fund’s foreign tax obligations, provided that you meet certain requirements. See your tax advisor or IRS publications for more information.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.
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Share Price and Market Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. Each share class has its own NAV, which is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Remember: If you buy or sell ETF Shares on the secondary market, you will pay or receive the market price, which may be higher or lower than NAV. Your transaction will be priced at NAV only if you purchase or redeem your ETF Shares in Creation Unit blocks (an option available only to certain authorized broker-dealers) or if you convert your conventional fund shares to ETF Shares.
Debt securities held by a Vanguard fund are valued based on information furnished by an independent pricing service or market quotations. When a fund determines that pricing-service information or market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund’s pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges or markets that close many hours before the fund’s pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, material credit events) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster,
28
economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities. A fund may also use fair-value pricing on bond market holidays when the fund is open for business (such as Columbus Day and Veterans Day).

Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard’s website will show the previous day’s closing NAV and closing market price for the Fund’s ETF Shares.
Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund
ETF Shares
5/31/2013
3820
921946885
Certain affiliates of the Fund and the advisor may purchase and resell ETF Shares pursuant to the prospectus.
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
29
Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund ETF Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$80.38
$74.27
$80.73
$80.11
$75.81
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income
3.5511
3.7381
3.4111
3.7131
3.753
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments2
(2.322)
6.044
(6.445)
0.589
4.228
Total from Investment Operations
1.229
9.782
(3.034)
4.302
7.981
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(3.599)
(3.672)
(3.426)
(3.682)
(3.681)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
—
—
—
—
—
Total Distributions
(3.599)
(3.672)
(3.426)
(3.682)
(3.681)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$78.01
$80.38
$74.27
$80.73
$80.11
Total Return
1.65%
13.47%
–3.84%
5.56%
10.84%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$1,853
$1,538
$1,033
$1,002
$874
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets
0.25%
0.25%
0.30%
0.32%
0.32%
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets
4.55%
4.79%
4.42%
4.67%
4.89%
Portfolio Turnover Rate3
21%
48%
25%
19%
24%
1
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
2
Includes increases from redemption fees of $00, $.00, $.04, $.07, and $.04.
3
Excludes the value of portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of in-kind purchases or redemptions of the fund's capital shares, including ETF Creation Units.
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 CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
BLOOMBERG is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. BARCLAYS is a trademark and service mark of Barclays Bank Plc, used under license. Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates, including Bloomberg Index Services Limited (BISL) (collectively, Bloomberg), or Bloomberg’s licensors, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index (the Index or Bloomberg Barclays Index).
Neither Barclays Bank Plc, Barclays Capital Inc., or any affiliate (collectively Barclays) or Bloomberg is the issuer or producer of the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF and neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has any responsibilities, obligations or duties to investors in the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF. The Index is licensed for use by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard) as the sponsor of the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF. Bloomberg and Barclays’ only relationship with Vanguard in respect to the Index is the licensing of the Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by BISL, or any successor thereto, without regard to the Issuer or the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF or the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF.
Additionally, Vanguard may for itself execute transaction(s) with Barclays in or relating to the Index in connection with the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF. Investors acquire the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF from Vanguard and investors neither acquire any interest in the Index nor enter into any relationship of any kind whatsoever with Bloomberg or Barclays upon making an investment in the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF. The Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Bloomberg or Barclays. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays makes any representation or warranty, express or implied regarding the advisability of investing in the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF or the advisability of investing in securities generally or the ability of the Index to track corresponding or relative market performance. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has passed on the legality or suitability of the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF with respect to any person or entity. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays is responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF to be issued. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has any obligation to take the needs of the Issuer or the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF or any other third party into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Index. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has any obligation or liability in connection with administration, marketing or trading of the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF.
The licensing agreement between Bloomberg and Barclays is solely for the benefit of Bloomberg and Barclays and not for the benefit of the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF, investors or other third parties. In addition, the licensing agreement between Vanguard and Bloomberg is solely for the benefit of Vanguard and Bloomberg and not for the benefit of the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF, investors or other third parties.
NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO THE ISSUER, INVESTORS OR TO OTHER THIRD PARTIES FOR THE QUALITY, ACCURACY AND/OR COMPLETENESS OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN OR FOR INTERRUPTIONS IN THE DELIVERY OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX. NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS MAKES ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY THE ISSUER, THE INVESTORS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS MAKES ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EACH HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BLOOMBERG RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE METHODS OF CALCULATION OR PUBLICATION, OR TO CEASE THE CALCULATION OR PUBLICATION OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX, AND NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY MISCALCULATION OF OR ANY INCORRECT, DELAYED OR INTERRUPTED PUBLICATION WITH RESPECT TO THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX. NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY LOST PROFITS AND EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH, RESULTING FROM THE USE OF A BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN OR WITH RESPECT TO THE EMERGING MARKETS GOVERNMENT BOND ETF.
None of the information supplied by Bloomberg or Barclays and used in this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the prior written permission of both Bloomberg and Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank Plc. Barclays Bank Plc is registered in England No. 1026167, registered office 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP.
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Glossary of Investment Terms
Authorized Participant. Institutional investors that are permitted to purchase Creation Units directly from, and redeem Creation Units directly with, the issuing fund. To be an Authorized Participant, an entity must be a participant in the Depository Trust Company and must enter into an agreement with the fund’s Distributor.
Average Maturity. The average length of time until bonds held by a fund reach maturity and are repaid. In general, the longer the average maturity, the more a fund's share price fluctuates in response to changes in market interest rates. In calculating average maturity, a fund uses a bond’s maturity or, if applicable, an earlier date on which the advisor believes it is likely that a maturity-shortening device (such as a call, put, refunding, prepayment, or redemption provision or an adjustable coupon rate) will cause the bond to be repaid.
Bid-Ask Spread. The difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market.
Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index ex USD. A multi-currency benchmark that includes fixed-rate treasury, government-related, corporate, and securitized bonds from developed and emerging market issuers while excluding USD denominated debt. It is largely comprised of two major regional aggregate components: the Pan-European Aggregate and the Asian-Pacific Aggregate Index.
Bond. A debt security (IOU) issued by a corporation, a government, or a government agency in exchange for the money the bondholder lends it. In most instances, the issuer agrees to pay back the loan by a specific date and generally to make regular interest payments until that date.
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Coupon Rate. The interest rate paid by the issuer of a debt security until its maturity. It is expressed as an annual percentage of the face value of the security.
Creation Unit. A large block of a specified number of ETF Shares. Certain broker-dealers known as “Authorized Participants” may purchase and redeem ETF Shares from the issuing fund in Creation Unit size blocks.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
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Dollar-Denominated Bond. A bond that is bought and sold in exchange for U.S. dollars.
Ex-Dividend Date. The date when a distribution of dividends and/or capital gains is deducted from the share price of a mutual fund, ETF, or stock. On the ex-dividend date, the share price drops by the amount of the distribution per share (plus or minus any market activity).
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Face Value. The amount to be paid at a bond’s maturity; also known as the par value or principal.
Fixed Income Security. An investment, such as a bond, representing a debt that must be repaid by a specified date, and on which the borrower must pay a fixed, variable, or floating rate of interest.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund (or one of its share classes) are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Indexing. A low-cost investment strategy in which a fund attempts to track—rather than outperform—a specified market benchmark, or “index.”
Investment-Grade Bond. A debt security whose credit quality is considered by independent bond rating agencies, or through independent analysis conducted by a fund's advisor, to be sufficient to ensure timely payment of principal and interest under current economic circumstances. Debt securities rated in one of the four highest rating categories are considered investment-grade. Other debt securities may be considered by an advisor to be investment-grade.
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit
33
facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund’s board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Principal. The face value of a debt instrument or the amount of money put into an investment.
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
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Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund’s investments is available in the Fund’s annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund’s performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund’s ETF Shares and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about Vanguard ETF Shares, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
Telephone: 866-499-8473; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund’s Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.U.S. Patent Nos. 6,879,964; 7,337,138; 7,720,749; 7,925,573; 8,090,646; and 8,417,623.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 3820 022021
 
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Admiral™ Shares
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund Admiral Shares (VGAVX)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
Fund Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of U.S. dollar-denominated bonds issued by governments and government-related issuers in emerging market countries.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell Admiral Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
None
Purchase Fee
0.75%
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
Redemption Fee
None
Account Service Fee Per Year
(for certain fund account balances below $10,000)
$20
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.24%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.25%
1
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s Admiral Shares with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund's shares. This example assumes that the shares provide a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$100
$155
$215
$391
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 21% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index. This Index includes U.S. dollar-denominated bonds that have maturities longer than one year and that were issued by emerging market governments and government-related issuers. The Index is capped, which means that its exposure to any particular bond issuer is limited to a maximum of 20% and its aggregate exposure to issuers that individually constitute 5% or more of the Index is limited to 48%. If the Index, as constituted based on market weights, exceeds the 20% or 48% limits, the excess is reallocated to bonds of other issuers represented in the Index.

 

The Fund invests by sampling the Index, meaning that it holds a range of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the full Index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. All of the Fund’s investments will be selected through the sampling process, and under normal circumstances at least 80% of
2
the Fund’s assets will be invested in bonds included in the Index. The Fund maintains a dollar-weighted average maturity consistent with that of the Index. As of October 31, 2020, the dollar-weighted average maturity of the Index was 13.2 years.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance, and the level of risk may vary based on market conditions:
•  Country/regional risk , which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value and/or liquidity of securities issued by foreign governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in bonds of issuers located in any one country or region, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Emerging markets risk , which is the chance that the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets. Emerging markets risk is high for the Fund.
•  Nondiversification risk , which is the chance that the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few bonds issued by just a few issuers or even a single issuer. The Fund is considered nondiversified, which means that it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the bonds issued by a small number of particular issuers as compared with diversified mutual funds.
•  Credit risk , which is the chance that a bond issuer will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline. Credit risk should be high for the Fund because it invests a large portion of its assets in bonds rated below investment-grade (also known as high-yield or junk bonds).
•  Liquidity risk , which is the chance that the Fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired price.
3
•  Interest rate risk , which is the chance that bond prices overall will decline because of rising interest rates. Interest rate risk should be moderate for the Fund because it invests primarily in short- and intermediate-term bonds, whose prices are less sensitive to interest rate changes than are the prices of long-term bonds.
•  Income risk , which is the chance that the Fund's income will decline because of falling interest rates. Income risk should be moderate for the Fund, so investors should expect the Fund’s monthly income to fluctuate accordingly.
•  Index sampling risk , which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund's target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.
•  Call risk , which is the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call (redeem) securities with higher coupon rates or interest rates before their maturity dates. The Fund would then lose any price appreciation above the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income. Such redemptions and subsequent reinvestments would also increase the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate.
•  Extension risk , which is the chance that during periods of rising interest rates, certain debt securities will be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated, and the value of those securities may fall.
A Note on Risk: Many investors invest in bonds and bond funds in an attempt to lower the overall risk of their portfolios. This strategy makes sense when the bonds owned are U.S. bonds because U.S. bond returns typically are not highly correlated with, and are far less volatile than, stock returns. The strategy is less likely to be effective, however, when the bonds owned are emerging market bonds. Returns of emerging market bonds, even dollar-denominated bonds like those owned by the Fund, can be quite volatile. The correlation between emerging market bond and stock returns (both U.S. and foreign) is often higher than the correlation between U.S. bond and stock returns. Consequently, if your goal is to lower risk and volatility, this Fund may not be an appropriate investment.
An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
4
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund's Admiral Shares (including annual fund operating expenses but excluding shareholder fees) has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. If applicable shareholder fees were reflected, returns would be less than those shown in the bar chart. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the Admiral Shares (including annual fund operating expenses and any applicable shareholder fees) compare with those of the Fund's target index and another comparative index, which have investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund Admiral Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
11.67%
June 30, 2020
Lowest
-12.63%
March 31, 2020
5
Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
5 Years
Since
Inception
(May 31,
2013)
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index
Fund Admiral Shares
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
5.01%
6.75%
4.91%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
3.14
4.73
2.91
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
2.89
4.28
2.83
Comparative Indexes
(reflect no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
 
 
 
Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government
RIC Capped Index
5.79%
6.99%
5.09%
Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index ex USD
10.11
4.89
2.30
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Portfolio Manager
Joshua C. Barrickman, CFA, Principal of Vanguard and co-head of Vanguard’s Fixed Income Indexing Americas. He has managed the Fund since its inception in 2013.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for Admiral Shares is $3,000. The minimum investment amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1.
6
Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility. If you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisor do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
7
Investing in Index Funds
What Is Indexing?
Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or “index.” An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets—such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments—such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. One cannot invest directly in an index.
The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index and the weighting of each security in the index. Under normal circumstances, the index sponsor will rebalance an index on a regular schedule. An index sponsor may carry out additional ad hoc index rebalances or delay or cancel a scheduled rebalance. Generally, the index sponsor does not provide any warranty, or accept any liability, with respect to the quality, accuracy, or completeness of either the target index or its related data. Errors made by the index sponsor may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index sponsor for a period of time or at all. Vanguard does not provide any warranty or guarantee against such errors. Therefore, the gains, losses, or costs associated with the index sponsor’s errors will generally be borne by the index fund and its shareholders.
An index fund seeks to hold all, or a representative sample, of the securities that make up its target index. Index funds attempt to mirror the performance of the target index, for better or worse. However, an index fund generally does not perform exactly like its target index. For example, index funds have operating expenses and transaction costs. Market indexes do not, and therefore they will usually have a slight performance advantage over funds that track them. The ability of an index fund to match its performance to that of its target index can also be impacted by, among other things, the timing and size of cash flows and the size of the fund. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could also have an adverse effect on a fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the index.
Index funds typically have the following characteristics:
•  Variety of investments . Depending on a fund’s benchmark index, the fund may invest in the securities of a variety of companies, industries, and/or governments or government agencies.
•  Relative performance consistency . Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
•  Low cost . Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity—and thus dealer markups and other transaction costs—to a minimum compared with actively managed funds.
8
More on the Fund
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any mutual fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to mutual fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.
Share Class Overview
This prospectus offers the Fund's Admiral Shares. A separate prospectus offers the Fund‘s Institutional Shares, which are generally for investors who invest a minimum of $5 million. In addition, the Fund issues ETF Shares (an exchange-traded class of shares), which are also offered through a separate prospectus.
All share classes offered by the Fund have the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. However, different share classes have different expenses; as a result, their investment returns will differ.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All mutual funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are
deducted from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the
net assets of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated
in the Fees and Expenses section, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government
Bond Index Fund Admiral Shares’ expense ratio would be 0.25%, or $2.50
per $1,000 of average net assets. The average expense ratio for emerging
markets hard currency debt funds in 2019 was 1.05%, or $10.50 per $1,000
of average net assets (derived from data provided by Lipper, a Thomson
Reuters Company, which reports on the mutual fund industry).
 
9
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing a mutual fund. That is
because you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of
operating a fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or
sells securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross
income or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small
differences in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a
fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund‘s board of trustees, which oversees the Fund‘s management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund‘s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote. The Fund may change its 80% policy of investing its assets in securities that are included in its target index only upon 60 days‘ notice shareholders.
Market Exposure
   
The Fund is subject to interest rate risk, which is the chance that bond prices will decline because of rising interest rates. Interest rate risk should be moderate for the Fund because it invests primarily in short- and intermediate-term bonds, whose prices are less sensitive to interest rate changes than are the prices of long-term bonds.
Although bonds are often thought to be less risky than stocks, there have been periods when bond prices have fallen significantly because of rising interest rates. For instance, prices of long-term U.S. bonds fell by almost 48% between December 1976 and September 1981. Note that over any particular time period, the prices of foreign bonds and U.S. bonds may increase or decrease by different amounts and, in some cases, may move in opposite directions.
To illustrate the relationship between bond prices and interest rates, the following table shows the effect of a 1% and a 2% change (both up and down) in interest rates on the values of three noncallable bonds (i.e., bonds that cannot be redeemed by the issuer) of different maturities, each with a face value of $1,000.
10
How Interest Rate Changes Affect the Value of a $1,000 Bond1  
Type of Bond (Maturity)
After a 1%
Increase
After a 1%
Decrease
After a 2%
Increase
After a 2%
Decrease
Short-Term (2.5 years)
$ 977
$ 1,024
$ 954
$ 1,049
Intermediate-Term (10 years)
922
1,086
851
1,180
Long-Term (20 years)
874
1,150
769
1,328
1 Assuming a 4% coupon rate.
These figures are for illustration only; you should not regard them as an indication of future performance of foreign bonds generally or the Fund in particular.  
Plain Talk About Bonds and Interest Rates
As a rule, when interest rates rise, bond prices fall. The opposite is also true:
Bond prices go up when interest rates fall. Why do bond prices and interest
rates move in opposite directions? Let’s assume that you hold a bond
offering a 4% yield. A year later, interest rates are on the rise and bonds of
comparable quality and maturity are offered with a 5% yield. With
higher-yielding bonds available, you would have trouble selling your 4% bond
for the price you paid—you would probably have to lower your asking price.
On the other hand, if interest rates were falling and 3% bonds were being
offered, you should be able to sell your 4% bond for more than you paid.
Changes in interest rates can affect bond income as well as bond prices.
   
The Fund is subject to income risk, which is the chance that the Fund’s income will decline because of falling interest rates. A fund’s income declines when interest rates fall because the fund then must invest new cash flow and cash from maturing bonds in lower-yielding bonds. Income risk should be moderate for the Fund, so investors should expect the Fund‘s monthly income to fluctuate accordingly.  
11
Plain Talk About Bond Maturities
A bond is issued with a specific maturity date—the date when the issuer
must pay back the bond’s principal (face value). Bond maturities range from
less than 1 year to more than 30 years. Typically, the longer a bond’s maturity,
the more price risk you, as a bond investor, will face as interest rates
rise—but also the higher the potential yield you could receive. Longer-term
bonds are more suitable for investors willing to take a greater risk of price
fluctuations to get higher and more stable interest income. Shorter-term
bond investors should be willing to accept lower yields and greater income
variability in return for less fluctuation in the value of their investment. The
stated maturity of a bond may differ from the effective maturity of a bond,
which takes into consideration that an action such as a call or refunding may
cause bonds to be repaid before their stated maturity dates.
Although falling interest rates tend to strengthen bond prices, they can cause other problems for bond fund investors—bond calls and prepayments.
   
The Fund is subject to call risk, which is the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call (redeem) securities with higher coupon rates or interest rates before their maturity dates. The Fund would then lose any price appreciation above the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income. Such redemptions and subsequent reinvestments would also increase the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate.
   
The Fund is subject to extension risk, which is the chance that during periods of rising interest rates, certain debt securities will be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated, and the value of those securities may fall.
   
The Fund is subject to credit risk, which is the chance that a bond issuer will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline. Credit risk should be high for the Fund because it invests a large portion of its assets in bonds rated below investment-grade (also known as high-yield or junk bonds).  
12
Plain Talk About Credit Quality
A bond’s credit quality rating is an assessment of the issuer’s ability to pay
interest on the bond and, ultimately, to repay the principal. The lower the
credit quality, the greater the perceived chance that the bond issuer will
default, or fail to meet its payment obligations. All things being equal, the
lower a bond’s credit quality, the higher its yield should be to compensate
investors for assuming additional risk.
   
The Fund is subject to emerging markets risk, which is the chance that the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in emerging market countries will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging market countries can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets. Emerging markets risk is especially high for the Fund.
   
The Fund is subject to country/regional risk, which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value and/or liquidity of securities issued by foreign governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in bonds of issuers located in any one country or region, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
   
The Fund is subject to liquidity risk, which is the chance that the Fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired price.  
13
Plain Talk About International Investing
U.S. investors who invest in foreign securities will encounter risks not
typically associated with U.S. companies because foreign stock and bond
markets operate differently from the U.S. markets. For instance, foreign
companies and governments may not be subject to the same or similar
accounting, auditing, legal, tax, and financial reporting standards and
practices as U.S. companies and the U.S. government, and their stocks and
bonds may not be as liquid as those of similar U.S. entities. In addition,
foreign stock exchanges, brokers, companies, bond markets, and dealers
may be subject to less government supervision and regulation than their
counterparts in the United States. These factors, among others, could
negatively affect the returns U.S. investors receive from foreign investments.
   
The Fund is subject to nondiversification risk, which is the chance that the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of bonds issued by just a few issuers or even a single issuer. The Fund is considered nondiversified, which means that it may invest a significant percentage of its assets in bonds issued by a small number of issuers as compared with diversified mutual funds.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
Security Selection
Index sampling strategy. Because it would be very expensive and inefficient to buy and sell all of the bonds held in its target index—which is an indexing strategy called “replication”—the Fund uses index “sampling” techniques to select securities. Using computer programs, the Fund’s advisor generally selects a representative sample of securities that approximates the full target index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. These factors include country of origin, duration, cash flow, credit quality, and callability of the underlying bonds. Because the Fund does not hold all of the securities in its target index, some of the securities (and issuers) that are held will likely be overweighted (or underweighted) compared with the target index.
   
The Fund is subject to index sampling risk, which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund's target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.
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Types of bonds. The Fund tracks the Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index, which includes dollar-denominated bonds with maturities of more than one year issued by emerging market governments such as government agencies and government-owned corporations and banks. The number of bonds in the Fund’s target index was 621 as of October 31, 2020. The Index is capped, which means that its exposure to any particular bond issuer is limited to a maximum of 20% and its aggregate exposure to issuers that individually constitute 5% or more of the Index is limited to 48%. If the Index, as constituted based on market weights, exceeds the 20% or 48% limits, the excess is reallocated to bonds of other issuers represented in the Index. The objective of the reallocation, which is handled by Barclays, is to keep the Index compliant with Internal Revenue Code guidelines and as close to market-cap weight as possible.

 

A “dollar-denominated” bond is a bond that is bought and sold in U.S. dollars. Because the bonds are priced in dollars, rather than in the local currency of the issuer, a U.S. investor is not exposed to currency risk; rather, the issuer assumes this risk, usually to attract U.S. investors. The issuer’s assumption of currency risk can affect the credit risk of its bonds because the issuer would have a large burden if its local currency weakens significantly compared with the U.S. dollar. If an issuer’s local currency declines relative to the U.S. dollar, it could negatively affect perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make payments, which could cause the issuer’s bonds to decline in value. Many issuers manage this risk by hedging currency exposure, and their effectiveness in doing so is typically reflected in their credit rating.

 

Except for an occasional small investment in U.S. government securities (typically less than 1% of Fund assets), all of the bonds held by the Fund will be issued by foreign issuers. The primary market for most of these bonds is in the United States, although some bonds may be bought and sold in foreign bond markets.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in bonds held in its target index. The target index, and therefore the Fund itself, is expected to include a significant allocation to nonpublic securities, generally referred to as 144A securities. Although they are nonpublic and therefore restricted, 144A securities can be traded among qualified institutional buyers and are expected to be liquid (meaning that the advisor believes they can be sold or disposed of within seven days in the ordinary course of business at approximately the price at which they are valued). Subject to a 20% limit, the
15
Fund may also purchase other investments that are not included in its target index or may hold bonds that, when acquired, were included in the index but subsequently were removed.
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the index it currently tracks if the current index is discontinued, if the Fund's agreement with the sponsor of a current index is terminated, or for any other reason determined in good faith by the Fund’s board of trustees. In any such instance, the substitute index would represent the same market segment as the current index.
The Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. The Fund may invest in derivatives only if the expected risks and rewards of the derivatives are consistent with the investment objective, policies, strategies, and risks of the Fund as disclosed in this prospectus. In particular, derivatives will be used only when they may help the advisor to accomplish one or more of the following:
• Invest in eligible asset classes with greater efficiency and lower cost than is possible through direct investment.
• Add value when these instruments are attractively priced.
• Adjust the Fund's sensitivity to changes in interest rates.
The Fund's derivative investments may include fixed income futures contracts, fixed income options, interest rate swaps, total return swaps, credit default swaps, or other derivatives. Losses (or gains) involving futures contracts can sometimes be substantial—in part because a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in an immediate and substantial loss (or gain) for a fund. Similar risks exist for other types of derivatives.  
Plain Talk About Derivatives
Derivatives can take many forms. Some forms of derivatives—such as
exchange-traded futures and options on securities, commodities, or
indexes—have been trading on regulated exchanges for decades. These
types of derivatives are standardized contracts that can easily be bought and
sold and whose market values are determined and published daily. On the
other hand, non-exchange-traded derivatives—such as certain swap
agreements—tend to be more specialized or complex and may be more
difficult to accurately value.
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The Fund may invest a small portion of its assets in fixed income futures, which are a type of derivative, and/or shares of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These fixed income futures and ETFs typically provide returns similar to those of the bonds listed in the index, or in a subset of the index, the Fund seeks to track. The Fund may purchase futures or ETFs when doing so will reduce the Fund’s transaction costs, facilitate cash management, mitigate risk, or have the potential to add value because the instruments are favorably priced. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in ETF shares of other Vanguard Funds. Fund assets invested in ETF Shares are excluded when allocating to the Fund its share of the costs of Vanguard operations.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Under normal circumstances, the Fund typically expects to meet redemptions with positive cash flows. When this is not an option, the Fund seeks to maintain its risk exposure by selling a cross section of the Fund’s holdings to meet redemptions, while also factoring in transaction costs. Additionally, the Fund may work with larger clients to implement their redemptions in a manner that is least disruptive to the portfolio; see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section.
Under certain circumstances, including under stressed market conditions, there are additional tools that the Fund may use in order to meet redemptions, including advancing the settlement of market trades with counterparties to match investor redemption payments or delaying settlement of an investor’s transaction to match trade settlement within regulatory requirements. The Fund may also suspend payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven days; see “Emergency circumstances” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section. Additionally under these unusual circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
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Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when the advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case when the Fund receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
Purchase Fee
The Fund charges a purchase fee of 0.75% on all purchases of its shares, including shares that you purchase by exchange from another Vanguard fund.

 

Unlike a sales charge or a load paid to a broker or a fund management company, the purchase fee is paid directly to the Fund to offset the costs of buying securities.

 See Investing With Vanguard for more information about fees.
Frequent Trading or Market-Timing
Background. Some investors try to profit from strategies involving frequent trading of mutual fund shares, such as market-timing. For funds holding foreign securities, investors may try to take advantage of an anticipated difference between the price of the fund’s shares and price movements in overseas markets, a practice also known as time-zone arbitrage. Investors also may try to engage in frequent trading of funds holding investments such as small-cap stocks and high-yield bonds. As money is shifted into and out of a fund by a shareholder engaging in frequent trading, the fund incurs costs for buying and selling securities, resulting in increased brokerage and administrative costs. These costs are borne by all fund shareholders, including the long-term investors who do not generate the costs. In addition, frequent trading may interfere with an advisor’s ability to efficiently manage the fund.
Policies to address frequent trading. The Vanguard funds (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) do not knowingly accommodate frequent trading. The board of trustees of each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) has adopted policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and discourage frequent trading and, in some cases, to compensate the fund for the costs associated with it. These policies
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and procedures do not apply to ETF Shares because frequent trading in ETF Shares generally does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. Although there is no assurance that Vanguard will be able to detect or prevent frequent trading or market-timing in all circumstances, the following policies have been adopted to address these issues:
• Each Vanguard fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request—including exchanges from other Vanguard funds—without notice and regardless of size. For example, a purchase request could be rejected because the investor has a history of frequent trading or if Vanguard determines that such purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
• Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) generally prohibits, except as otherwise noted in the Investing With Vanguard section, an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account.
• Certain Vanguard funds charge shareholders purchase and/or redemption fees on transactions.
See the Investing With Vanguard section of this prospectus for further details on Vanguard’s transaction policies.
Each Vanguard fund (other than retail and government money market funds), in determining its net asset value, will use fair-value pricing when appropriate, as described in the Share Price section. Fair-value pricing may reduce or eliminate the profitability of certain frequent-trading strategies.
Do not invest with Vanguard if you are a market-timer.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. Generally, an index fund sells securities in response to redemption requests from shareholders of conventional (not exchange-traded) shares or to changes in the composition of its target index or in an effort to manage the fund’s duration. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover
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rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc., P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482, which began operations in 1975, serves as advisor to the Fund through its Fixed Income Group. As of October 31, 2020, Vanguard served as advisor for approximately $5.2 trillion in assets. Vanguard provides investment advisory services to the Fund pursuant to the Funds’ Service Agreement and subject to the supervision and oversight of the trustees and officers of the Fund.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the advisory expenses represented an effective annual rate of less than 0.01% of the Fund’s average net assets.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an
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additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory arrangement, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
The manager primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund is:
Joshua C. Barrickman, CFA, Principal of Vanguard and co-head of Vanguard’s Fixed Income Indexing Americas. He has been with Vanguard since 1998, has worked in investment management since 1999, has managed investment portfolios since 2005, and has managed the Fund since its inception in 2013. Education: B.S., Ohio Northern University; M.B.A., Lehigh University.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about the portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income dividends generally are declared monthly and distributed monthly; capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.
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You can receive distributions of income or capital gains in cash, or you can have them automatically reinvested in more shares of the Fund. However, if you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your distributions will be automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares.  
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of investments. Income
consists of interest the fund earns from its money market and bond
investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells securities for
higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are either short-term
or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the securities for one year
or less or for more than one year.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional Fund shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any income dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned shares in the Fund.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund's normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling or exchanging your Fund shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
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• Any conversion between classes of shares of the same fund is a nontaxable event. By contrast, an exchange between classes of shares of different funds is a taxable event.
• Vanguard (or your intermediary) will send you a statement each year showing the tax status of all of your distributions.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale or exchange of Fund shares.
Income dividends and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale or exchange of Fund shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
The Fund may be subject to foreign taxes or foreign tax withholding on dividends, interest, and some capital gains that it receives on foreign securities. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so. You may qualify for an offsetting credit or deduction under U.S. tax laws for any amount designated as your portion of the Fund’s foreign tax obligations, provided that you meet certain requirements. See your tax advisor or IRS publications for more information.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.
General Information
Backup withholding. By law, Vanguard must withhold 24% of any taxable distributions or redemptions from your account if you do not:
• Provide your correct taxpayer identification number.
• Certify that the taxpayer identification number is correct.
• Confirm that you are not subject to backup withholding.
Similarly, Vanguard (or your intermediary) must withhold taxes from your account if the IRS instructs us to do so.
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Foreign investors. Vanguard funds offered for sale in the United States (Vanguard U.S. funds), including the Fund offered in this prospectus, are not widely available outside the United States. Non-U.S. investors should be aware that U.S. withholding and estate taxes and certain U.S. tax reporting requirements may apply to any investments in Vanguard U.S. funds. Foreign investors should visit the non-U.S. investors page on our website at vanguard.com for information on Vanguard’s non-U.S. products.
Invalid addresses. If an income dividend distribution or capital gains distribution check mailed to your address of record is returned as undeliverable, Vanguard will automatically reinvest the distribution and all future distributions until you provide us with a valid mailing address. Reinvestments will receive the net asset value calculated on the date of the reinvestment.
Share Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. Each share class has its own NAV, which is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Debt securities held by a Vanguard fund are valued based on information furnished by an independent pricing service or market quotations. When a fund determines that pricing-service information or market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including
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institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund’s pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges or markets that close many hours before the fund’s pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, material credit events) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities. A fund may also use fair-value pricing on bond market holidays when the fund is open for business (such as Columbus Day and Veterans Day).

 

Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard fund share prices are published daily on our website at vanguard.com/prices.
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Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund Admiral Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$20.16
$18.63
$20.24
$20.09
$19.00
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income
0.8971
0.9391
0.8581
0.9341
0.941
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments2
(0.586)
1.521
(1.613)
0.150
1.076
Total from Investment Operations
0.311
2.460
(0.755)
1.084
2.017
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(0.891)
(0.930)
(0.855)
(0.934)
(0.927)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
—
—
—
—
—
Total Distributions
(0.891)
(0.930)
(0.855)
(0.934)
(0.927)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$19.58
$20.16
$18.63
$20.24
$20.09
Total Return3
1.66%
13.46%
–3.80%
5.57%
10.89%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$243
$273
$256
$288
$191
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets
0.25%
0.25%
0.30%
0.32%
0.32%
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets
4.57%
4.79%
4.42%
4.67%
4.89%
Portfolio Turnover Rate4
21%
48%
25%
19%
24%
1
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
2
Includes increases from redemption fees of $.00, $.00, $.01, $.02, and $.01.
3
Total returns do not include transaction or account service fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
4
Excludes the value of portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of in-kind purchases or redemptions of the fund's capital shares, including ETF Creation Units.
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Investing With Vanguard
This section of the prospectus explains the basics of doing business with Vanguard. Vanguard fund shares can be held directly with Vanguard or indirectly through an intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. If you hold Vanguard fund shares directly with Vanguard, you should carefully read each topic within this section that pertains to your relationship with Vanguard. If you hold Vanguard fund shares indirectly through an intermediary (including shares held in a brokerage account through Vanguard Brokerage Services®), please see Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms, and also refer to your account agreement with the intermediary for information about transacting in that account. If you hold Vanguard fund shares through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, please see Employer-Sponsored Plans. Vanguard reserves the right to change the following policies without notice. Please call or check online for current information. See Contacting Vanguard.
For Vanguard fund shares held directly with Vanguard, each fund you hold in an account is a separate “fund account.” For example, if you hold three funds in a nonretirement account titled in your own name, two funds in a nonretirement account titled jointly with your spouse, and one fund in an individual retirement account, you have six fund accounts—and this is true even if you hold the same fund in multiple accounts. Note that each reference to “you” in this prospectus applies to any one or more registered account owners or persons authorized to transact on your account.
Purchasing Shares
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to increase or decrease the minimum amount required to open, convert shares to, or maintain a fund account or to add to an existing fund account.
Investment minimums may differ for certain categories of investors.
Account Minimums for Admiral Shares
To open and maintain an account. $3,000. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility.
To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
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How to Initiate a Purchase Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your purchase request.
Online. You may open certain types of accounts, request a purchase of shares, and request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to begin the account registration process or request that the account-opening forms be sent to you. You may also call Vanguard to request a purchase of shares in your account or to request an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send Vanguard your account registration form and check to open a new fund account. To add to an existing fund account, you may send your check with an Invest-by-Mail form (from a transaction confirmation or your account statement) or with a deposit slip (available online).
How to Pay for a Purchase
By electronic bank transfer. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund through an electronic transfer of money from a bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate the bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can purchase shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Investment Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your purchase request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. Wiring instructions vary for different types of purchases. Please call Vanguard for instructions and policies on purchasing shares by wire. See Contacting Vanguard.
By check. You may make initial or additional purchases to your fund account by sending a check with a deposit slip or by utilizing our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access. Also see How to Initiate a Purchase Request. Make your check payable to Vanguard and include the appropriate fund number (e.g., Vanguard—520).
By exchange. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund using the proceeds from the simultaneous redemption of shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail with an exchange form. See Exchanging Shares.
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Trade Date
The trade date for any purchase request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request, the manner in which you are paying, and the type of fund you are purchasing. Your purchase will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For purchases by check into all funds other than money market funds and for purchases by exchange, wire, or electronic bank transfer into all funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the same day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day.
For purchases by check into money market funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the second business day following the day Vanguard receives the purchase request. Because money market instruments must be purchased with federal funds and it takes a money market mutual fund one business day to convert check proceeds into federal funds, the trade date for the purchase will be one business day later than for other funds.
If your purchase request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
For further information about purchase transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Purchase Fee
The Fund charges a purchase fee of 0.75% on all share purchases, including shares purchased by exchange from another Vanguard fund. The purchase fee is deducted from the amount of each new purchase and is paid directly to the Fund to offset the cost of buying securities.
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Purchase fees will not apply to Vanguard fund account purchases in the following circumstances: (1) purchases of shares through reinvested dividends or capital gains distributions; (2) share transfers, rollovers, or reregistrations within the same fund; (3) conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund; (4) purchases in-kind; and (5) share rollovers to an IRA within the same Vanguard fund for plans in which Vanguard serves as a recordkeeper.
Other Purchase Rules You Should Know
Admiral Shares. Admiral Shares generally are not available for SIMPLE IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Check purchases. All purchase checks must be written in U.S. dollars, be drawn on a U.S. bank, and be accompanied by good order instructions. Vanguard does not accept cash, traveler’s checks, starter checks, or money orders. In addition, Vanguard may refuse checks that are not made payable to Vanguard.
New accounts. We are required by law to obtain from you certain personal information that we will use to verify your identity. If you do not provide the information, we may not be able to open your account. If we are unable to verify your identity, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to close your account or take such other steps as we deem reasonable. Certain types of accounts may require additional documentation.
Refused or rejected purchase requests. Vanguard reserves the right to stop selling fund shares or to reject any purchase request at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, purchases requested by exchange from another Vanguard fund. This also includes the right to reject any purchase request because the investor has a history of frequent trading or because the purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
Large purchases. Call Vanguard before attempting to invest a large dollar amount.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any purchase request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a purchase request.
Converting Shares
When a conversion occurs, you receive shares of one class in place of shares of another class of the same fund. At the time of conversion, the dollar value of the “new” shares you receive equals the dollar value of the “old” shares that were converted. In other words, the conversion has no effect on the value of your
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investment in the fund at the time of the conversion. However, the number of shares you own after the conversion may be greater than or less than the number of shares you owned before the conversion, depending on the NAVs of the two share classes.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any self-directed conversion request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a conversion request.
A conversion between share classes of the same fund is a nontaxable event.
Trade Date
The trade date for any conversion request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request. Your conversion will be executed using the NAVs of the different share classes on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For a conversion request (other than a request to convert to ETF Shares) received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. For a conversion request received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day. See Other Rules You Should Know.
Conversions to Institutional Shares
You are eligible for a self-directed conversion from another share class to Institutional Shares of the Fund, provided that your account meets all eligibility requirements. You may request a conversion through our website (if you are registered for online access), or you may contact Vanguard by telephone or by mail to request this transaction. Accounts that qualify for Institutional Shares will not be automatically converted.
Conversions to ETF Shares
Owners of conventional shares (i.e., not exchange-traded shares) issued by the Fund may convert those shares to ETF Shares of equivalent value of the same fund. Please note that investors who own conventional shares through a 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored retirement or benefit plan generally may
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not convert those shares to ETF Shares and should check with their plan sponsor or recordkeeper. ETF Shares, whether acquired through a conversion or purchased on the secondary market, cannot be converted to conventional shares by a shareholder. Also, ETF Shares of one fund cannot be exchanged for ETF Shares of another fund.
ETF Shares must be held in a brokerage account. Thus, before converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, you must have an existing, or open a new, brokerage account. This account may be with Vanguard Brokerage Services or with any other brokerage firm.
Vanguard Brokerage Services does not impose a fee on conversions from conventional shares to Vanguard ETF Shares. However, other brokerage firms may charge a fee to process a conversion. Vanguard reserves the right, in the future, to impose a transaction fee on conversions or to limit, temporarily suspend, or terminate the conversion privilege. For additional information on converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, please contact Vanguard to obtain a prospectus for ETF Shares. See Contacting Vanguard.
Mandatory Conversions to Another Share Class
If an account no longer meets the balance requirements for a share class, Vanguard may automatically convert the shares in the account to another share class, as appropriate. A decline in the account balance because of market movement may result in such a conversion. Vanguard will notify the investor in writing before any mandatory conversion occurs.
Redeeming Shares
How to Initiate a Redemption Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your redemption request.
Online. You may request a redemption of shares or request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to request a redemption of shares or an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send a form (available online) to Vanguard to redeem from a fund account or to make an exchange.
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How to Receive Redemption Proceeds
By electronic bank transfer. You may have the proceeds of a fund redemption sent directly to a designated bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can redeem shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Withdrawal Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your redemption request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. To receive your proceeds by wire, you may instruct Vanguard to wire your redemption proceeds ($100 minimum) to a previously designated bank account. To establish the wire redemption service, you generally must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form.
Please note that Vanguard charges a $10 wire fee for outgoing wire redemptions. The fee is assessed in addition to, rather than being withheld from, redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the fund in which you invest. For example, if you redeem $100 via a wire, you will receive the full $100, and the $10 fee will be assessed to your fund account through an additional redemption of fund shares. If you redeem your entire fund account, your redemption proceeds will be reduced by the amount of the fee. The wire fee does not apply to accounts held by Flagship and Flagship Select clients; accounts held through intermediaries, including Vanguard Brokerage Services; or accounts held by institutional clients.
By exchange. You may have the proceeds of a Vanguard fund redemption invested directly in shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Exchanging Shares.
By check. If you have not chosen another redemption method, Vanguard will mail you a redemption check, generally payable to all registered account owners, normally within two business days of your trade date, and generally to the address of record.
Trade Date
The trade date for any redemption request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request and the manner in which you are redeeming. Your redemption will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated
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disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For redemptions by check, exchange, or wire: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from money market funds: For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day before 10:45 a.m., Eastern time (2 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund; 12:30 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business the same day. For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day after those cut-off times, or on a nonbusiness day, and for all requests other than by telephone, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from all other funds: For requests received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day. For requests received by Vanguard on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the second business day after Vanguard receives the request.
For redemptions by electronic bank transfer: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
If your redemption request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. If we are unable to send your redemption proceeds by wire or electronic bank transfer because the receiving institution rejects the transfer, Vanguard will make additional efforts to complete your transaction. If Vanguard is still unable to
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complete the transaction, we may send the proceeds of the redemption to you by check, generally payable to all registered account owners, or use your proceeds to purchase new shares of the fund from which you sold shares for the purpose of the wire or electronic bank transfer transaction. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
If your redemption request is received in good order, we typically expect that redemption proceeds will be paid by the Fund within one business day of the trade date; however, in certain circumstances, investors may experience a longer settlement period at the time of the transaction. For further information, see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” and “Emergency circumstances.”
For further information about redemption transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Redemption Rules You Should Know
Documentation for certain accounts. Special documentation may be required to redeem from certain types of accounts, such as trust, corporate, nonprofit, or retirement accounts. Please call us before attempting to redeem from these types of accounts.
Potentially disruptive redemptions. Vanguard reserves the right to pay all or part of a redemption in kind—that is, in the form of securities—if we reasonably believe that a cash redemption would negatively affect the fund’s operation or performance or that the shareholder may be engaged in market-timing or frequent trading. Under these circumstances, Vanguard also reserves the right to delay payment of the redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. By calling us before you attempt to redeem a large dollar amount, you may avoid in-kind or delayed payment of your redemption. Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations for information about Vanguard’s policies to limit frequent trading.
Recently purchased shares. Although you can redeem shares at any time, proceeds may not be made available to you until the fund collects payment for your purchase. This may take up to seven calendar days for shares purchased by check or by electronic bank transfer. If you have written a check on a fund in an account with checkwriting privileges, that check may be rejected if your fund account does not have a sufficient available balance.
Address change. If you change your address online or by telephone, there may be up to a 14-day restriction (starting on the business day after your address is changed) on your ability to request check redemptions online and by telephone. You can request a redemption in writing (using a form available online) at any time. Confirmations of address changes are sent to both the old and new addresses.
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Payment to a different person or address. At your request, we can make your redemption check payable, or wire your redemption proceeds, to a different person or send it to a different address. However, this generally requires the written consent of all registered account owners and may require additional documentation, such as a signature guarantee or a notarized signature. You may obtain a signature guarantee from some commercial or savings banks, credit unions, trust companies, or member firms of a U.S. stock exchange.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any redemption request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a redemption request.
Emergency circumstances. Vanguard funds can postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. In addition, Vanguard funds can suspend redemptions and/or postpone payments of redemption proceeds beyond seven calendar days at times when the NYSE is closed or during emergency circumstances, as determined by the SEC.
Exchanging Shares
An exchange occurs when you use the proceeds from the redemption of shares of one Vanguard fund to simultaneously purchase shares of a different Vanguard fund. You can make exchange requests online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Purchasing Shares and Redeeming Shares.
If the NYSE is open for regular trading (generally until 4 p.m., Eastern time, on a business day) at the time an exchange request is received in good order, the trade date generally will be the same day. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order for additional information on all transaction requests.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any exchange request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing an exchange request.
Call Vanguard before attempting to exchange a large dollar amount. By calling us before you attempt to exchange a large dollar amount, you may avoid delayed or rejected transactions.
Please note that Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise or terminate the exchange privilege, limit the amount of any exchange, or reject an exchange, at any time, for any reason. See Frequent-Trading Limitations for additional restrictions on exchanges.
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Frequent-Trading Limitations
Because excessive transactions can disrupt management of a fund and increase the fund’s costs for all shareholders, the board of trustees of each Vanguard fund places certain limits on frequent trading in the funds. Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) limits an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account. ETF Shares are not subject to these frequent-trading limits.
For Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, the limitations apply to exchanges made online or by telephone.
These frequent-trading limitations do not apply to the following:
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Transactions through Vanguard’s Automatic Investment Plan, Automatic Exchange Service, Direct Deposit Service, Automatic Withdrawal Plan, Required Minimum Distribution Service, and Vanguard Small Business Online®.
• Discretionary transactions through Vanguard Personal Advisor Services®, Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services®, and Vanguard Digital Advisor™.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans).
• Transfers and reregistrations of shares within the same fund.
• Purchases of shares by asset transfer or direct rollover.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Checkwriting redemptions.
• Section 529 college savings plans.
• Certain approved institutional portfolios and asset allocation programs, as well as trades made by funds or trusts managed by Vanguard or its affiliates that invest in other Vanguard funds. (Please note that shareholders of Vanguard’s funds of funds are subject to the limitations.)
For participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans,* the frequent-trading limitations do not apply to:
• Purchases of shares with participant payroll or employer contributions or loan repayments.
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• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan.
• Redemptions of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan.
• Transactions executed through the Vanguard Managed Account Program.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Share or asset transfers or rollovers.
• Reregistrations of shares.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Exchange requests submitted by written request to Vanguard. (Exchange requests submitted by fax, if otherwise permitted, are subject to the limitations.)
* The following Vanguard fund accounts are subject to the frequent-trading limitations: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Accounts Held by Institutions (Other Than Defined Contribution Plans)
Vanguard will systematically monitor for frequent trading in institutional clients’ accounts. If we detect suspicious trading activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include applying to a client’s accounts the 30-day policy previously described, prohibiting a client’s purchases of fund shares, and/or revoking the client’s exchange privilege.
Accounts Held by Intermediaries
When intermediaries establish accounts in Vanguard funds for the benefit of their clients, we cannot always monitor the trading activity of the individual clients. However, we review trading activity at the intermediary (omnibus) level, and if we detect suspicious activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action. If necessary, Vanguard may prohibit additional purchases of fund shares by an intermediary, including for the benefit of certain of the intermediary’s clients. Intermediaries also may monitor their clients’ trading activities with respect to Vanguard funds.
For those Vanguard funds that charge purchase and/or redemption fees, intermediaries will be asked to assess these fees on client accounts and remit these fees to the funds. The application of purchase and redemption fees and frequent-trading limitations may vary among intermediaries. There are no assurances that Vanguard will successfully identify all intermediaries or that
38
intermediaries will properly assess purchase and redemption fees or administer frequent-trading limitations. If you invest with Vanguard through an intermediary, please read that firm’s materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply.
Other Rules You Should Know
Prospectus and Shareholder Report Mailings
When two or more shareholders have the same last name and address, just one summary prospectus (or prospectus) and/or shareholder report may be sent in an attempt to eliminate the unnecessary expense of duplicate mailings. You may request individual prospectuses and reports by contacting our Client Services Department in writing, by telephone, or online. See Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard.com
Registration. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can review your account holdings; buy, sell, or exchange shares of most Vanguard funds; and perform most other transactions through our website. You must register for this service online.
Electronic delivery. Vanguard can deliver your account statements, transaction confirmations, prospectuses, certain tax forms, and shareholder reports electronically. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can consent to the electronic delivery of these documents by logging on and changing your mailing preferences under “Account Maintenance.” You can revoke your electronic consent at any time through our website, and we will begin to send paper copies of these documents within 30 days of receiving your revocation.
Telephone Transactions
Automatic. When we set up your account, we will automatically enable you to do business with us by telephone, unless you instruct us otherwise in writing.
Tele-Account®. To obtain fund and account information through Vanguard’s automated telephone service, you must first establish a Personal Identification Number (PIN) by calling Tele-Account at 800-662-6273.
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Proof of a caller’s authority. We reserve the right to refuse a telephone request if the caller is unable to provide the requested information or if we reasonably believe that the caller is not an individual authorized to act on the account. Before we allow a caller to act on an account, we may request the following information:
• Authorization to act on the account (as the account owner or by legal documentation or other means).
• Account registration and address.
• Fund name and account number, if applicable.
• Other information relating to the caller, the account owner, or the account.
Good Order
We reserve the right to reject any transaction instructions that are not in “good order.” Good order generally means that your instructions:
• Are provided by the person(s) authorized in accordance with Vanguard’s policies and procedures to access the account and request transactions.
• Include the fund name and account number.
• Include the amount of the transaction (stated in dollars, shares, or percentage).
Written instructions also must generally be provided on a Vanguard form and include:
• Signature(s) and date from the authorized person(s).
• Signature guarantees or notarized signatures, if required for the type of transaction. (Call Vanguard for specific requirements.)
• Any supporting documentation that may be required.
Good order requirements may vary among types of accounts and transactions. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise the requirements for good order.
Future Trade-Date Requests
Vanguard does not accept requests to hold a purchase, conversion, redemption, or exchange transaction for a future date. All such requests will receive trade dates as previously described in Purchasing Shares, Converting Shares, Redeeming Shares, and Exchanging Shares. Vanguard reserves the right to return future-dated purchase checks.
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Accounts With More Than One Owner
If an account has more than one owner or authorized person, Vanguard generally will accept instructions from any one owner or authorized person.
Responsibility for Fraud
You should take precautions to protect yourself from fraud. Keep your account-related information private, and review any account confirmations, statements, or other information that we provide to you as soon as you receive them. Let us know immediately if you discover unauthorized activity or see something on your account that you do not understand or that looks unusual.
Vanguard will not be responsible for losses that result from transactions by a person who we reasonably believe is authorized to act on your account.
Uncashed Checks
Please cash your distribution or redemption checks promptly. Vanguard will not pay interest on uncashed checks. Vanguard may be required to transfer assets related to uncashed checks to a state under the state’s abandoned property law.
Dormant Accounts
If your account has no activity in it for a period of time, Vanguard may be required to transfer it to a state under the state’s abandoned property law, subject to potential federal or state withholding taxes.
Unusual Circumstances
If you experience difficulty contacting Vanguard online or by telephone, you can send us your transaction request on a Vanguard form by regular or express mail.
Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms
You may purchase or sell shares of most Vanguard funds through a financial intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. Please consult your financial intermediary to determine which, if any, shares are available through that firm and to learn about other rules that may apply. Your financial intermediary can provide you with account information and any required tax forms. You may be required to pay a commission on purchases of mutual fund shares made through a financial intermediary.
Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of any purchase or redemption fees and the monitoring of frequent trading for accounts held by intermediaries.
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Account Service Fee
Vanguard may charge a $20 account service fee on fund accounts that have a balance below $10,000 for any reason, including market fluctuation. The account service fee may be applied to both retirement and nonretirement fund accounts and may be assessed on fund accounts in all Vanguard funds, regardless of the account minimum. The fee, which will be collected by redeeming fund shares in the amount of $20, will be deducted from fund accounts subject to the fee once per calendar year.
If you elect to receive your statements and other materials electronically (i.e., by e-delivery), the account service fee will not be charged, so long as your election remains in effect. You can make your e-delivery election on vanguard.com.
Beginning on January 1, 2021, you may elect to receive paper copies of shareholder reports free of charge as noted on the cover of this prospectus.
Certain account types have alternative fee structures, including SIMPLE IRAs, Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Low-Balance Accounts
The Fund reserves the right to liquidate a fund account whose balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. This liquidation policy applies to nonretirement fund accounts and accounts that are held through intermediaries. Any such liquidation will be preceded by written notice to the investor.
Right to Change Policies
In addition to the rights expressly stated elsewhere in this prospectus, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to (1) alter, add, or discontinue any conditions of purchase (including eligibility requirements), redemption, exchange, conversion, service, or privilege at any time and (2) alter, impose, discontinue, or waive any purchase fee, redemption fee, account service fee, or other fee charged to a shareholder or a group of shareholders. Changes may affect any or all investors. These actions will be taken when, at the sole discretion of Vanguard management, Vanguard believes they are in the best interest of a fund.
Account Restrictions
Vanguard reserves the right to: (1) redeem all or a portion of a fund/account to meet a legal obligation, including tax withholding, tax lien, garnishment order, or other obligation imposed on your account by a court or government agency; (2) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options in the case of threatening conduct or activity; (3) redeem shares, close
42
an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options if Vanguard believes or suspects that not doing so could result in a suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal transaction; (4) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if it is required to do so by a court or government agency; (5) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if Vanguard believes that doing so will prevent fraud, financial exploitation or abuse, or to protect vulnerable investors; (6) freeze any account and/or suspend account services if Vanguard has received reasonable notice of a dispute regarding the assets in an account, including notice of a dispute between the registered or beneficial account owners; and (7) freeze any account and/or suspend account services upon initial notification to Vanguard of the death of an account owner.
Share Classes
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to change the eligibility requirements of its share classes, including the types of clients who are eligible to purchase each share class.
Fund and Account Updates
Confirmation Statements
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) a confirmation of your trade date and the amount of your transaction when you buy, sell, exchange, or convert shares. However, we will not send confirmations reflecting only checkwriting redemptions or the reinvestment of dividend or capital gains distributions. For any month in which you had a checkwriting redemption, a Checkwriting Activity Statement will be sent to you itemizing the checkwriting redemptions for that month. Promptly review each confirmation statement that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on a confirmation statement, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Portfolio Summaries
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) quarterly portfolio summaries to help you keep track of your accounts throughout the year. Each summary shows the market value of your account at the close of the statement period, as well as all distributions, purchases, redemptions, exchanges, transfers, and conversions for the current calendar quarter (or month). Promptly review each summary that we provide to you. It is important
43
that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on the summary, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Tax Information Statements
For most accounts, Vanguard (or your intermediary) is required to provide annual tax forms to assist you in preparing your income tax returns. These forms are generally available for each calendar year early in the following year. Registered users of vanguard.com can also view certain forms through our website. Vanguard (or your intermediary) may also provide you with additional tax-related documentation. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Annual and Semiannual Reports
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) reports about Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund twice a year, in June and December. These reports include overviews of the financial markets and provide the following specific Fund information:
• Performance assessments and comparisons with industry benchmarks.
• Financial statements with listings of Fund holdings.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Employer-Sponsored Plans
Your plan administrator or your employee benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how to participate in your plan and how to elect the Fund as an investment option.
• If you have any questions about the Fund or Vanguard, including those about the Fund’s investment objective, strategies, or risks, contact Vanguard Participant Services toll-free at 800-523-1188 or visit our website at vanguard.com.
• If you have questions about your account, contact your plan administrator or the organization that provides recordkeeping services for your plan.
• Be sure to carefully read each topic that pertains to your transactions with Vanguard.
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Vanguard reserves the right to change its policies without notice to shareholders.
Transactions
Processing times for your transaction requests may differ among recordkeepers or among transaction and funding types. Your plan’s recordkeeper (which may also be Vanguard) will determine the necessary processing time frames for your transaction requests prior to submission to the Fund. Consult your recordkeeper or plan administrator for more information.
If Vanguard is serving as your plan recordkeeper and if your transaction involves one or more investments with an early cut-off time for processing or another trading restriction, your entire transaction will be subject to the restriction when the trade date for your transaction is determined.
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Contacting Vanguard  
Web
 
Vanguard.com
For the most complete source of Vanguard news
For fund, account, and service information
For most account transactions
For literature requests
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
 
Phone
Vanguard Tele-Account®
800-662-6273
For automated fund and account information
Toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Investor Information 800-662-7447
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For fund and service information
For literature requests
Client Services 800-662-2739
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For account information
For most account transactions
Participant Services 800-523-1188
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For information and services for participants in
employer-sponsored plans
Institutional Division
888-809-8102
For information and services for large institutional
investors
Financial Advisor and Intermediary
Sales Support 800-997-2798
For information and services for financial intermediaries
including financial advisors, broker-dealers, trust
institutions, and insurance companies
Financial Advisory and Intermediary
Trading Support 800-669-0498
For account information and trading support for
financial intermediaries including financial advisors,
broker-dealers, trust institutions, and insurance
companies
Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Newspaper
Abbreviation
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
Emerging Markets
Government Bond Index
Fund
 
 
 
 
Admiral Shares
5/31/2013
EMGovtBdIxFdAdm
520
921946802
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
46
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
BLOOMBERG is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. BARCLAYS is a trademark and service mark of Barclays Bank Plc, used under license. Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates, including Bloomberg Index Services Limited (BISL) (collectively, Bloomberg), or Bloomberg’s licensors, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index (the Index or Bloomberg Barclays Index).
Neither Barclays Bank Plc, Barclays Capital Inc., or any affiliate (collectively Barclays) or Bloomberg is the issuer or producer of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund and neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has any responsibilities, obligations or duties to investors in the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund. The Index is licensed for use by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard) as the sponsor of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund. Bloomberg and Barclays’ only relationship with Vanguard in respect to the Index is the licensing of the Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by BISL, or any successor thereto, without regard to the Issuer or the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund or the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund.
Additionally, Vanguard may for itself execute transaction(s) with Barclays in or relating to the Index in connection with the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund. Investors acquire the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund from Vanguard and investors neither acquire any interest in the Index nor enter into any relationship of any kind whatsoever with Bloomberg or Barclays upon making an investment in the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund. The Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Bloomberg or Barclays. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays makes any representation or warranty, express or implied regarding the advisability of investing in the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund or the advisability of investing in securities generally or the ability of the Index to track corresponding or relative market performance. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has passed on the legality or suitability of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund with respect to any person or entity. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays is responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund to be issued. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has any obligation to take the needs of the Issuer or the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund or any other third party into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Index. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has any obligation or liability in connection with administration, marketing or trading of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund.
The licensing agreement between Bloomberg and Barclays is solely for the benefit of Bloomberg and Barclays and not for the benefit of the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, investors or other third parties. In addition, the licensing agreement between Vanguard and Bloomberg is solely for the benefit of Vanguard and Bloomberg and not for the benefit of the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, investors or other third parties.
NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO THE ISSUER, INVESTORS OR TO OTHER THIRD PARTIES FOR THE QUALITY, ACCURACY AND/OR COMPLETENESS OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN OR FOR INTERRUPTIONS IN THE DELIVERY OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX. NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS MAKES ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY THE ISSUER, THE INVESTORS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS MAKES ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EACH HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BLOOMBERG RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE METHODS OF CALCULATION OR PUBLICATION, OR TO CEASE THE CALCULATION OR PUBLICATION OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX, AND NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY MISCALCULATION OF OR ANY INCORRECT, DELAYED OR INTERRUPTED PUBLICATION WITH RESPECT TO THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX. NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY LOST PROFITS AND EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH, RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN OR WITH RESPECT TO THE EMERGING MARKETS GOVERNMENT BOND INDEX FUND.
None of the information supplied by Bloomberg or Barclays and used in this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the prior written permission of both Bloomberg and Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank Plc. Barclays Bank Plc is registered in England No. 1026167, registered office 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP.
47
Glossary of Investment Terms
Average Maturity. The average length of time until bonds held by a fund reach maturity and are repaid. In general, the longer the average maturity, the more a fund's share price fluctuates in response to changes in market interest rates. In calculating average maturity, a fund uses a bond’s maturity or, if applicable, an earlier date on which the advisor believes it is likely that a maturity-shortening device (such as a call, put, refunding, prepayment, or redemption provision or an adjustable coupon rate) will cause the bond to be repaid.
Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index ex USD. A multi-currency benchmark that includes fixed-rate treasury, government-related, corporate, and securitized bonds from developed and emerging market issuers while excluding USD denominated debt. It is largely comprised of two major regional aggregate components: the Pan-European Aggregate and the Asian-Pacific Aggregate Index.
Bond. A debt security (IOU) issued by a corporation, a government, or a government agency in exchange for the money the bondholder lends it. In most instances, the issuer agrees to pay back the loan by a specific date and generally to make regular interest payments until that date.
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Coupon Rate. The interest rate paid by the issuer of a debt security until its maturity. It is expressed as an annual percentage of the face value of the security.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Dollar-Denominated Bond. A bond that is bought and sold in exchange for U.S. dollars.
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Face Value. The amount to be paid at a bond’s maturity; also known as the par value or principal.
48
Fixed Income Security. An investment, such as a bond, representing a debt that must be repaid by a specified date, and on which the borrower must pay a fixed, variable, or floating rate of interest.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund (or one of its share classes) are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Indexing. A low-cost investment strategy in which a mutual fund attempts to track—rather than outperform—a specified market benchmark, or “index.”
Investment-Grade Bond. A debt security whose credit quality is considered by independent bond rating agencies, or through independent analysis conducted by a fund's advisor, to be sufficient to ensure timely payment of principal and interest under current economic circumstances. Debt securities rated in one of the four highest rating categories are considered investment-grade. Other debt securities may be considered by an advisor to be investment-grade.
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Principal. The face value of a debt instrument or the amount of money put into an investment.
49
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a mutual fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
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Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about the Fund or other Vanguard funds, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
If you are an individual investor:
Telephone: 800-662-7447; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a participant in an employer-sponsored plan:
Telephone: 800-523-1188; Text telephone for people
with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a current Vanguard shareholder and would like information about your account, account transactions, and/or account statements, please call:
Client Services Department
Telephone: 800-662-2739; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 1120 022021
 
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Institutional Shares
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund Institutional Shares (VGIVX)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
Fund Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of U.S. dollar-denominated bonds issued by governments and government-related issuers in emerging market countries.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell Institutional Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
None
Purchase Fee
0.75%
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
Redemption Fee
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.22%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.23%
1
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s Institutional Shares with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund's shares. This example assumes that the shares provide a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$98
$149
$204
$366
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 21% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index. This Index includes U.S. dollar-denominated bonds that have maturities longer than one year and that were issued by emerging market governments and government-related issuers. The Index is capped, which means that its exposure to any particular bond issuer is limited to a maximum of 20% and its aggregate exposure to issuers that individually constitute 5% or more of the Index is limited to 48%. If the Index, as constituted based on market weights, exceeds the 20% or 48% limits, the excess is reallocated to bonds of other issuers represented in the Index.

 

The Fund invests by sampling the Index, meaning that it holds a range of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the full Index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. All of the Fund’s investments will be selected through the sampling process, and under normal circumstances at least 80% of
2
the Fund’s assets will be invested in bonds included in the Index. The Fund maintains a dollar-weighted average maturity consistent with that of the Index. As of October 31, 2020, the dollar-weighted average maturity of the Index was 13.2 years.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance, and the level of risk may vary based on market conditions:
•  Country/regional risk , which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value and/or liquidity of securities issued by foreign governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in bonds of issuers located in any one country or region, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Emerging markets risk , which is the chance that the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets. Emerging markets risk is high for the Fund.
•  Nondiversification risk , which is the chance that the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of bonds issued by just a few issuers or even a single issuer. The Fund is considered nondiversified, which means that it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in bonds issued by a small number of issuers as compared with diversified mutual funds.
•  Credit risk , which is the chance that a bond issuer will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline. Credit risk should be high for the Fund because it invests a large portion of its assets in bonds rated below investment-grade (also known as high-yield or junk bonds).
•  Liquidity risk , which is the chance that the Fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired price.
3
•  Interest rate risk , which is the chance that bond prices overall will decline because of rising interest rates. Interest rate risk should be moderate for the Fund because it invests primarily in short- and intermediate-term bonds, whose prices are less sensitive to interest rate changes than are the prices of long-term bonds.
•  Income risk , which is the chance that the Fund's income will decline because of falling interest rates. Income risk should be moderate for the Fund, so investors should expect the Fund’s monthly income to fluctuate accordingly.
•  Index sampling risk , which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund's target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.
•  Call risk , which is the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call (redeem) securities with higher coupon rates or interest rates before their maturity dates. The Fund would then lose any price appreciation above the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income. Such redemptions and subsequent reinvestments would also increase the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate.
•  Extension risk , which is the chance that during periods of rising interest rates, certain debt securities will be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated, and the value of those securities may fall.
A Note on Risk: Many investors invest in bonds and bond funds in an attempt to lower the overall risk of their portfolios. This strategy makes sense when the bonds owned are U.S. bonds because U.S. bond returns typically are not highly correlated with, and are far less volatile than, stock returns. The strategy is less likely to be effective, however, when the bonds owned are emerging market bonds. Returns of emerging market bonds, even dollar-denominated bonds like those owned by the Fund, can be quite volatile. The correlation between emerging market bond and stock returns (both U.S. and foreign) is often higher than the correlation between U.S. bond and stock returns. Consequently, if your goal is to lower risk and volatility, this Fund may not be an appropriate investment.
An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
4
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund‘s Institutional Shares (including annual fund operating expenses but excluding shareholder fees) has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. If applicable shareholder fees were reflected, returns would be less than those shown in the bar chart. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the Institutional Shares (including annual fund operating expenses and any applicable shareholder fees) compare with those of the Fund's target index and another comparative index, which have investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund Institutional Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
11.63%
June 30, 2020
Lowest
-12.61%
March 31, 2020
5
Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
5 Years
Since
Inception
(Feb. 11,
2015)
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index
Fund Institutional Shares
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
5.03%
6.78%
5.95%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
3.15
4.74
3.89
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
2.90
4.30
3.63
Comparative Indexes
(reflect no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
 
 
 
Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government
RIC Capped Index
5.79%
6.99%
6.15%
Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index ex USD
10.11
4.89
3.60
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Portfolio Manager
Joshua C. Barrickman, CFA, Principal of Vanguard and co-head of Vanguard’s Fixed Income Indexing Americas. He has managed the Fund since its inception in 2013.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for Institutional Shares is $5 million. The minimum investment amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1. If
6
you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisor do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
7
Investing in Index Funds
What Is Indexing?
Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or “index.” An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets—such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments—such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. One cannot invest directly in an index.
The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index and the weighting of each security in the index. Under normal circumstances, the index sponsor will rebalance an index on a regular schedule. An index sponsor may carry out additional ad hoc index rebalances or delay or cancel a scheduled rebalance. Generally, the index sponsor does not provide any warranty, or accept any liability, with respect to the quality, accuracy, or completeness of either the target index or its related data. Errors made by the index sponsor may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index sponsor for a period of time or at all. Vanguard does not provide any warranty or guarantee against such errors. Therefore, the gains, losses, or costs associated with the index sponsor’s errors will generally be borne by the index fund and its shareholders.
An index fund seeks to hold all, or a representative sample, of the securities that make up its target index. Index funds attempt to mirror the performance of the target index, for better or worse. However, an index fund generally does not perform exactly like its target index. For example, index funds have operating expenses and transaction costs. Market indexes do not, and therefore they will usually have a slight performance advantage over funds that track them. The ability of an index fund to match its performance to that of its target index can also be impacted by, among other things, the timing and size of cash flows and the size of the fund. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could also have an adverse effect on a fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the index.
Index funds typically have the following characteristics:
•  Variety of investments . Depending on a fund’s benchmark index, the fund may invest in the securities of a variety of companies, industries, and/or governments or government agencies.
•  Relative performance consistency . Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
•  Low cost . Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity—and thus dealer markups and other transaction costs—to a minimum compared with actively managed funds.
8
More on the Fund
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any mutual fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to mutual fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.
Share Class Overview
This prospectus offers the Fund's Institutional Shares, which are generally for investors who invest a minimum of $5 million. A separate prospectus offers the Fund‘s Admiral™ Shares, which generally have an investment minimum of $3,000. In addition, the Fund issues ETF Shares (an exchange-traded class of shares), which are also offered through a separate prospectus.
All share classes offered by the Fund have the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. However, different share classes have different expenses; as a result, their investment returns will differ.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All mutual funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are
deducted from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the
net assets of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated
in the Fees and Expenses section, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government
Bond Index Fund Institutional Shares’ expense ratio would be 0.23%, or
$2.30 per $1,000 of average net assets. The average expense ratio for
emerging markets hard currency debt funds in 2019 was 1.05%, or $10.50
per $1,000 of average net assets (derived from data provided by Lipper, a
Thomson Reuters Company, which reports on the mutual fund industry).
 
9
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing a mutual fund. That is
because you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of
operating a fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or
sells securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross
income or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small
differences in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a
fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund‘s board of trustees, which oversees the Fund‘s management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund‘s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote. The Fund may change its 80% policy of investing its assets in securities that are included in its target index only upon 60 days‘ notice shareholders.
Market Exposure
   
The Fund is subject to interest rate risk, which is the chance that bond prices will decline because of rising interest rates. Interest rate risk should be moderate for the Fund because it invests primarily in short- and intermediate-term bonds, whose prices are less sensitive to interest rate changes than are the prices of long-term bonds.
Although bonds are often thought to be less risky than stocks, there have been periods when bond prices have fallen significantly because of rising interest rates. For instance, prices of long-term U.S. bonds fell by almost 48% between December 1976 and September 1981. Note that over any particular time period, the prices of foreign bonds and U.S. bonds may increase or decrease by different amounts and, in some cases, may move in opposite directions.
To illustrate the relationship between bond prices and interest rates, the following table shows the effect of a 1% and a 2% change (both up and down) in interest rates on the values of three noncallable bonds (i.e., bonds that cannot be redeemed by the issuer) of different maturities, each with a face value of $1,000.
10
How Interest Rate Changes Affect the Value of a $1,000 Bond1  
Type of Bond (Maturity)
After a 1%
Increase
After a 1%
Decrease
After a 2%
Increase
After a 2%
Decrease
Short-Term (2.5 years)
$ 977
$ 1,024
$ 954
$ 1,049
Intermediate-Term (10 years)
922
1,086
851
1,180
Long-Term (20 years)
874
1,150
769
1,328
1 Assuming a 4% coupon rate.
These figures are for illustration only; you should not regard them as an indication of future performance of foreign bonds generally or the Fund in particular.  
Plain Talk About Bonds and Interest Rates
As a rule, when interest rates rise, bond prices fall. The opposite is also true:
Bond prices go up when interest rates fall. Why do bond prices and interest
rates move in opposite directions? Let’s assume that you hold a bond
offering a 4% yield. A year later, interest rates are on the rise and bonds of
comparable quality and maturity are offered with a 5% yield. With
higher-yielding bonds available, you would have trouble selling your 4% bond
for the price you paid—you would probably have to lower your asking price.
On the other hand, if interest rates were falling and 3% bonds were being
offered, you should be able to sell your 4% bond for more than you paid.
Changes in interest rates can affect bond income as well as bond prices.
   
The Fund is subject to income risk, which is the chance that the Fund’s income will decline because of falling interest rates. A fund’s income declines when interest rates fall because the fund then must invest new cash flow and cash from maturing bonds in lower-yielding bonds. Income risk should be moderate for the Fund, so investors should expect the Fund‘s monthly income to fluctuate accordingly.  
11
Plain Talk About Bond Maturities
A bond is issued with a specific maturity date—the date when the issuer
must pay back the bond’s principal (face value). Bond maturities range from
less than 1 year to more than 30 years. Typically, the longer a bond’s maturity,
the more price risk you, as a bond investor, will face as interest rates
rise—but also the higher the potential yield you could receive. Longer-term
bonds are more suitable for investors willing to take a greater risk of price
fluctuations to get higher and more stable interest income. Shorter-term
bond investors should be willing to accept lower yields and greater income
variability in return for less fluctuation in the value of their investment. The
stated maturity of a bond may differ from the effective maturity of a bond,
which takes into consideration that an action such as a call or refunding may
cause bonds to be repaid before their stated maturity dates.
Although falling interest rates tend to strengthen bond prices, they can cause other problems for bond fund investors—bond calls and prepayments.
   
The Fund is subject to call risk, which is the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call (redeem) securities with higher coupon rates or interest rates before their maturity dates. The Fund would then lose any price appreciation above the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income. Such redemptions and subsequent reinvestments would also increase the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate.
   
The Fund is subject to extension risk, which is the chance that during periods of rising interest rates, certain debt securities will be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated, and the value of those securities may fall.
   
The Fund is subject to credit risk, which is the chance that a bond issuer will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline. Credit risk should be high for the Fund because it invests a large portion of its assets in bonds rated below investment-grade (also known as high-yield or junk bonds).  
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Plain Talk About Credit Quality
A bond’s credit quality rating is an assessment of the issuer’s ability to pay
interest on the bond and, ultimately, to repay the principal. The lower the
credit quality, the greater the perceived chance that the bond issuer will
default, or fail to meet its payment obligations. All things being equal, the
lower a bond’s credit quality, the higher its yield should be to compensate
investors for assuming additional risk.
   
The Fund is subject to emerging markets risk, which is the chance that the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in emerging market countries will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the bonds of governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging market countries can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets. Emerging markets risk is especially high for the Fund.
   
The Fund is subject to country/regional risk, which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value and/or liquidity of securities issued by foreign governments, government agencies, and government-owned corporations. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in bonds of issuers located in any one country or region, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
   
The Fund is subject to liquidity risk, which is the chance that the Fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired price.  
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Plain Talk About International Investing
U.S. investors who invest in foreign securities will encounter risks not
typically associated with U.S. companies because foreign stock and bond
markets operate differently from the U.S. markets. For instance, foreign
companies and governments may not be subject to the same or similar
accounting, auditing, legal, tax, and financial reporting standards and
practices as U.S. companies and the U.S. government, and their stocks and
bonds may not be as liquid as those of similar U.S. entities. In addition,
foreign stock exchanges, brokers, companies, bond markets, and dealers
may be subject to less government supervision and regulation than their
counterparts in the United States. These factors, among others, could
negatively affect the returns U.S. investors receive from foreign investments.
   
The Fund is subject to nondiversification risk, which is the chance that the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of bonds issued by just a few issuers or even a single issuer. The Fund is considered nondiversified, which means that it may invest a significant percentage of its assets in bonds issued by a small number of issuers as compared with diversified mutual funds.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
Security Selection
Index sampling strategy. Because it would be very expensive and inefficient to buy and sell all of the bonds held in its target index—which is an indexing strategy called “replication”—the Fund uses index “sampling” techniques to select securities. Using computer programs, the Fund’s advisor generally selects a representative sample of securities that approximates the full target index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. These factors include country of origin, duration, cash flow, credit quality, and callability of the underlying bonds. Because the Fund does not hold all of the securities in its target index, some of the securities (and issuers) that are held will likely be overweighted (or underweighted) compared with the target index.
   
The Fund is subject to index sampling risk, which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund's target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.
14
Types of bonds. The Fund tracks the Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index, which includes dollar-denominated bonds with maturities of more than one year issued by emerging market governments such as government agencies and government-owned corporations and banks. The number of bonds in the Fund’s target index was 621 as of October 31, 2020. The Index is capped, which means that its exposure to any particular bond issuer is limited to a maximum of 20% and its aggregate exposure to issuers that individually constitute 5% or more of the Index is limited to 48%. If the Index, as constituted based on market weights, exceeds the 20% or 48% limits, the excess is reallocated to bonds of other issuers represented in the Index. The objective of the reallocation, which is handled by Barclays, is to keep the Index compliant with Internal Revenue Code guidelines and as close to market-cap weight as possible.

 

A “dollar-denominated” bond is a bond that is bought and sold in U.S. dollars. Because the bonds are priced in dollars, rather than in the local currency of the issuer, a U.S. investor is not exposed to currency risk; rather, the issuer assumes this risk, usually to attract U.S. investors. The issuer’s assumption of currency risk can affect the credit risk of its bonds because the issuer would have a large burden if its local currency weakens significantly compared with the U.S. dollar. If an issuer’s local currency declines relative to the U.S. dollar, it could negatively affect perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make payments, which could cause the issuer’s bonds to decline in value. Many issuers manage this risk by hedging currency exposure, and their effectiveness in doing so is typically reflected in their credit rating.

  Except for an occasional small investment in U.S. government securities (typically less than 1% of Fund assets), all of the bonds held by the Fund will be issued by foreign issuers. The primary market for most of these bonds is in the United States, although some bonds may be bought and sold in foreign bond markets.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in bonds held in its target index. The target index, and therefore the Fund itself, is expected to include a significant allocation to nonpublic securities, generally referred to as 144A securities. Although they are nonpublic and therefore restricted, 144A securities can be traded among qualified institutional buyers and are expected to be liquid (meaning that the advisor believes they can be sold or disposed of within seven days in the ordinary course of business at approximately the price at which they are valued). Subject to a 20% limit, the
15
Fund may also purchase other investments that are not included in its target index or may hold bonds that, when acquired, were included in the index but subsequently were removed.
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the index it currently tracks if the current index is discontinued, if the Fund's agreement with the sponsor of its target index is terminated, or for any other reason determined in good faith by the Fund’s board of trustees. In any such instance, the substitute index would represent the same market segment as the current index.
The Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. The Fund may invest in derivatives only if the expected risks and rewards of the derivatives are consistent with the investment objective, policies, strategies, and risks of the Fund as disclosed in this prospectus. In particular, derivatives will be used only when they may help the advisor to accomplish one or more of the following:
• Invest in eligible asset classes with greater efficiency and lower cost than is possible through direct investment.
• Add value when these instruments are attractively priced.
• Adjust sensitivity to changes in interest rates.
The Fund's derivative investments may include fixed income futures contracts, fixed income options, interest rate swaps, total return swaps, credit default swaps, or other derivatives. Losses (or gains) involving futures contracts can sometimes be substantial—in part because a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in an immediate and substantial loss (or gain) for a fund. Similar risks exist for other types of derivatives.  
Plain Talk About Derivatives
Derivatives can take many forms. Some forms of derivatives—such as
exchange-traded futures and options on securities, commodities, or
indexes—have been trading on regulated exchanges for decades. These
types of derivatives are standardized contracts that can easily be bought and
sold and whose market values are determined and published daily. On the
other hand, non-exchange-traded derivatives—such as certain swap
agreements—tend to be more specialized or complex and may be more
difficult to accurately value.
16
 

The Fund may invest a small portion of its assets in fixed income futures, which are a type of derivative, and/or shares of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These fixed income futures and ETFs typically provide returns similar to those of the bonds listed in the index, or in a subset of the index, the Fund seeks to track. The Fund may purchase futures or ETFs when doing so will reduce the Fund’s transaction costs, facilitate cash management, mitigate risk, or have the potential to add value because the instruments are favorably priced. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in ETF shares of other Vanguard Funds. Fund assets invested in ETF Shares are excluded when allocating to the Fund its share of the costs of Vanguard operations.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Under normal circumstances, the Fund typically expects to meet redemptions with positive cash flows. When this is not an option, the Fund seeks to maintain its risk exposure by selling a cross section of the Fund’s holdings to meet redemptions, while also factoring in transaction costs. Additionally, the Fund may work with larger clients to implement their redemptions in a manner that is least disruptive to the portfolio; see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section.
Under certain circumstances, including under stressed market conditions, there are additional tools that the Fund may use in order to meet redemptions, including advancing the settlement of market trades with counterparties to match investor redemption payments or delaying settlement of an investor’s transaction to match trade settlement within regulatory requirements. The Fund may also suspend payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven days; see “Emergency circumstances” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section. Additionally under these unusual circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
17
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when the advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case when the Fund receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
Purchase Fee
The Fund charges a purchase fee of 0.75% on all purchases of its shares, including shares that you purchase by exchange from another Vanguard fund.

 

Unlike a sales charge or a load paid to a broker or a fund management company, the purchase fee is paid directly to the Fund to offset the costs of buying securities.

 See Investing With Vanguard for more information about fees.
Frequent Trading or Market-Timing
Background. Some investors try to profit from strategies involving frequent trading of mutual fund shares, such as market-timing. For funds holding foreign securities, investors may try to take advantage of an anticipated difference between the price of the fund’s shares and price movements in overseas markets, a practice also known as time-zone arbitrage. Investors also may try to engage in frequent trading of funds holding investments such as small-cap stocks and high-yield bonds. As money is shifted into and out of a fund by a shareholder engaging in frequent trading, the fund incurs costs for buying and selling securities, resulting in increased brokerage and administrative costs. These costs are borne by all fund shareholders, including the long-term investors who do not generate the costs. In addition, frequent trading may interfere with an advisor’s ability to efficiently manage the fund.
Policies to address frequent trading. The Vanguard funds (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) do not knowingly accommodate frequent trading. The board of trustees of each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) has adopted policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and discourage frequent trading and, in some cases, to compensate the fund for the costs associated with it. These policies
18
and procedures do not apply to ETF Shares because frequent trading in ETF Shares generally does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. Although there is no assurance that Vanguard will be able to detect or prevent frequent trading or market-timing in all circumstances, the following policies have been adopted to address these issues:
• Each Vanguard fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request—including exchanges from other Vanguard funds—without notice and regardless of size. For example, a purchase request could be rejected because the investor has a history of frequent trading or if Vanguard determines that such purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
• Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) generally prohibits, except as otherwise noted in the Investing With Vanguard section, an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account.
• Certain Vanguard funds charge shareholders purchase and/or redemption fees on transactions.
See the Investing With Vanguard section of this prospectus for further details on Vanguard’s transaction policies.
Each Vanguard fund (other than retail and government money market funds), in determining its net asset value, will use fair-value pricing when appropriate, as described in the Share Price section. Fair-value pricing may reduce or eliminate the profitability of certain frequent-trading strategies.
Do not invest with Vanguard if you are a market-timer.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. Generally, an index fund sells securities in response to redemption requests from shareholders of conventional (not exchange-traded) shares or to changes in the composition of its target index or in an effort to manage the fund’s duration. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover
19
rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc., P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482, which began operations in 1975, serves as advisor to the Fund through its Fixed Income Group. As of October 31, 2020, Vanguard served as advisor for approximately $5.2 trillion in assets. Vanguard provides investment advisory services to the Fund pursuant to the Funds’ Service Agreement and subject to the supervision and oversight of the trustees and officers of the Fund.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the advisory expenses represented an effective annual rate of less than 0.01% of the Fund’s average net assets.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an
20
additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory arrangement, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
The manager primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund is:
Joshua C. Barrickman, CFA, Principal of Vanguard and co-head of Vanguard’s Fixed Income Indexing Americas. He has been with Vanguard since 1998, has worked in investment management since 1999, has managed investment portfolios since 2005, and has managed the Fund since its inception in 2013. Education: B.S., Ohio Northern University; M.B.A., Lehigh University.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about the portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income dividends generally are declared monthly and distributed monthly; capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.
 

You can receive distributions of income or capital gains in cash, or you can have
21
them automatically reinvested in more shares of the Fund. However, if you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your distributions will be automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares.  
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of investments. Income
consists of interest the fund earns from its money market and bond
investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells securities for
higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are either short-term
or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the securities for one year
or less or for more than one year.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional Fund shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any income dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned shares in the Fund.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund's normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling or exchanging your Fund shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
22
• Any conversion between classes of shares of the same fund is a nontaxable event. By contrast, an exchange between classes of shares of different funds is a taxable event.
• Vanguard (or your intermediary) will send you a statement each year showing the tax status of all of your distributions.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale or exchange of Fund shares.
Income dividends and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale or exchange of Fund shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
The Fund may be subject to foreign taxes or foreign tax withholding on dividends, interest, and some capital gains that it receives on foreign securities. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so. You may qualify for an offsetting credit or deduction under U.S. tax laws for any amount designated as your portion of the Fund’s foreign tax obligations, provided that you meet certain requirements. See your tax advisor or IRS publications for more information.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.
General Information
Backup withholding. By law, Vanguard must withhold 24% of any taxable distributions or redemptions from your account if you do not:
• Provide your correct taxpayer identification number.
• Certify that the taxpayer identification number is correct.
• Confirm that you are not subject to backup withholding.
Similarly, Vanguard (or your intermediary) must withhold taxes from your account if the IRS instructs us to do so.
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Foreign investors. Vanguard funds offered for sale in the United States (Vanguard U.S. funds), including the Fund offered in this prospectus, are not widely available outside the United States. Non-U.S. investors should be aware that U.S. withholding and estate taxes and certain U.S. tax reporting requirements may apply to any investments in Vanguard U.S. funds. Foreign investors should visit the non-U.S. investors page on our website at vanguard.com for information on Vanguard’s non-U.S. products.
Invalid addresses. If an income dividend distribution or capital gains distribution check mailed to your address of record is returned as undeliverable, Vanguard will automatically reinvest the distribution and all future distributions until you provide us with a valid mailing address. Reinvestments will receive the net asset value calculated on the date of the reinvestment.
Share Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. Each share class has its own NAV, which is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Debt securities held by a Vanguard fund are valued based on information furnished by an independent pricing service or market quotations. When a fund determines that pricing-service information or market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including
24
institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund’s pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges or markets that close many hours before the fund’s pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, material credit events) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities. A fund may also use fair-value pricing on bond market holidays when the fund is open for business (such as Columbus Day and Veterans Day).

 

Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard fund share prices are published daily on our website at vanguard.com/prices.
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Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund Institutional Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$32.33
$29.88
$32.47
$32.24
$30.50
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income
1.4431
1.5221
1.3801
1.5081
1.521
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments2
(0.938)
2.425
(2.596)
0.238
1.715
Total from Investment Operations
0.505
3.947
(1.216)
1.746
3.236
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(1.435)
(1.497)
(1.374)
(1.516)
(1.496)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
—
—
—
—
—
Total Distributions
(1.435)
(1.497)
(1.374)
(1.516)
(1.496)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$31.40
$32.33
$29.88
$32.47
$32.24
Total Return3
1.68%
13.46%
–3.82%
5.59%
10.89%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$42
$51
$19
$20
$21
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets
0.23%
0.23%
0.29%
0.29%
0.29%
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets
4.59%
4.81%
4.43%
4.70%
4.92%
Portfolio Turnover Rate4
21%
48%
25%
19%
24%
1
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
2
Includes increases from redemption fees of $.00, $.00, $.02, $.03, and $.02.
3
Total returns do not include transaction or account service fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
4
Excludes the value of portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of in-kind purchases or redemptions of the fund's capital shares, including ETF Creation Units.
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Investing With Vanguard
This section of the prospectus explains the basics of doing business with Vanguard. Vanguard fund shares can be held directly with Vanguard or indirectly through an intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. If you hold Vanguard fund shares directly with Vanguard, you should carefully read each topic within this section that pertains to your relationship with Vanguard. If you hold Vanguard fund shares indirectly through an intermediary (including shares held in a brokerage account through Vanguard Brokerage Services®), please see Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms, and also refer to your account agreement with the intermediary for information about transacting in that account. If you hold Vanguard fund shares through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, please see Employer-Sponsored Plans. Vanguard reserves the right to change the following policies without notice. Please call or check online for current information. See Contacting Vanguard.
For Vanguard fund shares held directly with Vanguard, each fund you hold in an account is a separate “fund account.” For example, if you hold three funds in a nonretirement account titled in your own name, two funds in a nonretirement account titled jointly with your spouse, and one fund in an individual retirement account, you have six fund accounts—and this is true even if you hold the same fund in multiple accounts. Note that each reference to “you” in this prospectus applies to any one or more registered account owners or persons authorized to transact on your account.
Purchasing Shares
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to increase or decrease the minimum amount required to open, convert shares to, or maintain a fund account or to add to an existing fund account.
Investment minimums may differ for certain categories of investors.
Account Minimums for Institutional Shares
To open and maintain an account. $5 million. If you request Institutional Shares when you open a new account but the investment amount does not meet the account minimum for Institutional Shares, your investment will be placed in another share class of the Fund, as appropriate. The minimum investment amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1. If you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
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Certain Vanguard institutional clients may meet the minimum investment amount by aggregating separate accounts within the same fund. This aggregation policy does not apply to financial intermediaries.
Vanguard may charge additional recordkeeping fees for institutional clients whose accounts are recordkept by Vanguard. Please contact your Vanguard representative to determine whether additional recordkeeping fees apply to your account.
To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
How to Initiate a Purchase Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your purchase request.
Online. You may open certain types of accounts, request a purchase of shares, and request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to begin the account registration process or request that the account-opening forms be sent to you. You may also call Vanguard to request a purchase of shares in your account or to request an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send Vanguard your account registration form and check to open a new fund account. To add to an existing fund account, you may send your check with an Invest-by-Mail form (from a transaction confirmation or your account statement) or with a deposit slip (available online).
How to Pay for a Purchase
By electronic bank transfer. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund through an electronic transfer of money from a bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate the bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can purchase shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Investment Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your purchase request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. Wiring instructions vary for different types of purchases. Please call Vanguard for instructions and policies on purchasing shares by wire. See Contacting Vanguard.
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By check. You may make initial or additional purchases to your fund account by sending a check with a deposit slip or by utilizing our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access. Also see How to Initiate a Purchase Request. Make your check payable to Vanguard and include the appropriate fund number (Vanguard—2020).
By exchange. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund using the proceeds from the simultaneous redemption of shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail with an exchange form. See Exchanging Shares.
Trade Date
The trade date for any purchase request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request, the manner in which you are paying, and the type of fund you are purchasing. Your purchase will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For purchases by check into all funds other than money market funds and for purchases by exchange, wire, or electronic bank transfer into all funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the same day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day.
For purchases by check into money market funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the second business day following the day Vanguard receives the purchase request. Because money market instruments must be purchased with federal funds and it takes a money market mutual fund one business day to convert check proceeds into federal funds, the trade date for the purchase will be one business day later than for other funds.
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If your purchase request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
For further information about purchase transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Purchase Fee
The Fund charges a purchase fee of 0.75% on all share purchases, including shares purchased by exchange from another Vanguard fund. The purchase fee is deducted from the amount of each new purchase and is paid directly to the Fund to offset the cost of buying securities.

 

Purchase fees will not apply to Vanguard fund account purchases in the following circumstances: (1) purchases of shares through reinvested dividends or capital gains distributions; (2) share transfers, rollovers, or reregistrations within the same fund; (3) conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund; (4) purchases in-kind; and (5) share rollovers to an IRA within the same Vanguard fund for plans in which Vanguard serves as a recordkeeper.
Other Purchase Rules You Should Know
Check purchases. All purchase checks must be written in U.S. dollars, be drawn on a U.S. bank, and be accompanied by good order instructions. Vanguard does not accept cash, traveler’s checks, starter checks, or money orders. In addition, Vanguard may refuse checks that are not made payable to Vanguard.
New accounts. We are required by law to obtain from you certain personal information that we will use to verify your identity. If you do not provide the information, we may not be able to open your account. If we are unable to verify your identity, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to close your account or take such other steps as we deem reasonable. Certain types of accounts may require additional documentation.
Refused or rejected purchase requests. Vanguard reserves the right to stop selling fund shares or to reject any purchase request at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, purchases requested by exchange from another Vanguard fund. This also includes the right to reject any purchase request because the investor has a history of frequent trading or because the purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
Large purchases. Call Vanguard before attempting to invest a large dollar amount.
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No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any purchase request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a purchase request.
Converting Shares
When a conversion occurs, you receive shares of one class in place of shares of another class of the same fund. At the time of conversion, the dollar value of the “new” shares you receive equals the dollar value of the “old” shares that were converted. In other words, the conversion has no effect on the value of your investment in the fund at the time of the conversion. However, the number of shares you own after the conversion may be greater than or less than the number of shares you owned before the conversion, depending on the NAVs of the two share classes.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any self-directed conversion request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a conversion request.
A conversion between share classes of the same fund is a nontaxable event.
Trade Date
The trade date for any conversion request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request. Your conversion will be executed using the NAVs of the different share classes on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For a conversion request (other than a request to convert to ETF Shares) received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. For a conversion request received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day. See Other Rules You Should Know.
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Conversions to Institutional Shares
You are eligible for a self-directed conversion from another share class to Institutional Shares of the Fund, provided that your account meets all eligibility requirements. You may request a conversion through our website (if you are registered for online access), or you may contact Vanguard by telephone or by mail to request this transaction. Accounts that qualify for Institutional Shares will not be automatically converted.
Conversions to ETF Shares
Owners of conventional shares (i.e., not exchange-traded shares) issued by the Fund may convert those shares to ETF Shares of equivalent value of the same fund. Please note that investors who own conventional shares through a 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored retirement or benefit plan generally may not convert those shares to ETF Shares and should check with their plan sponsor or recordkeeper. ETF Shares, whether acquired through a conversion or purchased on the secondary market, cannot be converted to conventional shares by a shareholder. Also, ETF Shares of one fund cannot be exchanged for ETF Shares of another fund.
ETF Shares must be held in a brokerage account. Thus, before converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, you must have an existing, or open a new, brokerage account. This account may be with Vanguard Brokerage Services or with any other brokerage firm.
Vanguard Brokerage Services does not impose a fee on conversions from conventional shares to Vanguard ETF Shares. However, other brokerage firms may charge a fee to process a conversion. Vanguard reserves the right, in the future, to impose a transaction fee on conversions or to limit, temporarily suspend, or terminate the conversion privilege. For additional information on converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, please contact Vanguard to obtain a prospectus for ETF Shares. See Contacting Vanguard.
Mandatory Conversions to Another Share Class
If an account no longer meets the balance requirements for Institutional Shares, Vanguard may automatically convert the shares in the account to another share class, as appropriate. A decline in the account balance because of market movement may result in such a conversion. Vanguard will notify the investor in writing before any mandatory conversion occurs.
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Redeeming Shares
How to Initiate a Redemption Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your redemption request.
Online. You may request a redemption of shares or request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to request a redemption of shares or an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send a form (available online) to Vanguard to redeem from a fund account or to make an exchange.
How to Receive Redemption Proceeds
By electronic bank transfer. You may have the proceeds of a fund redemption sent directly to a designated bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can redeem shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Withdrawal Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your redemption request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. To receive your proceeds by wire, you may instruct Vanguard to wire your redemption proceeds ($100 minimum) to a previously designated bank account. To establish the wire redemption service, you generally must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form.
Please note that Vanguard charges a $10 wire fee for outgoing wire redemptions. The fee is assessed in addition to, rather than being withheld from, redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the fund in which you invest. For example, if you redeem $100 via a wire, you will receive the full $100, and the $10 fee will be assessed to your fund account through an additional redemption of fund shares. If you redeem your entire fund account, your redemption proceeds will be reduced by the amount of the fee. The wire fee does not apply to accounts held by Flagship and Flagship Select clients; accounts held through intermediaries, including Vanguard Brokerage Services; or accounts held by institutional clients.
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By exchange. You may have the proceeds of a Vanguard fund redemption invested directly in shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Exchanging Shares.
By check. If you have not chosen another redemption method, Vanguard will mail you a redemption check, generally payable to all registered account owners, normally within two business days of your trade date, and generally to the address of record.
Trade Date
The trade date for any redemption request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request and the manner in which you are redeeming. Your redemption will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For redemptions by check, exchange, or wire: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from money market funds: For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day before 10:45 a.m., Eastern time (2 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund; 12:30 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business the same day. For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day after those cut-off times, or on a nonbusiness day, and for all requests other than by telephone, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from all other funds: For requests received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day. For
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requests received by Vanguard on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the second business day after Vanguard receives the request.
For redemptions by electronic bank transfer: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
If your redemption request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. If we are unable to send your redemption proceeds by wire or electronic bank transfer because the receiving institution rejects the transfer, Vanguard will make additional efforts to complete your transaction. If Vanguard is still unable to complete the transaction, we may send the proceeds of the redemption to you by check, generally payable to all registered account owners, or use your proceeds to purchase new shares of the fund from which you sold shares for the purpose of the wire or electronic bank transfer transaction. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
If your redemption request is received in good order, we typically expect that redemption proceeds will be paid by the Fund within one business day of the trade date; however, in certain circumstances, investors may experience a longer settlement period at the time of the transaction. For further information, see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” and “Emergency circumstances.”
For further information about redemption transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Redemption Rules You Should Know
Documentation for certain accounts. Special documentation may be required to redeem from certain types of accounts, such as trust, corporate, nonprofit, or retirement accounts. Please call us before attempting to redeem from these types of accounts.
Potentially disruptive redemptions. Vanguard reserves the right to pay all or part of a redemption in kind—that is, in the form of securities—if we reasonably believe that a cash redemption would negatively affect the fund’s operation or performance or that the shareholder may be engaged in market-timing or frequent trading. Under these circumstances, Vanguard also reserves the right to delay payment of the redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. By
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calling us before you attempt to redeem a large dollar amount, you may avoid in-kind or delayed payment of your redemption. Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations for information about Vanguard’s policies to limit frequent trading.
Recently purchased shares. Although you can redeem shares at any time, proceeds may not be made available to you until the fund collects payment for your purchase. This may take up to seven calendar days for shares purchased by check or by electronic bank transfer. If you have written a check on a fund in an account with checkwriting privileges, that check may be rejected if your fund account does not have a sufficient available balance.
Address change. If you change your address online or by telephone, there may be up to a 14-day restriction (starting on the business day after your address is changed) on your ability to request check redemptions online and by telephone. You can request a redemption in writing (using a form available online) at any time. Confirmations of address changes are sent to both the old and new addresses.
Payment to a different person or address. At your request, we can make your redemption check payable, or wire your redemption proceeds, to a different person or send it to a different address. However, this generally requires the written consent of all registered account owners and may require additional documentation, such as a signature guarantee or a notarized signature. You may obtain a signature guarantee from some commercial or savings banks, credit unions, trust companies, or member firms of a U.S. stock exchange.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any redemption request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a redemption request.
Emergency circumstances. Vanguard funds can postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. In addition, Vanguard funds can suspend redemptions and/or postpone payments of redemption proceeds beyond seven calendar days at times when the NYSE is closed or during emergency circumstances, as determined by the SEC.
Exchanging Shares
An exchange occurs when you use the proceeds from the redemption of shares of one Vanguard fund to simultaneously purchase shares of a different Vanguard fund. You can make exchange requests online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Purchasing Shares and Redeeming Shares.
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If the NYSE is open for regular trading (generally until 4 p.m., Eastern time, on a business day) at the time an exchange request is received in good order, the trade date generally will be the same day. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order for additional information on all transaction requests.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any exchange request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing an exchange request.
Call Vanguard before attempting to exchange a large dollar amount. By calling us before you attempt to exchange a large dollar amount, you may avoid delayed or rejected transactions.
Please note that Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise or terminate the exchange privilege, limit the amount of any exchange, or reject an exchange, at any time, for any reason. See Frequent-Trading Limitations for additional restrictions on exchanges.
Frequent-Trading Limitations
Because excessive transactions can disrupt management of a fund and increase the fund’s costs for all shareholders, the board of trustees of each Vanguard fund places certain limits on frequent trading in the funds. Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) limits an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account. ETF Shares are not subject to these frequent-trading limits.
For Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, the limitations apply to exchanges made online or by telephone.
These frequent-trading limitations do not apply to the following:
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Transactions through Vanguard’s Automatic Investment Plan, Automatic Exchange Service, Direct Deposit Service, Automatic Withdrawal Plan, Required Minimum Distribution Service, and Vanguard Small Business Online®.
• Discretionary transactions through Vanguard Personal Advisor Services®, Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services®, and Vanguard Digital Advisor™.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans).
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• Transfers and reregistrations of shares within the same fund.
• Purchases of shares by asset transfer or direct rollover.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Checkwriting redemptions.
• Section 529 college savings plans.
• Certain approved institutional portfolios and asset allocation programs, as well as trades made by funds or trusts managed by Vanguard or its affiliates that invest in other Vanguard funds. (Please note that shareholders of Vanguard’s funds of funds are subject to the limitations.)
For participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans,* the frequent-trading limitations do not apply to:
• Purchases of shares with participant payroll or employer contributions or loan repayments.
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan.
• Redemptions of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan.
• Transactions executed through the Vanguard Managed Account Program.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Share or asset transfers or rollovers.
• Reregistrations of shares.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Exchange requests submitted by written request to Vanguard. (Exchange requests submitted by fax, if otherwise permitted, are subject to the limitations.)
* The following Vanguard fund accounts are subject to the frequent-trading limitations: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Accounts Held by Institutions (Other Than Defined Contribution Plans)
Vanguard will systematically monitor for frequent trading in institutional clients’ accounts. If we detect suspicious trading activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include applying to a client’s accounts the 30-day policy previously described, prohibiting a client’s purchases of fund shares, and/or revoking the client’s exchange privilege.
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Accounts Held by Intermediaries
When intermediaries establish accounts in Vanguard funds for the benefit of their clients, we cannot always monitor the trading activity of the individual clients. However, we review trading activity at the intermediary (omnibus) level, and if we detect suspicious activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action. If necessary, Vanguard may prohibit additional purchases of fund shares by an intermediary, including for the benefit of certain of the intermediary’s clients. Intermediaries also may monitor their clients’ trading activities with respect to Vanguard funds.
For those Vanguard funds that charge purchase and/or redemption fees, intermediaries will be asked to assess these fees on client accounts and remit these fees to the funds. The application of purchase and redemption fees and frequent-trading limitations may vary among intermediaries. There are no assurances that Vanguard will successfully identify all intermediaries or that intermediaries will properly assess purchase and redemption fees or administer frequent-trading limitations. If you invest with Vanguard through an intermediary, please read that firm’s materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply.
Other Rules You Should Know
Prospectus and Shareholder Report Mailings
When two or more shareholders have the same last name and address, just one summary prospectus (or prospectus) and/or shareholder report may be sent in an attempt to eliminate the unnecessary expense of duplicate mailings. You may request individual prospectuses and reports by contacting our Client Services Department in writing, by telephone, or online. See Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard.com
Registration. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can review your account holdings; buy, sell, or exchange shares of most Vanguard funds; and perform most other transactions through our website. You must register for this service online.
Electronic delivery. Vanguard can deliver your account statements, transaction confirmations, prospectuses, certain tax forms, and shareholder reports electronically. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can consent to the electronic delivery of these documents by logging on and changing your mailing preferences under “Account Maintenance.” You can revoke your electronic consent at any time through our website, and we will begin to send paper copies of these documents within 30 days of receiving your revocation.
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Telephone Transactions
Automatic. When we set up your account, we will automatically enable you to do business with us by telephone, unless you instruct us otherwise in writing.
Tele-Account®. To obtain fund and account information through Vanguard’s automated telephone service, you must first establish a Personal Identification Number (PIN) by calling Tele-Account at 800-662-6273.
Proof of a caller’s authority. We reserve the right to refuse a telephone request if the caller is unable to provide the requested information or if we reasonably believe that the caller is not an individual authorized to act on the account. Before we allow a caller to act on an account, we may request the following information:
• Authorization to act on the account (as the account owner or by legal documentation or other means).
• Account registration and address.
• Fund name and account number, if applicable.
• Other information relating to the caller, the account owner, or the account.
Good Order
We reserve the right to reject any transaction instructions that are not in “good order.” Good order generally means that your instructions:
• Are provided by the person(s) authorized in accordance with Vanguard’s policies and procedures to access the account and request transactions.
• Include the fund name and account number.
• Include the amount of the transaction (stated in dollars, shares, or percentage).
Written instructions also must generally be provided on a Vanguard form and include:
• Signature(s) and date from the authorized person(s).
• Signature guarantees or notarized signatures, if required for the type of transaction. (Call Vanguard for specific requirements.)
• Any supporting documentation that may be required.
Good order requirements may vary among types of accounts and transactions. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
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Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise the requirements for good order.
Future Trade-Date Requests
Vanguard does not accept requests to hold a purchase, conversion, redemption, or exchange transaction for a future date. All such requests will receive trade dates as previously described in Purchasing Shares, Converting Shares, Redeeming Shares, and Exchanging Shares. Vanguard reserves the right to return future-dated purchase checks.
Accounts With More Than One Owner
If an account has more than one owner or authorized person, Vanguard generally will accept instructions from any one owner or authorized person.
Responsibility for Fraud
You should take precautions to protect yourself from fraud. Keep your account-related information private, and review any account confirmations, statements, or other information that we provide to you as soon as you receive them. Let us know immediately if you discover unauthorized activity or see something on your account that you do not understand or that looks unusual.
Vanguard will not be responsible for losses that result from transactions by a person who we reasonably believe is authorized to act on your account.
Uncashed Checks
Please cash your distribution or redemption checks promptly. Vanguard will not pay interest on uncashed checks. Vanguard may be required to transfer assets related to uncashed checks to a state under the state’s abandoned property law.
Dormant Accounts
If your account has no activity in it for a period of time, Vanguard may be required to transfer it to a state under the state’s abandoned property law, subject to potential federal or state withholding taxes.
Unusual Circumstances
If you experience difficulty contacting Vanguard online or by telephone, you can send us your transaction request on a Vanguard form by regular or express mail.
Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms
You may purchase or sell shares of most Vanguard funds through a financial intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. Please consult your financial intermediary to determine which, if any, shares are available
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through that firm and to learn about other rules that may apply. Your financial intermediary can provide you with account information and any required tax forms. You may be required to pay a commission on purchases of mutual fund shares made through a financial intermediary.
Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of any purchase or redemption fees and the monitoring of frequent trading for accounts held by intermediaries.
Low-Balance Accounts
The Fund reserves the right to convert an investor’s Institutional Shares to another share class, as appropriate, if the fund account balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. Any such conversion will be preceded by written notice to the investor.
Right to Change Policies
In addition to the rights expressly stated elsewhere in this prospectus, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to (1) alter, add, or discontinue any conditions of purchase (including eligibility requirements), redemption, exchange, conversion, service, or privilege at any time and (2) alter, impose, discontinue, or waive any purchase fee, redemption fee, account service fee, or other fee charged to a shareholder or a group of shareholders. Changes may affect any or all investors. These actions will be taken when, at the sole discretion of Vanguard management, Vanguard believes they are in the best interest of a fund.
Account Restrictions
Vanguard reserves the right to: (1) redeem all or a portion of a fund/account to meet a legal obligation, including tax withholding, tax lien, garnishment order, or other obligation imposed on your account by a court or government agency; (2) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options in the case of threatening conduct or activity; (3) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options if Vanguard believes or suspects that not doing so could result in a suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal transaction; (4) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if it is required to do so by a court or government agency; (5) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if Vanguard believes that doing so will prevent fraud, financial exploitation or abuse, or to protect vulnerable investors; (6) freeze any account and/or suspend account services if Vanguard has received reasonable notice of a dispute regarding the assets in an account, including notice of a dispute between the registered or beneficial account owners; and (7) freeze any account and/or suspend account services upon initial notification to Vanguard of the death of an account owner.
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Share Classes
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to change the eligibility requirements of its share classes, including the types of clients who are eligible to purchase each share class.
Fund and Account Updates
Confirmation Statements
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) a confirmation of your trade date and the amount of your transaction when you buy, sell, exchange, or convert shares. However, we will not send confirmations reflecting only checkwriting redemptions or the reinvestment of dividend or capital gains distributions. For any month in which you had a checkwriting redemption, a Checkwriting Activity Statement will be sent to you itemizing the checkwriting redemptions for that month. Promptly review each confirmation statement that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on a confirmation statement, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Portfolio Summaries
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) quarterly portfolio summaries to help you keep track of your accounts throughout the year. Each summary shows the market value of your account at the close of the statement period, as well as all distributions, purchases, redemptions, exchanges, transfers, and conversions for the current calendar quarter (or month). Promptly review each summary that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on the summary, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Tax Information Statements
For most accounts, Vanguard (or your intermediary) is required to provide annual tax forms to assist you in preparing your income tax returns. These forms are generally available for each calendar year early in the following year. Registered users of vanguard.com can also view certain forms through our website. Vanguard (or your intermediary) may also provide you with additional tax-related documentation. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
43
Annual and Semiannual Reports
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) reports about Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund twice a year, in June and December. These reports include overviews of the financial markets and provide the following specific Fund information:
• Performance assessments and comparisons with industry benchmarks.
• Financial statements with listings of Fund holdings.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Employer-Sponsored Plans
Your plan administrator or your employee benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how to participate in your plan and how to elect the Fund as an investment option.
• If you have any questions about the Fund or Vanguard, including those about the Fund’s investment objective, strategies, or risks, contact Vanguard Participant Services toll-free at 800-523-1188 or visit our website at vanguard.com.
• If you have questions about your account, contact your plan administrator or the organization that provides recordkeeping services for your plan.
• Be sure to carefully read each topic that pertains to your transactions with Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right to change its policies without notice to shareholders.
Transactions
Processing times for your transaction requests may differ among recordkeepers or among transaction and funding types. Your plan’s recordkeeper (which may also be Vanguard) will determine the necessary processing time frames for your transaction requests prior to submission to the Fund. Consult your recordkeeper or plan administrator for more information.
If Vanguard is serving as your plan recordkeeper and if your transaction involves one or more investments with an early cut-off time for processing or another trading restriction, your entire transaction will be subject to the restriction when the trade date for your transaction is determined.
44
Contacting Vanguard  
Web
 
Vanguard.com
For the most complete source of Vanguard news
For fund, account, and service information
For most account transactions
For literature requests
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
 
Phone
Vanguard Tele-Account®
800-662-6273
For automated fund and account information
Toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Investor Information 800-662-7447
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For fund and service information
For literature requests
Client Services 800-662-2739
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For account information
For most account transactions
Participant Services 800-523-1188
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For information and services for participants in
employer-sponsored plans
Institutional Division
888-809-8102
For information and services for large institutional
investors
Financial Advisor and Intermediary
Sales Support 800-997-2798
For information and services for financial intermediaries
including financial advisors, broker-dealers, trust
institutions, and insurance companies
Financial Advisory and Intermediary
Trading Support 800-669-0498
For account information and trading support for
financial intermediaries including financial advisors,
broker-dealers, trust institutions, and insurance
companies
Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Newspaper
Abbreviation
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund
Institutional Shares
2/11/2015

(Admiral Shares
5/31/2013)
EMGovtBdIxFdInst
2020
921946703
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
45
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
BLOOMBERG is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. BARCLAYS is a trademark and service mark of Barclays Bank Plc, used under license. Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates, including Bloomberg Index Services Limited (BISL) (collectively, Bloomberg), or Bloomberg’s licensors, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index (the Index or Bloomberg Barclays Index).
Neither Barclays Bank Plc, Barclays Capital Inc., or any affiliate (collectively Barclays) or Bloomberg is the issuer or producer of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund and neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has any responsibilities, obligations or duties to investors in the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund. The Index is licensed for use by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard) as the sponsor of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund. Bloomberg and Barclays’ only relationship with Vanguard in respect to the Index is the licensing of the Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by BISL, or any successor thereto, without regard to the Issuer or the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund or the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund.
Additionally, Vanguard may for itself execute transaction(s) with Barclays in or relating to the Index in connection with the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund. Investors acquire the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund from Vanguard and investors neither acquire any interest in the Index nor enter into any relationship of any kind whatsoever with Bloomberg or Barclays upon making an investment in the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund. The Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Bloomberg or Barclays. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays makes any representation or warranty, express or implied regarding the advisability of investing in the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund or the advisability of investing in securities generally or the ability of the Index to track corresponding or relative market performance. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has passed on the legality or suitability of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund with respect to any person or entity. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays is responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund to be issued. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has any obligation to take the needs of the Issuer or the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund or any other third party into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Index. Neither Bloomberg nor Barclays has any obligation or liability in connection with administration, marketing or trading of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund.
The licensing agreement between Bloomberg and Barclays is solely for the benefit of Bloomberg and Barclays and not for the benefit of the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, investors or other third parties. In addition, the licensing agreement between Vanguard and Bloomberg is solely for the benefit of Vanguard and Bloomberg and not for the benefit of the owners of the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, investors or other third parties.
NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO THE ISSUER, INVESTORS OR TO OTHER THIRD PARTIES FOR THE QUALITY, ACCURACY AND/OR COMPLETENESS OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN OR FOR INTERRUPTIONS IN THE DELIVERY OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX. NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS MAKES ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY THE ISSUER, THE INVESTORS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS MAKES ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EACH HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BLOOMBERG RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE METHODS OF CALCULATION OR PUBLICATION, OR TO CEASE THE CALCULATION OR PUBLICATION OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX, AND NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY MISCALCULATION OF OR ANY INCORRECT, DELAYED OR INTERRUPTED PUBLICATION WITH RESPECT TO THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX. NEITHER BLOOMBERG NOR BARCLAYS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY LOST PROFITS AND EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH, RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THE BLOOMBERG BARCLAYS INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN OR WITH RESPECT TO THE EMERGING MARKETS GOVERNMENT BOND INDEX FUND.
None of the information supplied by Bloomberg or Barclays and used in this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the prior written permission of both Bloomberg and Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank Plc. Barclays Bank Plc is registered in England No. 1026167, registered office 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP.
46
Glossary of Investment Terms
Average Maturity. The average length of time until bonds held by a fund reach maturity and are repaid. In general, the longer the average maturity, the more a fund's share price fluctuates in response to changes in market interest rates. In calculating average maturity, a fund uses a bond’s maturity or, if applicable, an earlier date on which the advisor believes it is likely that a maturity-shortening device (such as a call, put, refunding, prepayment, or redemption provision or an adjustable coupon rate) will cause the bond to be repaid.
Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index ex USD. A multi-currency benchmark that includes fixed-rate treasury, government-related, corporate, and securitized bonds from developed and emerging market issuers while excluding USD denominated debt. It is largely comprised of two major regional aggregate components: the Pan-European Aggregate and the Asian-Pacific Aggregate Index.
Bond. A debt security (IOU) issued by a corporation, a government, or a government agency in exchange for the money the bondholder lends it. In most instances, the issuer agrees to pay back the loan by a specific date and generally to make regular interest payments until that date.
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Coupon Rate. The interest rate paid by the issuer of a debt security until its maturity. It is expressed as an annual percentage of the face value of the security.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Dollar-Denominated Bond. A bond that is bought and sold in exchange for U.S. dollars.
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Face Value. The amount to be paid at a bond’s maturity; also known as the par value or principal.
47
Fixed Income Security. An investment, such as a bond, representing a debt that must be repaid by a specified date, and on which the borrower must pay a fixed, variable, or floating rate of interest.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund (or one of its share classes) are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Indexing. A low-cost investment strategy in which a mutual fund attempts to track—rather than outperform—a specified market benchmark, or “index.”
Investment-Grade Bond. A debt security whose credit quality is considered by independent bond rating agencies, or through independent analysis conducted by a fund's advisor, to be sufficient to ensure timely payment of principal and interest under current economic circumstances. Debt securities rated in one of the four highest rating categories are considered investment-grade. Other debt securities may be considered by an advisor to be investment-grade.
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Principal. The face value of a debt instrument or the amount of money put into an investment.
48
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a mutual fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
   
Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about the Fund or other Vanguard funds, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
If you are an individual investor:
Telephone: 800-662-7447; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a client of Vanguard’s Institutional Division:
Telephone: 888-809-8102; Text telephone for people
with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a current Vanguard shareholder and would like information about your account, account transactions, and/or account statements, please call:
Client Services Department
Telephone: 800-662-2739; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.I 2020 022021
 
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Investor Shares & Admiral™ Shares
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund Investor Shares (VMVFX)
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund Admiral Shares (VMNVX)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
Fund Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation with lower volatility relative to the global equity market.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell Investor Shares or Admiral Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Investor Shares
Admiral Shares
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
None
None
Purchase Fee
None
None
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
None
Redemption Fee
None
None
Account Service Fee Per Year
(for certain fund account balances below $10,000)
$20
$20
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Investor Shares
Admiral Shares
Management Fees
0.18%
0.13%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
None
Other Expenses
0.03%
0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.21%
0.14%
1
Examples
The following examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s Investor Shares or Admiral Shares with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. They illustrate the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund's shares. These examples assume that the shares provide a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
 
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Investor Shares
$22
$68
$118
$268
Admiral Shares
$14
$45
$79
$179
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense examples, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 58% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund invests primarily in U.S. and foreign stocks that are expected to generate lower volatility relative to the global equity market. The portfolio will include a diverse mix of companies located in many different countries and representing many different market sectors and industry groups. The advisor uses quantitative models that evaluate all of the securities in the Fund's benchmark, the FTSE Global All Cap Index (USD Hedged), to construct a global equity portfolio that seeks to achieve the lowest amount of expected volatility subject to a set of reasonable constraints designed to foster portfolio diversification and liquidity. The Fund generally will seek to hedge most of its currency exposure back to the U.S. dollar to reduce overall portfolio volatility.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance:
2
•  Stock market risk , which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund’s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions.
•  Investment style risk , which is the chance that returns from the types of stocks in which the Fund invests will trail returns from global stock markets. Low volatility stocks tend to have lower risk profiles than the global equity market in general. Investing in low volatility stocks may not protect the Fund from market declines and may reduce the Fund’s participation in market gains.
•  Country/regional risk , which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the Fund's performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area.
•  Currency risk and currency hedging risk. The Fund generally will seek to hedge most of its currency exposure back to the U.S. dollar to reduce overall portfolio volatility. However, not all currency exposure will be hedged, so the Fund will have a low level of currency risk. Currency risk is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. The Fund will also have a low level of currency hedging risk, which is the chance that the currency hedging transactions entered into by the Fund may not perfectly offset the Fund's foreign currency exposure. For example, the Fund will decline in value if it underhedges a currency that has weakened or overhedges a currency that has strengthened relative to the U.S. dollar.
•  Manager risk , which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the Fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective.
•  Derivatives risk . The Fund may invest in derivatives, which may involve risks different from, and possibly greater than, those of investments directly in the underlying securities or assets.
An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
3
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund‘s Investor Shares has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the share classes presented compare with those of a relevant market index, which has investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. FTSE Global All Cap Index (USD Hedged) returns are adjusted for withholding taxes applicable to U.S.-based mutual funds organized as Delaware statutory trusts. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund Investor Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
11.31%
June 30, 2020
Lowest
-20.92%
March 31, 2020
4
Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
5 Years
Since
Inception
(Dec. 12,
2013)
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund
Investor Shares
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
–3.99%
7.77%
8.74%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
–4.47
6.67
7.50
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
–2.06
5.87
6.63
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund
Admiral Shares
 
 
 
Return Before Taxes
–3.94%
7.85%
8.83%
FTSE Global All Cap Index Hedged
(reflects no deduction for fees or expenses)
15.19%
12.50%
10.91%
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are shown only for the Investor Shares and may differ for each share class. After-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Portfolio Manager
Antonio Picca, Senior Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has managed the Fund since 2018.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for Investor Shares or Admiral Shares is $3,000 or $50,000, respectively. The minimum investment amount required to add to an
5
existing Fund account is generally $1. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility. If you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisor do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
6
More on the Fund
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any mutual fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to mutual fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.
Share Class Overview
The Fund offers two separate classes of shares: Investor Shares and Admiral Shares.
Both share classes offered by the Fund have the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. However, different share classes have different expenses; as a result, their investment returns will differ.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All mutual funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are
deducted from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the
net assets of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated
in the Fees and Expenses section, Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund’s
expense ratios would be as follows: for Investor Shares, 0.21%, or $2.10 per
$1,000 of average net assets; for Admiral Shares, 0.14%, or $1.40 per
$1,000 of average net assets. The average expense ratio for global funds in
2019 was 1.10%, or $11.00 per $1,000 of average net assets (derived from
data provided by Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company, which reports on the
mutual fund industry).
 
7
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing a mutual fund. That is
because you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of
operating a fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or
sells securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross
income or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small
differences in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a
fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund‘s board of trustees, which oversees the Fund’s management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund’s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote.
Market Exposure
The Fund invests primarily in U.S. and foreign stocks that are expected to generate low volatility relative to the global equity market.

 Foreign stocks are expected to comprise close to or more than half of the Fund’s assets. To reduce overall portfolio volatility, the Fund generally will seek to hedge most of the currency exposure resulting from its foreign stock holdings back to the U.S. dollar. In determining whether or not to hedge a particular currency, the advisor will evaluate the cost of hedging and the amount of the Fund’s exposure to the currency.
U.S. Stocks
The Fund invests in U.S. stocks as part of its principal investment strategy.
   
The Fund is subject to stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund‘s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions.
8
Foreign Stocks
The Fund invests in foreign stocks, which may include depositary receipts, as part of its principal investment strategy.  
Plain Talk About International Investing
U.S. investors who invest in foreign securities will encounter risks not
typically associated with U.S. companies because foreign stock and bond
markets operate differently from the U.S. markets. For instance, foreign
companies and governments may not be subject to the same or similar
accounting, auditing, legal, tax, and financial reporting standards and
practices as U.S. companies and the U.S. government, and their stocks and
bonds may not be as liquid as those of similar U.S. entities. In addition,
foreign stock exchanges, brokers, companies, bond markets, and dealers
may be subject to less government supervision and regulation than their
counterparts in the United States. These factors, among others, could
negatively affect the returns U.S. investors receive from foreign investments.
   
The Fund is subject to country/regional risk, which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the Fund's performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area.
   
The Fund is subject to currency risk and currency hedging risk. The Fund generally will seek to hedge most of its currency exposure back to the U.S. dollar to reduce overall portfolio volatility. However, not all currency exposure will be hedged, so the Fund will have a low level of currency risk. Currency risk is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. The Fund will also have a low level of currency hedging risk, which is the chance that the currency hedging transactions entered into by the Fund may not perfectly offset the Fund's foreign currency exposure. For example, the Fund will decline in value if it underhedges a currency that has weakened or overhedges a currency that has strengthened relative to the U.S. dollar.
9
   
The Fund is subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from the types of stocks in which the Fund invests will trail returns from global stock markets. Low volatility stocks tend to have lower risk profiles than the global equity market in general. Investing in low volatility stocks may not protect the Fund from market declines and may reduce the Fund’s participation in market gains.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
Security Selection
Vanguard, the Fund's investment advisor, constructs a diversified portfolio of U.S. and foreign stocks based on its assessment of the relative volatility of the securities and their expected correlation to one another. Vanguard uses quantitative models that evaluate all of the securities in the Fund's benchmark, the FTSE Global All Cap Index (USD Hedged), to construct a global equity portfolio that seeks to achieve the lowest amount of expected volatility subject to a set of reasonable constraints designed to foster portfolio diversification and liquidity.
   
The Fund is subject to manager risk, which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the Fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
In addition to investing in stocks, the Fund may make other kinds of investments to achieve its investment objective.
Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. The Fund may invest in derivatives only if the expected risks and rewards of the derivatives are consistent with the investment objective, policies, strategies, and risks of the Fund as disclosed in this prospectus. The Fund will not use derivatives for speculation or for the purpose of leveraging (magnifying) investment returns. In particular, derivatives will be used only when they may help the advisor to accomplish one or more of the following:
• Hedge foreign currency exposure.
• Invest in eligible asset classes with greater efficiency and lower cost than is possible through direct investment.
10
• Add value when these instruments are attractively priced.    The Fund may invest in stock futures and options contracts, warrants, convertible securities, and swap agreements, all of which are types of derivatives. Losses (or gains) involving futures contracts can sometimes be substantial—in part because a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in an immediate and substantial loss (or gain) for a fund. Similar risks exist for other types of derivatives.
 
The Fund may enter into foreign currency exchange forward contracts, which are a type of derivative, in order to hedge its foreign currency exposure. A foreign currency exchange forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell a currency at a specific price on a specific date, usually 30, 60, or 90 days in the future. These contracts will be used in an effort to offset any changes in the dollar value of foreign equities attributable to changes in the value of the equities' local currencies relative to the U.S. dollar. Although such contracts can protect the Fund from unfavorable fluctuations in currency exchange rates, they also reduce or eliminate any chance for the Fund to benefit from favorable exchange rate fluctuations. Notably, foreign currency exchange forward contracts do not prevent the Fund's securities from falling in value for reasons unrelated to currency exchange rates.
   
The Fund is subject to counterparty risk with respect to its currency hedging transactions. Counterparty risk is the chance that the counterparty to a currency forward contract with the Fund is unable or unwilling to meet its financial obligations. Counterparty risk is low for the Fund.  
Plain Talk About Derivatives
Derivatives can take many forms. Some forms of derivatives—such as
exchange-traded futures and options on securities, commodities, or
indexes—have been trading on regulated exchanges for decades. These
types of derivatives are standardized contracts that can easily be bought and
sold and whose market values are determined and published daily. On the
other hand, non-exchange-traded derivatives—such as certain swap
agreements and foreign currency exchange forward contracts—tend to be
more specialized or complex and may be more difficult to accurately value.
11
The Fund may invest a small portion of its assets in equity futures, which are a type of derivative, and/or shares of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including ETF Shares issued by Vanguard stock funds. These equity futures and ETFs typically provide returns similar to those of common stocks. The Fund may purchase futures or ETFs when doing so will reduce the Fund‘s transaction costs or have the potential to add value because the instruments are favorably priced. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in ETF Shares of other Vanguard funds. Fund assets invested in ETF Shares are excluded when allocating to the Fund its share of the costs of Vanguard operations.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Under normal circumstances, the Fund typically expects to meet redemptions with positive cash flows. When this is not an option, the Fund seeks to maintain its risk exposure by selling a cross section of the Fund’s holdings to meet redemptions, while also factoring in transaction costs. Additionally, the Fund may work with larger clients to implement their redemptions in a manner that is least disruptive to the portfolio; see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section.
Under certain circumstances, including under stressed market conditions, there are additional tools that the Fund may use in order to meet redemptions, including advancing the settlement of market trades with counterparties to match investor redemption payments or delaying settlement of an investor’s transaction to match trade settlement within regulatory requirements. The Fund may also suspend payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven days; see “Emergency circumstances” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section. Additionally under these unusual circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
12
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when the advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case if the Fund is transitioning assets from one advisor to another or receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
In addition, the Fund may take temporary defensive positions that are inconsistent with its normal investment policies and strategies—for instance, by allocating substantial assets to cash equivalent investments or other less volatile instruments— in response to adverse or unusual market, economic, political, or other conditions. In doing so, the Fund may succeed in avoiding losses but may otherwise fail to achieve its investment objective.
Frequent Trading or Market-Timing
Background. Some investors try to profit from strategies involving frequent trading of mutual fund shares, such as market-timing. For funds holding foreign securities, investors may try to take advantage of an anticipated difference between the price of the fund’s shares and price movements in overseas markets, a practice also known as time-zone arbitrage. Investors also may try to engage in frequent trading of funds holding investments such as small-cap stocks and high-yield bonds. As money is shifted into and out of a fund by a shareholder engaging in frequent trading, the fund incurs costs for buying and selling securities, resulting in increased brokerage and administrative costs. These costs are borne by all fund shareholders, including the long-term investors who do not generate the costs. In addition, frequent trading may interfere with an advisor’s ability to efficiently manage the fund.
Policies to address frequent trading. The Vanguard funds (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) do not knowingly accommodate frequent trading. The board of trustees of each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) has adopted policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and discourage frequent trading and, in some cases, to compensate the fund for the costs associated with it. These policies and procedures do not apply to ETF Shares because frequent trading in ETF Shares generally does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund
13
shareholders. Although there is no assurance that Vanguard will be able to detect or prevent frequent trading or market-timing in all circumstances, the following policies have been adopted to address these issues:
• Each Vanguard fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request—including exchanges from other Vanguard funds—without notice and regardless of size. For example, a purchase request could be rejected because the investor has a history of frequent trading or if Vanguard determines that such purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
• Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) generally prohibits, except as otherwise noted in the Investing With Vanguard section, an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account.
• Certain Vanguard funds charge shareholders purchase and/or redemption fees on transactions.
See the Investing With Vanguard section of this prospectus for further details on Vanguard’s transaction policies.
Each Vanguard fund (other than retail and government money market funds), in determining its net asset value, will use fair-value pricing when appropriate, as described in the Share Price section. Fair-value pricing may reduce or eliminate the profitability of certain frequent-trading strategies.
Do not invest with Vanguard if you are a market-timer.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
14
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc., P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482, which began operations in 1975, serves as advisor to the Fund through its Quantitative Equity Group. As of October 31, 2020, Vanguard served as advisor for approximately $5.2 trillion in assets. Vanguard provides investment advisory services to the Fund pursuant to the Funds’ Service Agreement and subject to the supervision and oversight of the trustees and officers of the Fund.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the advisory expenses represented an effective annual rate of 0.03% of the Fund’s average net assets.
Although the Fund is managed solely by Vanguard, the Fund reserves the right to utilize a multimanager approach in the future. Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may
15
also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory arrangement, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
The manager primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund is:
Antonio Picca, Senior Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has worked in investment management since 2015, has been with Vanguard since 2017, and has managed the Fund since 2018. Prior to joining Vanguard, Mr. Picca was a research associate on the strategy research team of Dimensional Fund Advisors. Education: B.S., Bocconi University; M.S., London School of Economics; M.B.A. and joint Ph.D., University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Department of Economics.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about the portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest and dividends, less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income and capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.
You can receive distributions of income or capital gains in cash, or you can have them automatically reinvested in more shares of the Fund. However, if you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your distributions will be automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares.  
16
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest and dividends as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of
investments. Income consists of both the dividends that the fund earns from
any stock holdings and the interest it receives from any money market and
bond investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells
securities for higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are
either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the
securities for one year or less or for more than one year.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional Fund shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income. If you are an individual and meet certain holding-period requirements with respect to your Fund shares, you may be eligible for reduced tax rates on “qualified dividend income,” if any, or a special tax deduction on “qualified REIT dividends,” if any, distributed by the Fund.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned shares in the Fund.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund's normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling or exchanging your Fund shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
17
• Any conversion between classes of shares of the same fund is a nontaxable event. By contrast, an exchange between classes of shares of different funds is a taxable event.
• Vanguard (or your intermediary) will send you a statement each year showing the tax status of all of your distributions.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale or exchange of Fund shares.
Dividend distributions and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale or exchange of Fund shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
The Fund may be subject to foreign taxes or foreign tax withholding on dividends, interest, and some capital gains that it receives on foreign securities. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so. You may qualify for an offsetting credit or deduction under U.S. tax laws for any amount designated as your portion of the Fund’s foreign tax obligations, provided that you meet certain requirements. See your tax advisor or IRS publications for more information.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.  
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Plain Talk About Buying a Dividend
Unless you are a tax-exempt investor or investing through a tax-advantaged
account (such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings
plan), you should consider avoiding a purchase of fund shares shortly before
the fund makes a distribution, because doing so can cost you money in
taxes. This is known as “buying a dividend.” For example: On December 15,
you invest $5,000, buying 250 shares for $20 each. If the fund pays a
distribution of $1 per share on December 16, its share price will drop to $19
(not counting market change). You still have only $5,000 (250 shares x $19 =
$4,750 in share value, plus 250 shares x $1 = $250 in distributions), but you
owe tax on the $250 distribution you received—even if you reinvest it in
more shares. To avoid buying a dividend, check a fund’s distribution schedule
before you invest.
General Information
Backup withholding. By law, Vanguard must withhold 24% of any taxable distributions or redemptions from your account if you do not:
• Provide your correct taxpayer identification number.
• Certify that the taxpayer identification number is correct.
• Confirm that you are not subject to backup withholding.
Similarly, Vanguard (or your intermediary) must withhold taxes from your account if the IRS instructs us to do so.
Foreign investors. Vanguard funds offered for sale in the United States (Vanguard U.S. funds), including the Fund offered in this prospectus, are not widely available outside the United States. Non-U.S. investors should be aware that U.S. withholding and estate taxes and certain U.S. tax reporting requirements may apply to any investments in Vanguard U.S. funds. Foreign investors should visit the non-U.S. investors page on our website at vanguard.com for information on Vanguard’s non-U.S. products.
Invalid addresses. If a dividend distribution or capital gains distribution check mailed to your address of record is returned as undeliverable, Vanguard will automatically reinvest the distribution and all future distributions until you provide us with a valid mailing address. Reinvestments will receive the net asset value calculated on the date of the reinvestment.
19
Share Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. Each share class has its own NAV, which is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Stocks held by a Vanguard fund are valued at their market value when reliable market quotations are readily available from the principal exchange or market on which they are traded. Such securities are generally valued at their official closing price, the last reported sales price, or if there were no sales that day, the mean between the closing bid and asking prices. When a fund determines that market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund's pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges that close many hours before the fund's pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, merger announcement) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities.
20
Fair-value pricing may be used for domestic securities—for example, if (1) trading in a security is halted and does not resume before the fund's pricing time or a security does not trade in the course of a day and (2) the fund holds enough of the security that its price could affect the NAV.
Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard fund share prices are published daily on our website at vanguard.com/prices.
21
Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund Investor Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$14.71
$13.78
$13.57
$11.92
$11.81
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income
0.2931
0.4281
0.3741
0.3241
0.293
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Investments
(1.571)
1.403
0.148
1.650
0.181
Total from Investment Operations
(1.278)
1.831
0.522
1.974
0.474
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(0.397)
(0.300)
(0.312)
(0.324)
(0.205)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
(0.265)
(0.601)
—
—
(0.159)
Total Distributions
(0.662)
(0.901)
(0.312)
(0.324)
(0.364)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$12.77
$14.71
$13.78
$13.57
$11.92
Total Return2
–9.22%
14.41%
3.89%
16.93%
4.23%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$338
$643
$515
$539
$419
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets
0.21%
0.21%
0.23%
0.25%
0.25%
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets
2.16%
3.09%
2.66%
2.54%
2.63%
Portfolio Turnover Rate
58%
46%
24%
37%
58%
1
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
2
Total returns do not include account service fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
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Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund Admiral Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$29.45
$27.58
$27.15
$23.86
$23.62
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income
0.6081
0.8781
0.7581
0.6681
0.608
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Investments
(3.155)
2.819
0.297
3.295
0.377
Total from Investment Operations
(2.547)
3.697
1.055
3.963
0.985
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(0.812)
(0.624)
(0.625)
(0.673)
(0.427)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
(0.531)
(1.203)
—
—
(0.318)
Total Distributions
(1.343)
(1.827)
(0.625)
(0.673)
(0.745)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$25.56
$29.45
$27.58
$27.15
$23.86
Total Return2
–9.18%
14.54%
3.93%
16.99%
4.39%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$2,824
$3,483
$2,542
$1,699
$1,152
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets
0.14%
0.14%
0.15%
0.17%
0.17%
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets
2.26%
3.16%
2.74%
2.62%
2.71%
Portfolio Turnover Rate
58%
46%
24%
37%
58%
1
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
2
Total returns do not include account service fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
23
Investing With Vanguard
This section of the prospectus explains the basics of doing business with Vanguard. Vanguard fund shares can be held directly with Vanguard or indirectly through an intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. If you hold Vanguard fund shares directly with Vanguard, you should carefully read each topic within this section that pertains to your relationship with Vanguard. If you hold Vanguard fund shares indirectly through an intermediary (including shares held in a brokerage account through Vanguard Brokerage Services®), please see Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms, and also refer to your account agreement with the intermediary for information about transacting in that account. If you hold Vanguard fund shares through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, please see Employer-Sponsored Plans. Vanguard reserves the right to change the following policies without notice. Please call or check online for current information. See Contacting Vanguard.
For Vanguard fund shares held directly with Vanguard, each fund you hold in an account is a separate “fund account.” For example, if you hold three funds in a nonretirement account titled in your own name, two funds in a nonretirement account titled jointly with your spouse, and one fund in an individual retirement account, you have six fund accounts—and this is true even if you hold the same fund in multiple accounts. Note that each reference to “you” in this prospectus applies to any one or more registered account owners or persons authorized to transact on your account.
Purchasing Shares
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to increase or decrease the minimum amount required to open, convert shares to, or maintain a fund account or to add to an existing fund account.
Investment minimums may differ for certain categories of investors.
Account Minimums for Investor Shares
To open and maintain an account. $3,000.

 To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
Account Minimums for Admiral Shares
To open and maintain an account. $50,000. If you request Admiral Shares when you open a new account but the investment amount does not meet the account minimum for Admiral Shares, your investment will be placed in Investor Shares of the Fund. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special
24
eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility.

 To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
How to Initiate a Purchase Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your purchase request.
Online. You may open certain types of accounts, request a purchase of shares, and request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to begin the account registration process or request that the account-opening forms be sent to you. You may also call Vanguard to request a purchase of shares in your account or to request an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send Vanguard your account registration form and check to open a new fund account. To add to an existing fund account, you may send your check with an Invest-by-Mail form (from a transaction confirmation or your account statement) or with a deposit slip (available online).
How to Pay for a Purchase
By electronic bank transfer. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund through an electronic transfer of money from a bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate the bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can purchase shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Investment Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your purchase request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. Wiring instructions vary for different types of purchases. Please call Vanguard for instructions and policies on purchasing shares by wire. See Contacting Vanguard.
By check. You may make initial or additional purchases to your fund account by sending a check with a deposit slip or by utilizing our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access. Also see How to Initiate a Purchase Request. Make your check payable to Vanguard and include the appropriate fund number (e.g., Vanguard—xx). For a list of Fund numbers (for share classes in this prospectus), see Additional Information.
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By exchange. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund using the proceeds from the simultaneous redemption of shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail with an exchange form. See Exchanging Shares.
Trade Date
The trade date for any purchase request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request, the manner in which you are paying, and the type of fund you are purchasing. Your purchase will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For purchases by check into all funds other than money market funds and for purchases by exchange, wire, or electronic bank transfer into all funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the same day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day.
For purchases by check into money market funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the second business day following the day Vanguard receives the purchase request. Because money market instruments must be purchased with federal funds and it takes a money market mutual fund one business day to convert check proceeds into federal funds, the trade date for the purchase will be one business day later than for other funds.
If your purchase request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
For further information about purchase transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
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Other Purchase Rules You Should Know
Admiral Shares. Admiral Shares generally are not available for SIMPLE IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Check purchases. All purchase checks must be written in U.S. dollars, be drawn on a U.S. bank, and be accompanied by good order instructions. Vanguard does not accept cash, traveler’s checks, starter checks, or money orders. In addition, Vanguard may refuse checks that are not made payable to Vanguard.
New accounts. We are required by law to obtain from you certain personal information that we will use to verify your identity. If you do not provide the information, we may not be able to open your account. If we are unable to verify your identity, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to close your account or take such other steps as we deem reasonable. Certain types of accounts may require additional documentation.
Refused or rejected purchase requests. Vanguard reserves the right to stop selling fund shares or to reject any purchase request at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, purchases requested by exchange from another Vanguard fund. This also includes the right to reject any purchase request because the investor has a history of frequent trading or because the purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
Large purchases. Call Vanguard before attempting to invest a large dollar amount.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any purchase request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a purchase request.
Converting Shares
When a conversion occurs, you receive shares of one class in place of shares of another class of the same fund. At the time of conversion, the dollar value of the “new” shares you receive equals the dollar value of the “old” shares that were converted. In other words, the conversion has no effect on the value of your investment in the fund at the time of the conversion. However, the number of shares you own after the conversion may be greater than or less than the number of shares you owned before the conversion, depending on the NAVs of the two share classes.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any self-directed conversion request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a conversion request.
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A conversion between share classes of the same fund is a nontaxable event.
Trade Date
The trade date for any conversion request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request. Your conversion will be executed using the NAVs of the different share classes on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For a conversion request received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. For a conversion request received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day. See Other Rules You Should Know.
Conversions From Investor Shares to Admiral Shares
Self-directed conversions. If your account balance in the Fund is at least $50,000, you may ask Vanguard to convert your Investor Shares to Admiral Shares at any time. You may request a conversion through our website (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. See Contacting Vanguard. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility.
Automatic conversions. Vanguard conducts periodic reviews of account balances and may, if your account balance in the Fund exceeds $50,000, automatically convert your Investor Shares to Admiral Shares. You will be notified before an automatic conversion occurs and will have an opportunity to instruct Vanguard not to effect the conversion. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility.
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Mandatory Conversions to Investor Shares
If an account no longer meets the balance requirements for Admiral Shares, Vanguard may automatically convert the shares in the account to Investor Shares. A decline in the account balance because of market movement may result in such a conversion. Vanguard will notify the investor in writing before any mandatory conversion occurs.
Redeeming Shares
How to Initiate a Redemption Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your redemption request.
Online. You may request a redemption of shares or request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to request a redemption of shares or an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send a form (available online) to Vanguard to redeem from a fund account or to make an exchange.
How to Receive Redemption Proceeds
By electronic bank transfer. You may have the proceeds of a fund redemption sent directly to a designated bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can redeem shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Withdrawal Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your redemption request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. To receive your proceeds by wire, you may instruct Vanguard to wire your redemption proceeds ($100 minimum) to a previously designated bank account. To establish the wire redemption service, you generally must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form.
Please note that Vanguard charges a $10 wire fee for outgoing wire redemptions. The fee is assessed in addition to, rather than being withheld from, redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the fund in which you invest. For example, if you redeem $100 via a wire, you will receive the full $100, and the
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$10 fee will be assessed to your fund account through an additional redemption of fund shares. If you redeem your entire fund account, your redemption proceeds will be reduced by the amount of the fee. The wire fee does not apply to accounts held by Flagship and Flagship Select clients; accounts held through intermediaries, including Vanguard Brokerage Services; or accounts held by institutional clients.
By exchange. You may have the proceeds of a Vanguard fund redemption invested directly in shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Exchanging Shares.
By check. If you have not chosen another redemption method, Vanguard will mail you a redemption check, generally payable to all registered account owners, normally within two business days of your trade date, and generally to the address of record.
Trade Date
The trade date for any redemption request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request and the manner in which you are redeeming. Your redemption will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For redemptions by check, exchange, or wire: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from money market funds: For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day before 10:45 a.m., Eastern time (2 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund; 12:30 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business the same day. For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day after those cut-off times, or on a nonbusiness day, and for all requests other than by telephone, the redemption proceeds
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generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from all other funds: For requests received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day. For requests received by Vanguard on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the second business day after Vanguard receives the request.
For redemptions by electronic bank transfer: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
If your redemption request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. If we are unable to send your redemption proceeds by wire or electronic bank transfer because the receiving institution rejects the transfer, Vanguard will make additional efforts to complete your transaction. If Vanguard is still unable to complete the transaction, we may send the proceeds of the redemption to you by check, generally payable to all registered account owners, or use your proceeds to purchase new shares of the fund from which you sold shares for the purpose of the wire or electronic bank transfer transaction. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
If your redemption request is received in good order, we typically expect that redemption proceeds will be paid by the Fund within one business day of the trade date; however, in certain circumstances, investors may experience a longer settlement period at the time of the transaction. For further information, see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” and “Emergency circumstances.”
For further information about redemption transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Other Redemption Rules You Should Know
Documentation for certain accounts. Special documentation may be required to redeem from certain types of accounts, such as trust, corporate, nonprofit, or retirement accounts. Please call us before attempting to redeem from these types of accounts.
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Potentially disruptive redemptions. Vanguard reserves the right to pay all or part of a redemption in kind—that is, in the form of securities—if we reasonably believe that a cash redemption would negatively affect the fund’s operation or performance or that the shareholder may be engaged in market-timing or frequent trading. Under these circumstances, Vanguard also reserves the right to delay payment of the redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. By calling us before you attempt to redeem a large dollar amount, you may avoid in-kind or delayed payment of your redemption. Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations for information about Vanguard's policies to limit frequent trading.
Recently purchased shares. Although you can redeem shares at any time, proceeds may not be made available to you until the fund collects payment for your purchase. This may take up to seven calendar days for shares purchased by check or by electronic bank transfer. If you have written a check on a fund in an account with checkwriting privileges, that check may be rejected if your fund account does not have a sufficient available balance.
Address change. If you change your address online or by telephone, there may be up to a 14-day restriction (starting on the business day after your address is changed) on your ability to request check redemptions online and by telephone. You can request a redemption in writing (using a form available online) at any time. Confirmations of address changes are sent to both the old and new addresses.
Payment to a different person or address. At your request, we can make your redemption check payable, or wire your redemption proceeds, to a different person or send it to a different address. However, this generally requires the written consent of all registered account owners and may require additional documentation, such as a signature guarantee or a notarized signature. You may obtain a signature guarantee from some commercial or savings banks, credit unions, trust companies, or member firms of a U.S. stock exchange.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any redemption request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a redemption request.
Emergency circumstances. Vanguard funds can postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. In addition, Vanguard funds can suspend redemptions and/or postpone payments of redemption proceeds beyond seven calendar days at times when the NYSE is closed or during emergency circumstances, as determined by the SEC.
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Exchanging Shares
An exchange occurs when you use the proceeds from the redemption of shares of one Vanguard fund to simultaneously purchase shares of a different Vanguard fund. You can make exchange requests online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Purchasing Shares and Redeeming Shares.
If the NYSE is open for regular trading (generally until 4 p.m., Eastern time, on a business day) at the time an exchange request is received in good order, the trade date generally will be the same day. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order for additional information on all transaction requests.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any exchange request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing an exchange request.
Call Vanguard before attempting to exchange a large dollar amount. By calling us before you attempt to exchange a large dollar amount, you may avoid delayed or rejected transactions.
Please note that Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise or terminate the exchange privilege, limit the amount of any exchange, or reject an exchange, at any time, for any reason. See Frequent-Trading Limitations for additional restrictions on exchanges.
Frequent-Trading Limitations
Because excessive transactions can disrupt management of a fund and increase the fund’s costs for all shareholders, the board of trustees of each Vanguard fund places certain limits on frequent trading in the funds. Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) limits an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account. ETF Shares are not subject to these frequent-trading limits.
For Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, the limitations apply to exchanges made online or by telephone.
These frequent-trading limitations do not apply to the following:
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Transactions through Vanguard’s Automatic Investment Plan, Automatic Exchange Service, Direct Deposit Service, Automatic Withdrawal Plan, Required Minimum Distribution Service, and Vanguard Small Business Online®.
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• Discretionary transactions through Vanguard Personal Advisor Services®, Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services®, and Vanguard Digital Advisor™.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans).
• Transfers and reregistrations of shares within the same fund.
• Purchases of shares by asset transfer or direct rollover.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Checkwriting redemptions.
• Section 529 college savings plans.
• Certain approved institutional portfolios and asset allocation programs, as well as trades made by funds or trusts managed by Vanguard or its affiliates that invest in other Vanguard funds. (Please note that shareholders of Vanguard’s funds of funds are subject to the limitations.)
For participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans,* the frequent-trading limitations do not apply to:
• Purchases of shares with participant payroll or employer contributions or loan repayments.
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan.
• Redemptions of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan.
• Transactions executed through the Vanguard Managed Account Program.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Share or asset transfers or rollovers.
• Reregistrations of shares.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Exchange requests submitted by written request to Vanguard. (Exchange requests submitted by fax, if otherwise permitted, are subject to the limitations.)
* The following Vanguard fund accounts are subject to the frequent-trading limitations: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
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Accounts Held by Institutions (Other Than Defined Contribution Plans)
Vanguard will systematically monitor for frequent trading in institutional clients’ accounts. If we detect suspicious trading activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include applying to a client’s accounts the 30-day policy previously described, prohibiting a client’s purchases of fund shares, and/or revoking the client’s exchange privilege.
Accounts Held by Intermediaries
When intermediaries establish accounts in Vanguard funds for the benefit of their clients, we cannot always monitor the trading activity of the individual clients. However, we review trading activity at the intermediary (omnibus) level, and if we detect suspicious activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action. If necessary, Vanguard may prohibit additional purchases of fund shares by an intermediary, including for the benefit of certain of the intermediary’s clients. Intermediaries also may monitor their clients’ trading activities with respect to Vanguard funds.
For those Vanguard funds that charge purchase and/or redemption fees, intermediaries will be asked to assess these fees on client accounts and remit these fees to the funds. The application of purchase and redemption fees and frequent-trading limitations may vary among intermediaries. There are no assurances that Vanguard will successfully identify all intermediaries or that intermediaries will properly assess purchase and redemption fees or administer frequent-trading limitations. If you invest with Vanguard through an intermediary, please read that firm’s materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply.
Other Rules You Should Know
Prospectus and Shareholder Report Mailings
When two or more shareholders have the same last name and address, just one summary prospectus (or prospectus) and/or shareholder report may be sent in an attempt to eliminate the unnecessary expense of duplicate mailings. You may request individual prospectuses and reports by contacting our Client Services Department in writing, by telephone, or online. See Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard.com
Registration. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can review your account holdings; buy, sell, or exchange shares of most Vanguard funds; and perform most other transactions through our website. You must register for this service online.
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Electronic delivery. Vanguard can deliver your account statements, transaction confirmations, prospectuses, certain tax forms, and shareholder reports electronically. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can consent to the electronic delivery of these documents by logging on and changing your mailing preferences under “Account Maintenance.” You can revoke your electronic consent at any time through our website, and we will begin to send paper copies of these documents within 30 days of receiving your revocation.
Telephone Transactions
Automatic. When we set up your account, we will automatically enable you to do business with us by telephone, unless you instruct us otherwise in writing.
Tele-Account®. To obtain fund and account information through Vanguard’s automated telephone service, you must first establish a Personal Identification Number (PIN) by calling Tele-Account at 800-662-6273.
Proof of a caller’s authority. We reserve the right to refuse a telephone request if the caller is unable to provide the requested information or if we reasonably believe that the caller is not an individual authorized to act on the account. Before we allow a caller to act on an account, we may request the following information:
• Authorization to act on the account (as the account owner or by legal documentation or other means).
• Account registration and address.
• Fund name and account number, if applicable.
• Other information relating to the caller, the account owner, or the account.
Good Order
We reserve the right to reject any transaction instructions that are not in “good order.” Good order generally means that your instructions:
• Are provided by the person(s) authorized in accordance with Vanguard’s policies and procedures to access the account and request transactions.
• Include the fund name and account number.
• Include the amount of the transaction (stated in dollars, shares, or percentage).
Written instructions also must generally be provided on a Vanguard form and include:
• Signature(s) and date from the authorized person(s).
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• Signature guarantees or notarized signatures, if required for the type of transaction. (Call Vanguard for specific requirements.)
• Any supporting documentation that may be required.
Good order requirements may vary among types of accounts and transactions. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise the requirements for good order.
Future Trade-Date Requests
Vanguard does not accept requests to hold a purchase, conversion, redemption, or exchange transaction for a future date. All such requests will receive trade dates as previously described in Purchasing Shares, Converting Shares, Redeeming Shares, and Exchanging Shares. Vanguard reserves the right to return future-dated purchase checks.
Accounts With More Than One Owner
If an account has more than one owner or authorized person, Vanguard generally will accept instructions from any one owner or authorized person.
Responsibility for Fraud
You should take precautions to protect yourself from fraud. Keep your account-related information private, and review any account confirmations, statements, or other information that we provide to you as soon as you receive them. Let us know immediately if you discover unauthorized activity or see something on your account that you do not understand or that looks unusual.
Vanguard will not be responsible for losses that result from transactions by a person who we reasonably believe is authorized to act on your account.
Uncashed Checks
Please cash your distribution or redemption checks promptly. Vanguard will not pay interest on uncashed checks. Vanguard may be required to transfer assets related to uncashed checks to a state under the state’s abandoned property law.
Dormant Accounts
If your account has no activity in it for a period of time, Vanguard may be required to transfer it to a state under the state’s abandoned property law, subject to potential federal or state withholding taxes.
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Unusual Circumstances
If you experience difficulty contacting Vanguard online or by telephone, you can send us your transaction request on a Vanguard form by regular or express mail.
Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms
You may purchase or sell shares of most Vanguard funds through a financial intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. Please consult your financial intermediary to determine which, if any, shares are available through that firm and to learn about other rules that may apply. Your financial intermediary can provide you with account information and any required tax forms. You may be required to pay a commission on purchases of mutual fund shares made through a financial intermediary.
Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of any purchase or redemption fees and the monitoring of frequent trading for accounts held by intermediaries.
Account Service Fee
Vanguard may charge a $20 account service fee on fund accounts that have a balance below $10,000 for any reason, including market fluctuation. The account service fee may be applied to both retirement and nonretirement fund accounts and may be assessed on fund accounts in all Vanguard funds, regardless of the account minimum. The fee, which will be collected by redeeming fund shares in the amount of $20, will be deducted from fund accounts subject to the fee once per calendar year.
If you elect to receive your statements and other materials electronically (i.e., by e-delivery), the account service fee will not be charged, so long as your election remains in effect. You can make your e-delivery election on vanguard.com.
Beginning on January 1, 2021, you may elect to receive paper copies of shareholder reports free of charge as noted on the cover of this prospectus.
Certain account types have alternative fee structures, including SIMPLE IRAs, Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Low-Balance Accounts
The Fund reserves the right to liquidate a fund account whose balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. This liquidation policy applies to nonretirement fund accounts and accounts that are held through intermediaries. Any such liquidation will be preceded by written notice to the investor.
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Right to Change Policies
In addition to the rights expressly stated elsewhere in this prospectus, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to (1) alter, add, or discontinue any conditions of purchase (including eligibility requirements), redemption, exchange, conversion, service, or privilege at any time and (2) alter, impose, discontinue, or waive any purchase fee, redemption fee, account service fee, or other fee charged to a shareholder or a group of shareholders. Changes may affect any or all investors. These actions will be taken when, at the sole discretion of Vanguard management, Vanguard believes they are in the best interest of a fund.
Account Restrictions
Vanguard reserves the right to: (1) redeem all or a portion of a fund/account to meet a legal obligation, including tax withholding, tax lien, garnishment order, or other obligation imposed on your account by a court or government agency; (2) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options in the case of threatening conduct or activity; (3) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options if Vanguard believes or suspects that not doing so could result in a suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal transaction; (4) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if it is required to do so by a court or government agency; (5) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if Vanguard believes that doing so will prevent fraud, financial exploitation or abuse, or to protect vulnerable investors; (6) freeze any account and/or suspend account services if Vanguard has received reasonable notice of a dispute regarding the assets in an account, including notice of a dispute between the registered or beneficial account owners; and (7) freeze any account and/or suspend account services upon initial notification to Vanguard of the death of an account owner.
Share Classes
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to change the eligibility requirements of its share classes, including the types of clients who are eligible to purchase each share class.
Fund and Account Updates
Confirmation Statements
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) a confirmation of your trade date and the amount of your transaction when you buy, sell, exchange, or convert shares. However, we will not send confirmations reflecting only checkwriting redemptions or the reinvestment of dividend or capital gains distributions. For any month in which you had a checkwriting
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redemption, a Checkwriting Activity Statement will be sent to you itemizing the checkwriting redemptions for that month. Promptly review each confirmation statement that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on a confirmation statement, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Portfolio Summaries
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) quarterly portfolio summaries to help you keep track of your accounts throughout the year. Each summary shows the market value of your account at the close of the statement period, as well as all distributions, purchases, redemptions, exchanges, transfers, and conversions, for the current calendar quarter (or month). Promptly review each summary that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on the summary, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Tax Information Statements
For most accounts, Vanguard (or your intermediary) is required to provide annual tax forms to assist you in preparing your income tax returns. These forms are generally available for each calendar year early in the following year. Registered users of vanguard.com can also view certain forms through our website. Vanguard (or your intermediary) may also provide you with additional tax-related documentation. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Annual and Semiannual Reports
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) reports about Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund twice a year, in June and December. These reports include overviews of the financial markets and provide the following specific Fund information:
• Performance assessments and comparisons with industry benchmarks.
• Reports from the advisor.
• Financial statements with listings of Fund holdings.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
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Employer-Sponsored Plans
Your plan administrator or your employee benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how to participate in your plan and how to elect the Fund as an investment option.
• If you have any questions about the Fund or Vanguard, including those about the Fund’s investment objective, strategies, or risks, contact Vanguard Participant Services toll-free at 800-523-1188 or visit our website at vanguard.com.
• If you have questions about your account, contact your plan administrator or the organization that provides recordkeeping services for your plan.
• Be sure to carefully read each topic that pertains to your transactions with Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right to change its policies without notice to shareholders.
Transactions
Processing times for your transaction requests may differ among recordkeepers or among transaction and funding types. Your plan’s recordkeeper (which may also be Vanguard) will determine the necessary processing time frames for your transaction requests prior to submission to the Fund. Consult your recordkeeper or plan administrator for more information.
If Vanguard is serving as your plan recordkeeper and if your transaction involves one or more investments with an early cut-off time for processing or another trading restriction, your entire transaction will be subject to the restriction when the trade date for your transaction is determined.
41
Contacting Vanguard  
Web
 
Vanguard.com
For the most complete source of Vanguard news
For fund, account, and service information
For most account transactions
For literature requests
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
 
Phone
Vanguard Tele-Account®
800-662-6273
For automated fund and account information
Toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Investor Information 800-662-7447
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For fund and service information
For literature requests
Client Services 800-662-2739
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For account information
For most account transactions
Participant Services 800-523-1188
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For information and services for participants in
employer-sponsored plans
Institutional Division
888-809-8102
For information and services for large institutional
investors
Financial Advisor and Intermediary
Sales Support 800-997-2798
For information and services for financial intermediaries
including financial advisors, broker-dealers, trust
institutions, and insurance companies
Financial Advisory and Intermediary
Trading Support 800-669-0498
For account information and trading support for
financial intermediaries including financial advisors,
broker-dealers, trust institutions, and insurance
companies
Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Newspaper
Abbreviation
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
Global Minimum Volatility Fund
Investor Shares
12/12/2013
GMinVolInv
1194
921946877
Admiral Shares
12/12/2013
GMinVolAdm
594
921946869
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
42
Glossary of Investment Terms
Active Management. An investment approach that seeks to exceed the average or risk-adjusted returns of a particular financial market or market segment. In selecting securities to buy and sell, active managers may rely on, among other things, research, market forecasts, quantitative models, and their own judgment and experience.
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Cash Equivalent Investments. Cash deposits, short-term bank deposits, and money market instruments that include U.S. Treasury bills and notes, bank certificates of deposit (CDs), repurchase agreements, commercial paper, and banker’s acceptances.
Common Stock. A security representing ownership rights in a corporation.
Correlation. The relationship between two variables, such as the relationship between the price movements of two different stocks. Investments that are positively correlated have prices that tend to move in the same direction at the same time, while investments that are negatively correlated have prices that tend to move in opposite directions at the same time. Investments with low correlation have prices that tend to move independently of each other.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
FTSE Global All Cap Index (USD Hedged). A float-adjusted, market-capitalization-weighted index designed to measure the market performance of large-, mid-, and small-capitalization stocks of companies located around the world. The Index includes approximately 9,030 stocks of companies located in 49 countries, including both developed and emerging markets. The Index hedges its currency exposures to foreign stocks with one-month forward currency exchange contracts.
43
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund (or one of its share classes) are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Quantitative Process. An assessment of specific measurable factors, such as cost of capital; value of assets; and projections of sales, costs, earnings, and profits. The use of a quantitative process provides a systematic approach to investment decisions and portfolios.
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a mutual fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
44
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
   
Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about the Fund or other Vanguard funds, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
For an individual investor:
Telephone: 800-662-7447; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a participant in an employer-sponsored plan:
Telephone: 800-523-1188; Text telephone for people
with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a current Vanguard shareholder and would like information about your account, account transactions, and/or account statements, please call:
Client Services Department
Telephone: 800-662-2739; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 1194 022021
 
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Exchange-traded fund shares that are not individually redeemable and are listed on Nasdaq
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF Shares (VIGI)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
ETF Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of non-U.S. companies that have a history of increasing dividends.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell ETF Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Transaction Fee on Purchases and Sales
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Transaction Fee on Reinvested Dividends
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Transaction Fee on Conversion to ETF Shares
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.18%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.20%
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s ETF Shares with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund's shares. This example assumes that the shares provide a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to sell your shares at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$20
$64
$113
$255
1
This example does not include the brokerage commissions that you may pay to buy and sell ETF Shares of the Fund.
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 17% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Nasdaq International Dividend Achievers Select Index, which focuses on high-quality companies located in developed and emerging markets, excluding the United States, that have both the ability and the commitment to grow their dividends over time. The Fund attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the broadly diversified collection of securities that make up the Index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance:
•  Stock market risk , which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund’s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
•  Country/regional risk , which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the Fund’s performance may be hurt
2
disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Emerging markets risk , which is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
•  Currency risk , which is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Investment style risk , which is the chance that returns from dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Dividend-paying stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than the global markets in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
•  Asset concentration risk , which is the chance that, because the Fund’s target index (and therefore the Fund) tends to be heavily weighted in its ten largest holdings, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few stocks.
Because ETF Shares are traded on an exchange, they are subject to additional risks:
• The Fund’s ETF Shares are listed for trading on Nasdaq and are bought and sold on the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of an ETF Share typically will approximate its net asset value (NAV), there may be times when the market price and the NAV differ significantly. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy ETF Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares.
• Although the Fund’s ETF Shares are listed for trading on Nasdaq, it is possible that an active trading market may not be maintained.
• Trading of the Fund’s ETF Shares may be halted by the activation of individual or marketwide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). Trading of the Fund’s ETF Shares may also be halted if (1) the shares are delisted from Nasdaq without first being listed on another exchange or (2) Nasdaq officials determine that such action is appropriate in the interest of a fair and orderly market or for the protection of investors.
3
An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund's ETF Shares (based on NAV) has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the ETF Shares compare with those of the Fund's target index, which has investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
15.98%
June 30, 2020
Lowest
-18.83%
March 31, 2020
4
Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
Since
Inception
(Feb. 25,
2016)
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index
Fund ETF Shares
 
 
Based on NAV
 
 
Return Before Taxes
15.11%
12.47%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
14.73
12.04
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
9.19
9.89
Based on Market Price
 
 
Return Before Taxes
14.74
12.47
NASDAQ International Dividend Achievers Select Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
15.35%
12.83%
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Portfolio Managers
Justin E. Hales, CFA, CFP, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016.
Michael Perre, Principal of Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016.
5
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
ETF Shares may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a brokerage firm. The price you pay or receive for ETF Shares will be the prevailing market price, which may be more (premium) or less (discount) than the NAV of the shares. The brokerage firm may charge you a commission to execute the transaction. Unless imposed by your brokerage firm, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest and no minimum number of shares you must buy. ETF Shares of the Fund cannot be directly purchased from or redeemed with the Fund, except by certain authorized broker-dealers. These broker-dealers may purchase and redeem ETF Shares only in large blocks (Creation Units), typically in exchange for baskets of securities.
 
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (bid-ask spread). Recent information, including information on the Fund's NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.vanguard.com.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisor do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
6
Investing in Vanguard ETF® Shares
What Are Vanguard ETF Shares?
Vanguard ETF Shares are an exchange-traded class of shares issued by certain Vanguard funds. ETF Shares represent an interest in the portfolio of stocks or bonds held by the issuing fund. This prospectus describes Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF, a class of shares issued by Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund. In addition to ETF Shares, the Fund offers one conventional (not exchange-traded) class of shares. This prospectus, however, relates only to ETF Shares.
How Are Vanguard ETF Shares Different From Conventional Mutual Fund Shares?
Conventional mutual fund shares can be directly purchased from and redeemed with the issuing fund for cash at the net asset value (NAV), typically calculated once a day. ETF Shares, by contrast, cannot be purchased directly from or redeemed directly with the issuing fund by an individual investor. Rather, ETF Shares can only be purchased or redeemed directly from the issuing fund by certain authorized broker-dealers. These broker-dealers may purchase and redeem ETF Shares only in large blocks (Creation Units), usually in exchange for baskets of securities and not for cash (although some funds issue and redeem Creation Units in exchange for cash or a combination of cash and securities).
An organized secondary trading market is expected to exist for ETF Shares, unlike conventional mutual fund shares, because ETF Shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange. Individual investors can purchase and sell ETF Shares on the secondary market through a broker. Secondary-market transactions occur not at NAV, but at market prices that are subject to change throughout the day based on the supply of and demand for ETF Shares, changes in the prices of the fund’s portfolio holdings, and other factors.
The market price of a fund's ETF Shares typically will differ somewhat from the NAV of those shares. The difference between market price and NAV is expected to be small most of the time, but in times of market disruption or extreme market volatility, the difference may become significant.
7
How Do I Buy and Sell Vanguard ETF Shares?
ETF Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on Nasdaq. You can buy and sell ETF Shares on the secondary market in the same way you buy and sell any other exchange-traded security—through a broker. Your broker may charge a commission to execute a transaction. You will also incur the cost of the “bid-ask spread,” which is the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market. Because secondary-market transactions occur at market prices, you may pay more (premium) or less (discount) than NAV when you buy ETF Shares and receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. In times of severe market disruption, the bid-ask spread and premiums/discounts can increase significantly. Unless imposed by your broker, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest and no minimum number of ETF Shares you must buy.
Your ownership of ETF Shares will be shown on the records of the broker through which you hold the shares. Vanguard will not have any record of your ownership. Your account information will be maintained by your broker, which will provide you with account statements, confirmations of your purchases and sales of ETF Shares, and tax information. Your broker also will be responsible for ensuring that you receive income and capital gains distributions, as well as shareholder reports and other communications from the fund whose ETF Shares you own. You will receive other services (e.g., dividend reinvestment and average cost information) only if your broker offers these services.
8
Investing in Index Funds
What Is Indexing?
Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or “index.” An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets—such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments—such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. One cannot invest directly in an index.
The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index and the weighting of each security in the index. Under normal circumstances, the index sponsor will rebalance an index on a regular schedule. An index sponsor may carry out additional ad hoc index rebalances or delay or cancel a scheduled rebalance. Generally, the index sponsor does not provide any warranty, or accept any liability, with respect to the quality, accuracy, or completeness of either the target index or its related data. Errors made by the index sponsor may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index sponsor for a period of time or at all. Vanguard does not provide any warranty or guarantee against such errors. Therefore, the gains, losses, or costs associated with the index sponsor’s errors will generally be borne by the index fund and its shareholders.
An index fund seeks to hold all, or a representative sample, of the securities that make up its target index. Index funds attempt to mirror the performance of the target index, for better or worse. However, an index fund generally does not perform exactly like its target index. For example, index funds have operating expenses and transaction costs. Market indexes do not, and therefore they will usually have a slight performance advantage over funds that track them. The ability of an index fund to match its performance to that of its target index can also be impacted by, among other things, the timing and size of cash flows and the size of the fund. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could also have an adverse effect on a fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the index.
Index funds typically have the following characteristics:
•  Variety of investments . Depending on a fund’s benchmark index, the fund may invest in the securities of a variety of companies, industries, and/or governments or government agencies.
•  Relative performance consistency . Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
•  Low cost . Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity—and thus brokerage commissions and other transaction costs—to a minimum compared with actively managed funds.
9
More on the Fund and ETF Shares
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.
Share Class Overview
This prospectus offers the Fund’s ETF Shares, an exchange-traded class of shares. A separate prospectus offers the Fund’s Admiral™ Shares, which generally have an investment minimum of $3,000.
Both share classes offered by the Fund have the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. However, different share classes have different expenses; as a result, their investment returns will differ.
A Note to Investors
Vanguard ETF Shares can be purchased directly from the issuing Fund only by certain authorized broker-dealers in exchange for a basket of securities (or, in some cases, for cash or a combination of cash and securities). Individual investors generally will not be able to purchase ETF Shares directly from the Fund. Instead, these investors will purchase ETF Shares on the secondary market through a broker.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are deducted
from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the net assets
of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated in the Fees
and Expenses section, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index
Fund ETF Shares’ expense ratio would be 0.20%, or $2.00 per $1,000 of
average net assets. The average expense ratio for international equity income
funds in 2019 was 1.08%, or $10.80 per $1,000 of average net assets
(derived from data provided by Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company, which
reports on the fund industry).
 
10
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing an ETF. That is because
you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of operating a
fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or sells
securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross income
or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small differences
in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund's board of trustees, which oversees the Fund's management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund’s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in the stocks that make up its target index. The Fund may change its 80% policy only upon 60 days' notice to shareholders.
Market Exposure
The Fund invests mainly in stocks of companies located in developed and emerging markets outside of the United States that have a record of increasing dividends over time. Stocks purchased by the Fund are expected to have increasing dividends over time and also to have the potential for long-term capital appreciation. The Fund may purchase stocks that have relatively low dividend yields if the company issuing the stock has increased dividends in recent years.
   
The Fund is subject to stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund‘s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the Fund‘s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
11
   
The Fund is subject to country/regional risk and currency risk. Country/regional risk is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the Fund‘s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Currency risk is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Country/regional risk and currency risk are especially high in emerging markets.
   
The Fund is subject to emerging markets risk, which is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
 
Plain Talk About International Investing
U.S. investors who invest in foreign securities will encounter risks not
typically associated with U.S. companies because foreign stock and bond
markets operate differently from the U.S. markets. For instance, foreign
companies and governments may not be subject to the same or similar
accounting, auditing, legal, tax, and financial reporting standards and
practices as U.S. companies and the U.S. government, and their stocks and
bonds may not be as liquid as those of similar U.S. entities. In addition,
foreign stock exchanges, brokers, companies, bond markets, and dealers
may be subject to less government supervision and regulation than their
counterparts in the United States. These factors, among others, could
negatively affect the returns U.S. investors receive from foreign investments.
   
The Fund is subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Dividend-paying stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse— than the global markets in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
12
Security Selection
The Fund attempts to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of non-U.S. companies that have a record of increasing dividends over time. The companies in which the Fund invests will be within the capitalization range of the companies included in the Nasdaq International Dividend Achievers Select Index ($252 million to $724 billion as of October 31, 2020). In the future, the Index’s market capitalization range may be higher or lower, and the Fund’s investments may track another index. Such changes may occur at any time and without notice to Fund shareholders.
 
The Fund uses the replication method of indexing, meaning that the Fund generally holds the same stocks as those in its target index, and in approximately the same proportions.
   
The Fund is subject to asset concentration risk, which is the chance that, because the Fund’s target index (and therefore the Fund) tends to be heavily weighted in its ten largest holdings, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few stocks.
Depositary receipts. The Fund, in most cases, will obtain economic exposure to stocks of its target index (component securities) by investing directly in the component securities. However, the Fund reserves the right to obtain economic exposure to component securities indirectly by purchasing depositary receipts (also sold as participatory notes) of the component securities. Depositary receipts are securities that are listed on exchanges or quoted in over-the-counter markets in one country but represent shares of issuers domiciled in another country. Generally, the Fund will hold depositary receipts only when the advisor believes that the Fund would benefit from holding the depositary receipt, rather than the underlying component security. For example, the Fund might opt to hold depositary receipts if the foreign market in which a stock trades does not provide adequate protection to the rights of foreign investors or if government regulators place restrictions on the free flow of capital or currency. The Fund treats depositary receipts that represent interests in component securities as component securities for purposes of any requirements related to the percentage of component securities held in the Fund’s portfolio.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the index it currently tracks if the current index is discontinued, if the Fund's agreement with the sponsor of its target index is terminated, or for any other reason determined in good faith by the Fund’s board of trustees. In any such instance, the substitute index would represent the same market segment as the current index.
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To track its target index as closely as possible, the Fund attempts to remain fully invested in stocks. To help stay fully invested and to reduce transaction costs, the Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives, including equity futures. The Fund may also use derivatives such as total return swaps to obtain exposure to a stock, a basket of stocks, or an index. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. Investments in derivatives may subject the Fund to risks different from, and possibly greater than, those of investments directly in the underlying securities or assets. The Fund will not use derivatives for speculation or for the purpose of leveraging (magnifying) investment returns.
The Fund may enter into foreign currency exchange forward contracts, which are a type of derivative, in order to maintain the same currency exposure as its index. A foreign currency exchange forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell a currency at a specific price on a specific date, usually 30, 60, or 90 days in the future. In other words, the contract guarantees an exchange rate on a given date. These contracts, however, would not prevent the Fund’s securities from falling in value as a result of risks other than unfavorable currency exchange movements. The Fund may use these contracts to gain currency exposure when investing in equity futures and to settle trades in a foreign currency.  
Plain Talk About Derivatives
Derivatives can take many forms. Some forms of derivatives—such as
exchange-traded futures and options on securities, commodities, or
indexes—have been trading on regulated exchanges for decades. These
types of derivatives are standardized contracts that can easily be bought and
sold and whose market values are determined and published daily. On the
other hand, non-exchange-traded derivatives—such as certain swap
agreements and foreign currency exchange forward contracts—tend to be
more specialized or complex and may be more difficult to accurately value.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
14
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Redemptions of ETF Shares are typically met through a combination of cash and securities held by the Fund; see “How Are Vanguard ETF Shares Different From Conventional Mutual Fund Shares?” If cash is used to meet redemptions, the Fund typically obtains such cash through positive cash flows or the sale of Fund holdings consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and strategy. Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information for further information on redemptions of ETF Shares.
Under certain circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when the advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case when the Fund receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
Special Risks of Exchange-Traded Shares
   
ETF Shares are not individually redeemable. They can be redeemed with the issuing Fund at NAV only by certain authorized broker-dealers and only in large blocks known as Creation Units. Consequently, if you want to liquidate some or all of your ETF Shares, you must sell them on the secondary market at prevailing market prices.
15
   
The market price of ETF Shares may differ from NAV. Although it is expected that the market price of an ETF Share typically will approximate its NAV, there may be times when the market price and the NAV differ significantly. Thus, you may pay more (premium) or less (discount) than NAV when you buy ETF Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. These discounts and premiums are likely to be greatest during times of market disruption or extreme market volatility.
Vanguard’s website at vanguard.com shows the previous day’s closing NAV and closing market price for the Fund’s ETF Shares. The website also discloses, in the Premium/Discount Analysis section of the ETF Shares’ Price & Performance page, how frequently the Fund’s ETF Shares traded at a premium or discount to NAV (based on closing NAVs and market prices) and the magnitudes of such premiums and discounts.
   
An active trading market may not exist. Although Vanguard ETF Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not be maintained. Although this could happen at any time, it is more likely to occur during times of severe market disruption. If you attempt to sell your ETF Shares when an active trading market is not functioning, you may have to sell at a significant discount to NAV. In extreme cases, you may not be able to sell your shares at all.
   
Trading may be halted. Trading of Vanguard ETF Shares on an exchange may be halted by the activation of individual or marketwide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). Trading of ETF Shares may also be halted if (1) the shares are delisted from the listing exchange without first being listed on another exchange or (2) exchange officials determine that such action is appropriate in the interest of a fair and orderly market or for the protection of investors.
Conversion Privilege
Owners of conventional shares issued by the Fund may convert those shares to ETF Shares of equivalent value of the same fund. Please note that investors who own conventional shares through a 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored retirement or benefit plan generally may not convert those shares to ETF Shares and should check with their plan sponsor or recordkeeper. ETF Shares, whether acquired through a conversion or purchased on the secondary market, cannot be converted to conventional shares by a shareholder. Also, ETF Shares of one fund cannot be exchanged for ETF Shares of another fund.
16
You must hold ETF Shares in a brokerage account. Thus, before converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, you must have an existing, or open a new, brokerage account. This account may be with Vanguard Brokerage Services® or with any other brokerage firm. To initiate a conversion of conventional shares to ETF Shares, please contact your broker.
Vanguard Brokerage Services does not impose a fee on conversions from Vanguard conventional shares to Vanguard ETF Shares. However, other brokerage firms may charge a fee to process a conversion. Vanguard reserves the right, in the future, to impose a transaction fee on conversions or to limit, temporarily suspend, or terminate the conversion privilege.
Converting conventional shares to ETF Shares is generally accomplished as follows. First, after your broker notifies Vanguard of your request to convert, Vanguard will transfer your conventional shares from your account to the broker’s omnibus account with Vanguard (an account maintained by the broker on behalf of all its customers who hold conventional Vanguard fund shares through the broker). After the transfer, Vanguard’s records will reflect your broker, not you, as the owner of the shares. Next, your broker will instruct Vanguard to convert the appropriate number or dollar amount of conventional shares in its omnibus account to ETF Shares of equivalent value, based on the respective NAVs of the two share classes.
Your Fund’s transfer agent will reflect ownership of all ETF Shares in the name of the Depository Trust Company (DTC). The DTC will keep track of which ETF Shares belong to your broker, and your broker, in turn, will keep track of which ETF Shares belong to you.
Because the DTC is unable to handle fractional shares, only whole shares can be converted. For example, if you owned 300.25 conventional shares, and this was equivalent in value to 90.75 ETF Shares, the DTC account would receive 90 ETF Shares. Conventional shares with a value equal to 0.75 ETF Shares (in this example, that would be 2.481 conventional shares) would remain in the broker’s omnibus account with Vanguard. Your broker then could either (1) credit your account with 0.75 ETF Shares or (2) redeem the 2.481 conventional shares for cash at NAV and deliver that cash to your account. If your broker chose to redeem your conventional shares, you would realize a gain or loss on the redemption that must be reported on your tax return (unless you hold the shares in an IRA or other tax-deferred account). Please consult your broker for information on how it will handle the conversion process, including whether it will impose a fee to process a conversion.
17
If you convert your conventional shares to ETF Shares through Vanguard Brokerage Services, all conventional shares for which you request conversion will be converted to ETF Shares of equivalent value. Because no fractional shares will have to be sold, the transaction will not be taxable.
Here are some important points to keep in mind when converting conventional shares of a Vanguard fund to ETF Shares:
• The conversion process can take anywhere from several days to several weeks, depending on your broker. Vanguard generally will process conversion requests either on the day they are received or on the next business day. Vanguard imposes conversion blackout windows around the dates when a fund with ETF Shares declares dividends. This is necessary to prevent a shareholder from collecting a dividend from both the conventional share class currently held and also from the ETF share class to which the shares will be converted.
• Until the conversion process is complete, you will remain fully invested in a fund’s conventional shares, and your investment will increase or decrease in value in tandem with the NAV of those shares.
• The conversion transaction is nontaxable except, if applicable, to the very limited extent previously described.
A precautionary note to investment companies: Vanguard ETF Shares are issued by registered investment companies, and therefore the acquisition of such shares by other investment companies is subject to the restrictions of Section 12(d)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Vanguard has obtained an SEC exemptive order that allows registered investment companies to invest in the issuing funds beyond the limits of Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions, including the requirement to enter into a participation agreement with Vanguard.
Frequent Trading and Market-Timing
Unlike frequent trading of a Vanguard fund’s conventional (i.e., not exchange-traded) classes of shares, frequent trading of ETF Shares does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. The vast majority of trading in ETF Shares occurs on the secondary market. Because these trades do not involve the issuing fund, they do not harm the fund or its shareholders. Certain broker-dealers are authorized to purchase and redeem ETF Shares directly with the issuing fund. Because these trades typically are effected in kind (i.e., for securities and not for cash), or are assessed a transaction fee when effected in cash, they do not cause any of the harmful effects to the issuing fund (as previously noted) that may result from frequent trading. For
18
these reasons, the board of trustees of each fund that issues ETF Shares has determined that it is not necessary to adopt policies and procedures to detect and deter frequent trading and market-timing of ETF Shares.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. Generally, an index fund sells securities in response to redemption requests from shareholders of conventional (not exchange-traded) shares or to changes in the composition of its target index. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
19
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc., P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482, which began operations in 1975, serves as advisor to the Fund through its Equity Index Group. As of October 31, 2020, Vanguard served as advisor for approximately $5.2 trillion in assets. Vanguard provides investment advisory services to the Fund pursuant to the Funds’ Service Agreement and subject to the supervision and oversight of the trustees and officers of the Fund.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the advisory expenses represented an effective annual rate of 0.02% of the Fund’s average net assets.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory arrangement, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
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The managers primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund are:
Justin E. Hales, CFA, CFP, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has been with Vanguard since 2004, has worked in investment management since 2006, has managed investment portfolios since 2014, and has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016. Education: B.A., University of Maryland.
Michael Perre, Principal of Vanguard. He has been with Vanguard since 1990, has managed investment portfolios since 1999, and has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016. Education: B.A., Saint Joseph’s University; M.B.A., Villanova University.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest and dividends, less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income dividends generally are distributed quarterly in March, June, September, and December; capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.  
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest and dividends as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of
investments. Income consists of both the dividends that the fund earns from
any stock holdings and the interest it receives from any money market and
bond investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells
securities for higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are
either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the
securities for one year or less or for more than one year.
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Reinvestment of Distributions
In order to reinvest dividend and capital gains distributions, investors in the Fund's ETF Shares must hold their shares at a broker that offers a reinvestment service. This can be the broker’s own service or a service made available by a third party, such as the broker’s outside clearing firm or the DTC. If a reinvestment service is available, distributions of income and capital gains can automatically be reinvested in additional whole and fractional ETF Shares of the Fund. If a reinvestment service is not available, investors will receive their distributions in cash. To determine whether a reinvestment service is available and whether there is a commission or other charge for using this service, consult your broker.
As with all exchange-traded funds, reinvestment of dividend and capital gains distributions in additional ETF Shares will occur four business days or more after the ex-dividend date (the date when a distribution of dividends or capital gains is deducted from the price of the Fund’s shares). The exact number of days depends on your broker. During that time, the amount of your distribution will not be invested in the Fund and therefore will not share in the Fund’s income, gains, and losses.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional ETF Shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income. If you are an individual and meet certain holding-period requirements with respect to your ETF Shares, you may be eligible for reduced tax rates on “qualified dividend income,” if any, or a special tax deduction on “qualified REIT dividends,” if any, distributed by the Fund.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned ETF Shares.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund's normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling your ETF Shares.
22
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale of ETF Shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale of ETF Shares.
Dividend distributions and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale of ETF Shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
The Fund may be subject to foreign taxes or foreign tax withholding on dividends, interest, and some capital gains that it receives on foreign securities. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so. You may qualify for an offsetting credit or deduction under U.S. tax laws for any amount designated as your portion of the Fund’s foreign tax obligations, provided that you meet certain requirements. See your tax advisor or IRS publications for more information.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.
Share Price and Market Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m.,
23
Eastern time. Each share class has its own NAV, which is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Remember: If you buy or sell ETF Shares on the secondary market, you will pay or receive the market price, which may be higher or lower than NAV. Your transaction will be priced at NAV only if you purchase or redeem your ETF Shares in Creation Unit blocks (an option available only to certain authorized broker-dealers) or if you convert your conventional fund shares to ETF Shares.
Stocks held by a Vanguard fund are valued at their market value when reliable market quotations are readily available from the principal exchange or market on which they are traded. Such securities are generally valued at their official closing price, the last reported sales price, or if there were no sales that day, the mean between the closing bid and asking prices. When a fund determines that market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund's pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges that close many hours before the fund's pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, merger announcement) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities.
24
Fair-value pricing may be used for domestic securities—for example, if (1) trading in a security is halted and does not resume before the fund's pricing time or a security does not trade in the course of a day and (2) the fund holds enough of the security that its price could affect the NAV.
Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard's website will show the previous day's closing NAV and closing market price for the Fund's ETF Shares.
Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
 
 
 
ETF Shares
2/25/2016
4415
921946810
Certain affiliates of the Fund and the advisor may purchase and resell ETF Shares pursuant to the prospectus.
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
25
Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
Feb. 25, 2016
to Oct. 31,
2016
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$68.72
$58.65
$64.25
$54.43
$50.00
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income2
0.958
1.4523
1.196
1.179
0.662
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments4
1.551
9.578
(5.623)
9.715
4.154
Total from Investment Operations
2.509
11.030
(4.427)
10.894
4.816
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(1.259)
(0.960)
(1.173)
(1.074)
(0.386)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
—
—
—
—
—
Total Distributions
(1.259)
(0.960)
(1.173)
(1.074)
(0.386)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$69.97
$68.72
$58.65
$64.25
$54.43
Total Return
3.73%
18.96%
–7.04%
20.19%
9.64%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$2,456
$1,305
$861
$634
$147
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets
0.20%
0.20%
0.25%
0.25%
0.25%5
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net
Assets
1.40%
2.24%3
1.83%
1.96%
1.60%5
Portfolio Turnover Rate6
17%
42%
36%
9%
8%
1
Inception.
2
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
3
Net investment income per share and the ratio of net investment income to average net assets include $.388 and 0.65%, respectively, resulting from a special dividend from Naspers Ltd. in September 2019.
4
Includes increases from purchase and redemption fees of $.01 for 2020, $.02 for 2019, $.02 for 2018, and $.04 for 2017.
5
Annualized.
6
Excludes the value of portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of in-kind purchases or redemptions of the Fund's capital shares, including ETF Creation Units.
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 CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
“Dividend Achievers” is a trademark of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (collectively, with its affiliates, “NASDAQ OMX”) and has been licensed for use by The Vanguard Group, Inc. Vanguard funds are not sponsored, endorsed, sold, or promoted by NASDAQ OMX and NASDAQ OMX makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in the funds. NASDAQ OMX MAKES NO WARRANTIES AND BEARS NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE VANGUARD FUNDS.
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Glossary of Investment Terms
Authorized Participant. Institutional investors that are permitted to purchase Creation Units directly from, and redeem Creation Units directly with, the issuing fund. To be an Authorized Participant, an entity must be a participant in the Depository Trust Company and must enter into an agreement with the fund’s Distributor.
Bid-Ask Spread. The difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market.
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Common Stock. A security representing ownership rights in a corporation.
Creation Unit. A large block of a specified number of ETF Shares. Certain broker-dealers known as “Authorized Participants” may purchase and redeem ETF Shares from the issuing fund in Creation Unit size blocks.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Ex-Dividend Date. The date when a distribution of dividends and/or capital gains is deducted from the share price of a mutual fund, ETF, or stock. On the ex-dividend date, the share price drops by the amount of the distribution per share (plus or minus any market activity).
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund (or one of its share classes) are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Indexing. A low-cost investment strategy in which a fund attempts to track—rather than outperform—a specified market benchmark, or “index.”
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Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Median Market Capitalization. An indicator of the size of companies in which a fund invests; the midpoint of market capitalization (market price x shares outstanding) of a fund's stocks, weighted by the proportion of the fund's assets invested in each stock. Stocks representing half of the fund's assets have market capitalizations above the median, and the rest are below it.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, a return of capital reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
   
Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund's ETF Shares and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about Vanguard ETF Shares, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
Telephone: 866-499-8473; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.U.S. Patent Nos. 6,879,964; 7,337,138; 7,720,749; 7,925,573; 8,090,646; and 8,417,623.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 4415 022021
 
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Admiral™ Shares
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund Admiral Shares (VIAAX)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
Fund Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of non-U.S. companies that have a history of increasing dividends.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell Admiral Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
None
Purchase Fee
0.25%
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
Redemption Fee
0.25%
Account Service Fee Per Year
(for certain fund account balances below $10,000)
$20
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.18%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.20%
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Examples
The following examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s Admiral Shares with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. They illustrate the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund’s shares. The first example assumes that the shares provide a return of 5% each year, that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table, and that you were to redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$72
$118
$169
$319
You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your investment (the difference being that the Fund’s 0.25% redemption fee would not apply to any of the following periods, as it would to those in the preceding example):  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$45
$89
$137
$280
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense examples, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 17% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Nasdaq International Dividend Achievers Select Index, which focuses on high-quality companies located in developed and emerging markets, excluding the United States, that have both the ability and the commitment to grow their dividends over time. The Fund attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the broadly diversified collection of securities that make up the Index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index.
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Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance:
•  Stock market risk , which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund’s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
•  Country/regional risk , which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Emerging markets risk , which is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
•  Currency risk , which is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Investment style risk , which is the chance that returns from dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Dividend-paying stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than the global markets in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
•  Asset concentration risk , which is the chance that, because the Fund’s target index (and therefore the Fund) tends to be heavily weighted in its ten largest holdings, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few stocks.
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An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund's Admiral Shares (including annual fund operating expenses but excluding shareholder fees) has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. If applicable shareholder fees were reflected, returns would be less than those shown in the bar chart. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the Admiral Shares (including annual fund operating expenses and any applicable shareholder fees) compare with those of the Fund's target index, which has investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund Admiral Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
16.00%
June 30, 2020
Lowest
-18.84%
March 31, 2020
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Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
Since
Inception
(Mar. 2,
2016)
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index
Fund Admiral Shares
 
 
Return Before Taxes
14.53%
11.74%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
14.16
11.31
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
8.84
9.28
NASDAQ International Dividend Achievers Select Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
15.35%
12.18%
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Portfolio Managers
Justin E. Hales, CFA, CFP, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016.
Michael Perre, Principal of Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for Admiral Shares is $3,000. The minimum investment amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should
5
contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility. If you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisor do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
6
Investing in Index Funds
What Is Indexing?
Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or “index.” An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets—such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments—such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. One cannot invest directly in an index.
The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index and the weighting of each security in the index. Under normal circumstances, the index sponsor will rebalance an index on a regular schedule. An index sponsor may carry out additional ad hoc index rebalances or delay or cancel a scheduled rebalance. Generally, the index sponsor does not provide any warranty, or accept any liability, with respect to the quality, accuracy, or completeness of either the target index or its related data. Errors made by the index sponsor may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index sponsor for a period of time or at all. Vanguard does not provide any warranty or guarantee against such errors. Therefore, the gains, losses, or costs associated with the index sponsor’s errors will generally be borne by the index fund and its shareholders.
An index fund seeks to hold all, or a representative sample, of the securities that make up its target index. Index funds attempt to mirror the performance of the target index, for better or worse. However, an index fund generally does not perform exactly like its target index. For example, index funds have operating expenses and transaction costs. Market indexes do not, and therefore they will usually have a slight performance advantage over funds that track them. The ability of an index fund to match its performance to that of its target index can also be impacted by, among other things, the timing and size of cash flows and the size of the fund. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could also have an adverse effect on a fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the index.
Index funds typically have the following characteristics:
•  Variety of investments . Depending on a fund’s benchmark index, the fund may invest in the securities of a variety of companies, industries, and/or governments or government agencies.
•  Relative performance consistency . Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
•  Low cost . Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity—and thus brokerage commissions and other transaction costs—to a minimum compared with actively managed funds.
7
More on the Fund
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any mutual fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to mutual fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.
Share Class Overview
This prospectus offers the Fund’s Admiral Shares. The Fund also issues ETF Shares (an exchange-traded class of shares), which are offered through a separate prospectus.
 
Both share classes offered by the Fund have the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. However, different share classes have different expenses; as a result, their investment returns will differ.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All mutual funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are
deducted from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the
net assets of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated
in the Fees and Expenses section, Vanguard International Dividend
Appreciation Index Fund Admiral Shares’ expense ratio would be 0.20%, or
$2.00 per $1,000 of average net assets. The average expense ratio for
international equity income funds in 2019 was 1.08%, or $10.80 per $1,000
of average net assets (derived from data provided by Lipper, a Thomson
Reuters Company, which reports on the mutual fund industry).
 
8
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing a mutual fund. That is
because you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of
operating a fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or
sells securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross
income or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small
differences in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a
fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund's board of trustees, which oversees the Fund's management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund’s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in the stocks that make up its target index. The Fund may change its 80% policy only upon 60 days‘ notice to shareholders.
Market Exposure
The Fund invests mainly in stocks of companies located in developed and emerging markets outside of the United States that have a record of increasing dividends over time. Stocks purchased by the Fund are expected to have increasing dividends over time and also to have the potential for long-term capital appreciation. The Fund may purchase stocks that have relatively low dividend yields if the company issuing the stock has increased dividends in recent years.
   
The Fund is subject to stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund’s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
9
   
The Fund is subject to country/regional risk and currency risk. Country/regional risk is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the Fund‘s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Currency risk is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Country/regional risk and currency risk are especially high in emerging markets.
   
The Fund is subject to emerging markets risk, which is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
 
Plain Talk About International Investing
U.S. investors who invest in foreign securities will encounter risks not
typically associated with U.S. companies because foreign stock and bond
markets operate differently from the U.S. markets. For instance, foreign
companies and governments may not be subject to the same or similar
accounting, auditing, legal, tax, and financial reporting standards and
practices as U.S. companies and the U.S. government, and their stocks and
bonds may not be as liquid as those of similar U.S. entities. In addition,
foreign stock exchanges, brokers, companies, bond markets, and dealers
may be subject to less government supervision and regulation than their
counterparts in the United States. These factors, among others, could
negatively affect the returns U.S. investors receive from foreign investments.
   
The Fund is subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Dividend-paying stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than the global markets in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
10
Security Selection
The Fund attempts to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of non-U.S. companies that have a record of increasing dividends over time. The companies in which the Fund invests will be within the capitalization range of the companies included in the Nasdaq International Dividend Achievers Select Index ($252 million to $724 billion as of October 31, 2020). In the future, the Index’s market capitalization range may be higher or lower, and the Fund’s investments may track another index. Such changes may occur at any time and without notice to Fund shareholders.
 
The Fund uses the replication method of indexing, meaning that the Fund generally holds the same stocks as those in its target index, and in approximately the same proportions.
   
The Fund is subject to asset concentration risk, which is the chance that, because the Fund’s target index (and therefore the Fund) tends to be heavily weighted in its ten largest holdings, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few stocks.
Depositary receipts. The Fund, in most cases, will obtain economic exposure to stocks of its target index (component securities) by investing directly in the component securities. However, the Fund reserves the right to obtain economic exposure to component securities indirectly by purchasing depositary receipts (also sold as participatory notes) of the component securities. Depositary receipts are securities that are listed on exchanges or quoted in over-the-counter markets in one country but represent shares of issuers domiciled in another country. Generally, the Fund will hold depositary receipts only when the advisor believes that the Fund would benefit from holding the depositary receipt, rather than the underlying component security. For example, the Fund might opt to hold depositary receipts if the foreign market in which a stock trades does not provide adequate protection to the rights of foreign investors or if government regulators place restrictions on the free flow of capital or currency. The Fund treats depositary receipts that represent interests in component securities as component securities for purposes of any requirements related to the percentage of component securities held in the Fund’s portfolio.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the index it currently tracks if the current index is discontinued, if the Fund's agreement with the sponsor of its target index is terminated, or for any other reason determined in good faith by the Fund’s board of trustees. In any such instance, the substitute index would represent the same market segment as the current index.
11
To track its target index as closely as possible, the Fund attempts to remain fully invested in stocks. To help stay fully invested and to reduce transaction costs, the Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives, including equity futures. The Fund may also use derivatives such as total return swaps to obtain exposure to a stock, a basket of stocks, or an index. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. Investments in derivatives may subject the Fund to risks different from, and possibly greater than, those of investments directly in the underlying securities or assets. The Fund will not use derivatives for speculation or for the purpose of leveraging (magnifying) investment returns.
The Fund may enter into foreign currency exchange forward contracts, which are a type of derivative, in order to maintain the same currency exposure as its index. A foreign currency exchange forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell a currency at a specific price on a specific date, usually 30, 60, or 90 days in the future. In other words, the contract guarantees an exchange rate on a given date. These contracts, however, would not prevent the Fund’s securities from falling in value as a result of risks other than unfavorable currency exchange movements. The Fund may use these contracts to gain currency exposure when investing in equity futures and to settle trades in a foreign currency.  
Plain Talk About Derivatives
Derivatives can take many forms. Some forms of derivatives—such as
exchange-traded futures and options on securities, commodities, or
indexes—have been trading on regulated exchanges for decades. These
types of derivatives are standardized contracts that can easily be bought and
sold and whose market values are determined and published daily. On the
other hand, non-exchange-traded derivatives—such as certain swap
agreements and foreign currency exchange forward contracts—tend to be
more specialized or complex and may be more difficult to accurately value.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
12
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Under normal circumstances, the Fund typically expects to meet redemptions with positive cash flows. When this is not an option, the Fund seeks to maintain its risk exposure by selling a cross section of the Fund’s holdings to meet redemptions, while also factoring in transaction costs. Additionally, the Fund may work with larger clients to implement their redemptions in a manner that is least disruptive to the portfolio; see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section.
Under certain circumstances, including under stressed market conditions, there are additional tools that the Fund may use in order to meet redemptions, including advancing the settlement of market trades with counterparties to match investor redemption payments or delaying settlement of an investor’s transaction to match trade settlement within regulatory requirements. The Fund may also suspend payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven days; see “Emergency circumstances” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section. Additionally under these unusual circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when the advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case when the Fund receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
Purchase and Redemption Fees
The Fund charges a 0.25% fee on all purchases of its shares, including shares that you purchase by exchange from another Vanguard fund. In addition, the Fund charges a 0.25% fee on redemptions of its shares. The fee applies if you redeem shares by selling or by exchanging to another Vanguard fund or if Vanguard liquidates your Fund account because the balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation.
 
Unlike a sales charge or a load paid to a broker or a fund management company, purchase and redemption fees are paid directly to the Fund to offset the costs of
13
buying and selling securities.
 See Investing With Vanguard for more information about fees.
Frequent Trading or Market-Timing
Background. Some investors try to profit from strategies involving frequent trading of mutual fund shares, such as market-timing. For funds holding foreign securities, investors may try to take advantage of an anticipated difference between the price of the fund’s shares and price movements in overseas markets, a practice also known as time-zone arbitrage. Investors also may try to engage in frequent trading of funds holding investments such as small-cap stocks and high-yield bonds. As money is shifted into and out of a fund by a shareholder engaging in frequent trading, the fund incurs costs for buying and selling securities, resulting in increased brokerage and administrative costs. These costs are borne by all fund shareholders, including the long-term investors who do not generate the costs. In addition, frequent trading may interfere with an advisor’s ability to efficiently manage the fund.
Policies to address frequent trading. The Vanguard funds (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) do not knowingly accommodate frequent trading. The board of trustees of each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) has adopted policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and discourage frequent trading and, in some cases, to compensate the fund for the costs associated with it. These policies and procedures do not apply to ETF Shares because frequent trading in ETF Shares generally does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. Although there is no assurance that Vanguard will be able to detect or prevent frequent trading or market-timing in all circumstances, the following policies have been adopted to address these issues:
• Each Vanguard fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request—including exchanges from other Vanguard funds—without notice and regardless of size. For example, a purchase request could be rejected because the investor has a history of frequent trading or if Vanguard determines that such purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
• Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) generally prohibits, except as otherwise noted in the Investing With Vanguard section, an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account.
14
• Certain Vanguard funds charge shareholders purchase and/or redemption fees on transactions.
See the Investing With Vanguard section of this prospectus for further details on Vanguard’s transaction policies.
Each Vanguard fund (other than retail and government money market funds), in determining its net asset value, will use fair-value pricing when appropriate, as described in the Share Price section. Fair-value pricing may reduce or eliminate the profitability of certain frequent-trading strategies.
Do not invest with Vanguard if you are a market-timer.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. Generally, an index fund sells securities in response to redemption requests from shareholders of conventional (not exchange-traded) shares or to changes in the composition of its target index. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
15
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc., P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482, which began operations in 1975, serves as advisor to the Fund through its Equity Index Group. As of October 31, 2020, Vanguard served as advisor for approximately $5.2 trillion in assets. Vanguard provides investment advisory services to the Fund pursuant to the Funds’ Service Agreement and subject to the supervision and oversight of the trustees and officers of the Fund.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the advisory expenses represented an effective annual rate of 0.02% of the Fund’s average net assets.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory arrangement, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
16
The managers primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund are:
Justin E. Hales, CFA, CFP, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has been with Vanguard since 2004, has worked in investment management since 2006, has managed investment portfolios since 2014, and has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016. Education: B.A., University of Maryland.
Michael Perre, Principal of Vanguard. He has been with Vanguard since 1990, has managed investment portfolios since 1999, and has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016. Education: B.A., Saint Joseph’s University; M.B.A., Villanova University.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest and dividends, less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income dividends generally are distributed quarterly in March, June, September, and December; capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.
You can receive distributions of income or capital gains in cash, or you can have them automatically reinvested in more shares of the Fund. However, if you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your distributions will be automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares.  
17
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest and dividends as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of
investments. Income consists of both the dividends that the fund earns from
any stock holdings and the interest it receives from any money market and
bond investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells
securities for higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are
either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the
securities for one year or less or for more than one year.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional Fund shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income. If you are an individual and meet certain holding-period requirements with respect to your Fund shares, you may be eligible for reduced tax rates on “qualified dividend income,” if any, or a special tax deduction on “qualified REIT dividends,” if any, distributed by the Fund.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned shares in the Fund.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund's normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling or exchanging your Fund shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
18
• Any conversion between classes of shares of the same fund is a nontaxable event. By contrast, an exchange between classes of shares of different funds is a taxable event.
• Vanguard (or your intermediary) will send you a statement each year showing the tax status of all of your distributions.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale or exchange of Fund shares.
Dividend distributions and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale or exchange of Fund shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
The Fund may be subject to foreign taxes or foreign tax withholding on dividends, interest, and some capital gains that it receives on foreign securities. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so. You may qualify for an offsetting credit or deduction under U.S. tax laws for any amount designated as your portion of the Fund’s foreign tax obligations, provided that you meet certain requirements. See your tax advisor or IRS publications for more information.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.  
19
Plain Talk About Buying a Dividend
Unless you are a tax-exempt investor or investing through a tax-advantaged
account (such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings
plan), you should consider avoiding a purchase of fund shares shortly before
the fund makes a distribution, because doing so can cost you money in
taxes. This is known as “buying a dividend.” For example: On December 15,
you invest $5,000, buying 250 shares for $20 each. If the fund pays a
distribution of $1 per share on December 16, its share price will drop to $19
(not counting market change). You still have only $5,000 (250 shares x $19 =
$4,750 in share value, plus 250 shares x $1 = $250 in distributions), but you
owe tax on the $250 distribution you received—even if you reinvest it in
more shares. To avoid buying a dividend, check a fund’s distribution schedule
before you invest.
General Information
Backup withholding. By law, Vanguard must withhold 24% of any taxable distributions or redemptions from your account if you do not:
• Provide your correct taxpayer identification number.
• Certify that the taxpayer identification number is correct.
• Confirm that you are not subject to backup withholding.
Similarly, Vanguard (or your intermediary) must withhold taxes from your account if the IRS instructs us to do so.
Foreign investors. Vanguard funds offered for sale in the United States (Vanguard U.S. funds), including the Fund offered in this prospectus, are not widely available outside the United States. Non-U.S. investors should be aware that U.S. withholding and estate taxes and certain U.S. tax reporting requirements may apply to any investments in Vanguard U.S. funds. Foreign investors should visit the non-U.S. investors page on our website at vanguard.com for information on Vanguard’s non-U.S. products.
Invalid addresses. If a dividend distribution or capital gains distribution check mailed to your address of record is returned as undeliverable, Vanguard will automatically reinvest the distribution and all future distributions until you provide us with a valid mailing address. Reinvestments will receive the net asset value calculated on the date of the reinvestment.
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Share Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. Each share class has its own NAV, which is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Stocks held by a Vanguard fund are valued at their market value when reliable market quotations are readily available from the principal exchange or market on which they are traded. Such securities are generally valued at their official closing price, the last reported sales price, or if there were no sales that day, the mean between the closing bid and asking prices. When a fund determines that market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund's pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges that close many hours before the fund's pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, merger announcement) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities.
21
Fair-value pricing may be used for domestic securities—for example, if (1) trading in a security is halted and does not resume before the fund's pricing time or a security does not trade in the course of a day and (2) the fund holds enough of the security that its price could affect the NAV.
Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard fund share prices are published daily on our website at vanguard.com/prices.
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Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.

23
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund Admiral Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
March 2, 20161
to Oct. 31,
2016
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each
Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$33.42
$28.52
$31.24
$26.45
$25.00
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income2
0.453
0.6863
0.576
0.573
0.285
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments4
0.765
4.679
(2.727)
4.720
1.352
Total from Investment Operations
1.218
5.365
(2.151)
5.293
1.637
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(0.608)
(0.465)
(0.569)
(0.503)
(0.187)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
—
—
—
—
—
Total Distributions
(0.608)
(0.465)
(0.569)
(0.503)
(0.187)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$34.03
$33.42
$28.52
$31.24
$26.45
Total Return5
3.72%6
18.96%6
–7.03%6
20.18%6
6.54%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$220
$218
$175
$152
$77
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net
Assets
0.20%
0.20%
0.25%
0.25%
0.25%7
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average
Net Assets
1.36%
2.24%3
1.83%
1.96%
1.60%7
Portfolio Turnover Rate8
17%
42%
36%
9%
8%
1
Inception.
2
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
3
Net investment income per share and the ratio of net investment income to average net assets include $.188 and 0.65%, respectively, resulting from a special dividend from Naspers Ltd. in September 2019.
4
Includes increases from purchase and redemption fees of $.00 for 2020, $.01 for 2019, $.01 for 2018, and $.02 for 2017.
5
Total returns do not include account service fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
6
Total returns do not include transaction fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
7
Annualized.
8
Excludes the value of portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of in-kind purchases or redemptions of the Fund's capital shares, including ETF Creation Units.
24
Investing With Vanguard
This section of the prospectus explains the basics of doing business with Vanguard. Vanguard fund shares can be held directly with Vanguard or indirectly through an intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. If you hold Vanguard fund shares directly with Vanguard, you should carefully read each topic within this section that pertains to your relationship with Vanguard. If you hold Vanguard fund shares indirectly through an intermediary (including shares held in a brokerage account through Vanguard Brokerage Services®), please see Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms, and also refer to your account agreement with the intermediary for information about transacting in that account. If you hold Vanguard fund shares through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, please see Employer-Sponsored Plans. Vanguard reserves the right to change the following policies without notice. Please call or check online for current information. See Contacting Vanguard.
For Vanguard fund shares held directly with Vanguard, each fund you hold in an account is a separate “fund account.” For example, if you hold three funds in a nonretirement account titled in your own name, two funds in a nonretirement account titled jointly with your spouse, and one fund in an individual retirement account, you have six fund accounts—and this is true even if you hold the same fund in multiple accounts. Note that each reference to “you” in this prospectus applies to any one or more registered account owners or persons authorized to transact on your account.
Purchasing Shares
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to increase or decrease the minimum amount required to open, convert shares to, or maintain a fund account or to add to an existing fund account.
Investment minimums may differ for certain categories of investors.
Account Minimums for Admiral Shares
To open and maintain an account. $3,000. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility.
To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
25
How to Initiate a Purchase Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your purchase request.
Online. You may open certain types of accounts, request a purchase of shares, and request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to begin the account registration process or request that the account-opening forms be sent to you. You may also call Vanguard to request a purchase of shares in your account or to request an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send Vanguard your account registration form and check to open a new fund account. To add to an existing fund account, you may send your check with an Invest-by-Mail form (from a transaction confirmation or your account statement) or with a deposit slip (available online).
How to Pay for a Purchase
By electronic bank transfer. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund through an electronic transfer of money from a bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate the bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can purchase shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Investment Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your purchase request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. Wiring instructions vary for different types of purchases. Please call Vanguard for instructions and policies on purchasing shares by wire. See Contacting Vanguard.
By check. You may make initial or additional purchases to your fund account by sending a check with a deposit slip or by utilizing our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access. Also see How to Initiate a Purchase Request. Make your check payable to Vanguard and include the appropriate fund number (Vanguard—515).
By exchange. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund using the proceeds from the simultaneous redemption of shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail with an exchange form. See Exchanging Shares.
26
Trade Date
The trade date for any purchase request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request, the manner in which you are paying, and the type of fund you are purchasing. Your purchase will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For purchases by check into all funds other than money market funds and for purchases by exchange, wire, or electronic bank transfer into all funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the same day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day.
For purchases by check into money market funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the second business day following the day Vanguard receives the purchase request. Because money market instruments must be purchased with federal funds and it takes a money market mutual fund one business day to convert check proceeds into federal funds, the trade date for the purchase will be one business day later than for other funds.
If your purchase request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
For further information about purchase transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Purchase Fee
The Fund charges a purchase fee of 0.25% on all share purchases, including shares purchased by exchange from another Vanguard fund. The purchase fee is deducted from the amount of each new purchase and is paid directly to the Fund to offset the cost of buying securities.
27
Purchase fees will not apply to Vanguard fund account purchases in the following circumstances: (1) purchases of shares through reinvested dividends or capital gains distributions; (2) share transfers, rollovers, or reregistrations within the same fund; (3) conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund; (4) purchases in kind; and (5) share rollovers to an IRA within the same Vanguard fund for plans in which Vanguard serves as a recordkeeper.
Other Purchase Rules You Should Know
Admiral Shares. Admiral Shares generally are not available for SIMPLE IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Check purchases. All purchase checks must be written in U.S. dollars, be drawn on a U.S. bank, and be accompanied by good order instructions. Vanguard does not accept cash, traveler’s checks, starter checks, or money orders. In addition, Vanguard may refuse checks that are not made payable to Vanguard.
New accounts. We are required by law to obtain from you certain personal information that we will use to verify your identity. If you do not provide the information, we may not be able to open your account. If we are unable to verify your identity, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to close your account or take such other steps as we deem reasonable. Certain types of accounts may require additional documentation.
Refused or rejected purchase requests. Vanguard reserves the right to stop selling fund shares or to reject any purchase request at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, purchases requested by exchange from another Vanguard fund. This also includes the right to reject any purchase request because the investor has a history of frequent trading or because the purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
Large purchases. Call Vanguard before attempting to invest a large dollar amount.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any purchase request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a purchase request.
Converting Shares
If you convert from Admiral Shares to ETF Shares, the transaction will be based on the respective NAVs of the separate share classes on the trade date of the conversion.
28
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any self-directed conversion request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a conversion request.
A conversion between share classes of the same fund is a nontaxable event.
Conversions to ETF Shares
Owners of conventional shares (i.e., not exchange-traded shares) issued by the Fund may convert those shares to ETF Shares of equivalent value of the same fund. Please note that investors who own conventional shares through a 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored retirement or benefit plan generally may not convert those shares to ETF Shares and should check with their plan sponsor or recordkeeper. ETF Shares, whether acquired through a conversion or purchased on the secondary market, cannot be converted to conventional shares by a shareholder. Also, ETF Shares of one fund cannot be exchanged for ETF Shares of another fund.
ETF Shares must be held in a brokerage account. Thus, before converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, you must have an existing, or open a new, brokerage account. This account may be with Vanguard Brokerage Services or with any other brokerage firm.
Vanguard Brokerage Services does not impose a fee on conversions from conventional shares to Vanguard ETF Shares. However, other brokerage firms may charge a fee to process a conversion. Vanguard reserves the right, in the future, to impose a transaction fee on conversions or to limit, temporarily suspend, or terminate the conversion privilege. For additional information on converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, please contact Vanguard to obtain a prospectus for ETF Shares. See Contacting Vanguard.
Redeeming Shares
How to Initiate a Redemption Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your redemption request.
Online. You may request a redemption of shares or request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to request a redemption of shares or an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
29
By mail. You may send a form (available online) to Vanguard to redeem from a fund account or to make an exchange.
How to Receive Redemption Proceeds
By electronic bank transfer. You may have the proceeds of a fund redemption sent directly to a designated bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can redeem shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Withdrawal Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your redemption request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. To receive your proceeds by wire, you may instruct Vanguard to wire your redemption proceeds ($100 minimum) to a previously designated bank account. To establish the wire redemption service, you generally must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form.
Please note that Vanguard charges a $10 wire fee for outgoing wire redemptions. The fee is assessed in addition to, rather than being withheld from, redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the fund in which you invest. For example, if you redeem $100 via a wire, you will receive the full $100, and the $10 fee will be assessed to your fund account through an additional redemption of fund shares. If you redeem your entire fund account, your redemption proceeds will be reduced by the amount of the fee. The wire fee does not apply to accounts held by Flagship and Flagship Select clients; accounts held through intermediaries, including Vanguard Brokerage Services; or accounts held by institutional clients.
By exchange. You may have the proceeds of a Vanguard fund redemption invested directly in shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Exchanging Shares.
By check. If you have not chosen another redemption method, Vanguard will mail you a redemption check, generally payable to all registered account owners, normally within two business days of your trade date, and generally to the address of record.
30
Trade Date
The trade date for any redemption request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request and the manner in which you are redeeming. Your redemption will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For redemptions by check, exchange, or wire: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from money market funds: For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day before 10:45 a.m., Eastern time (2 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund; 12:30 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business the same day. For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day after those cut-off times, or on a nonbusiness day, and for all requests other than by telephone, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from all other funds: For requests received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day. For requests received by Vanguard on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the second business day after Vanguard receives the request.
For redemptions by electronic bank transfer: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If
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the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
If your redemption request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. If we are unable to send your redemption proceeds by wire or electronic bank transfer because the receiving institution rejects the transfer, Vanguard will make additional efforts to complete your transaction. If Vanguard is still unable to complete the transaction, we may send the proceeds of the redemption to you by check, generally payable to all registered account owners, or use your proceeds to purchase new shares of the fund from which you sold shares for the purpose of the wire or electronic bank transfer transaction. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
If your redemption request is received in good order, we typically expect that redemption proceeds will be paid by the Fund within one business day of the trade date; however, in certain circumstances, investors may experience a longer settlement period at the time of the transaction. For further information, see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” and “Emergency circumstances.”
For further information about redemption transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Redemption Fee
The Fund charges a 0.25% redemption fee. The fee applies if you redeem shares by selling or by exchanging to another Vanguard fund or if Vanguard liquidates your Fund account because the balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. The fee is withheld from redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the Fund.
Redemption fees will not apply to Vanguard fund account redemptions in the following circumstances: (1) redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees; redemptions of shares to revoke an IRA within the period of time set forth in the Vanguard Traditional IRA, SEP-IRA, and Roth IRA Disclosure Statement; redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs, certain Vanguard Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans); and redemptions from Section 529 college savings plans; (2) share transfers, rollovers, or reregistrations within the same fund; (3) conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund; (4) redemptions in kind; and (5) for a one-year period, share rollovers to an IRA held at Vanguard from a retirement plan for which Vanguard serves as a recordkeeper.*
 
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Also, participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans* will not incur redemption fees for the following: exchanges of shares purchased with participant payroll or employer contributions; exchanges of shares purchased with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions; distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan; redemptions or transfers of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan; and direct rollovers into IRAs.
 
Participants will incur redemption fees if, after making an exchange, a transfer, or a rollover into a fund with a redemption fee, the participant makes a subsequent exchange out of that fund.
 
If Vanguard does not serve as recordkeeper for your plan, redemption fees may be applied differently. Please read your recordkeeper’s plan materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply. Also see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of redemption fees by intermediaries.
 
*The following Vanguard fund accounts will be subject to redemption fees: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, and Vanguard Retirement Plans for which Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company serves as trustee.
Other Redemption Rules You Should Know
Documentation for certain accounts. Special documentation may be required to redeem from certain types of accounts, such as trust, corporate, nonprofit, or retirement accounts. Please call us before attempting to redeem from these types of accounts.
Potentially disruptive redemptions. Vanguard reserves the right to pay all or part of a redemption in kind—that is, in the form of securities—if we reasonably believe that a cash redemption would negatively affect the fund’s operation or performance or that the shareholder may be engaged in market-timing or frequent trading. Under these circumstances, Vanguard also reserves the right to delay payment of the redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. By calling us before you attempt to redeem a large dollar amount, you may avoid in-kind or delayed payment of your redemption. Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations for information about Vanguard’s policies to limit frequent trading.
Recently purchased shares. Although you can redeem shares at any time, proceeds may not be made available to you until the fund collects payment for your purchase. This may take up to seven calendar days for shares purchased by
33
check or by electronic bank transfer. If you have written a check on a fund in an account with checkwriting privileges, that check may be rejected if your fund account does not have a sufficient available balance.
Address change. If you change your address online or by telephone, there may be up to a 14-day restriction (starting on the business day after your address is changed) on your ability to request check redemptions online and by telephone. You can request a redemption in writing (using a form available online) at any time. Confirmations of address changes are sent to both the old and new addresses.
Payment to a different person or address. At your request, we can make your redemption check payable, or wire your redemption proceeds, to a different person or send it to a different address. However, this generally requires the written consent of all registered account owners and may require additional documentation, such as a signature guarantee or a notarized signature. You may obtain a signature guarantee from some commercial or savings banks, credit unions, trust companies, or member firms of a U.S. stock exchange.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any redemption request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a redemption request.
Emergency circumstances. Vanguard funds can postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. In addition, Vanguard funds can suspend redemptions and/or postpone payments of redemption proceeds beyond seven calendar days at times when the NYSE is closed or during emergency circumstances, as determined by the SEC.
Exchanging Shares
An exchange occurs when you use the proceeds from the redemption of shares of one Vanguard fund to simultaneously purchase shares of a different Vanguard fund. You can make exchange requests online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Purchasing Shares and Redeeming Shares.
If the NYSE is open for regular trading (generally until 4 p.m., Eastern time, on a business day) at the time an exchange request is received in good order, the trade date generally will be the same day. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order for additional information on all transaction requests.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any exchange request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing an exchange request.
34
Call Vanguard before attempting to exchange a large dollar amount. By calling us before you attempt to exchange a large dollar amount, you may avoid delayed or rejected transactions.
Please note that Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise or terminate the exchange privilege, limit the amount of any exchange, or reject an exchange, at any time, for any reason. See Frequent-Trading Limitations for additional restrictions on exchanges.
Frequent-Trading Limitations
Because excessive transactions can disrupt management of a fund and increase the fund’s costs for all shareholders, the board of trustees of each Vanguard fund places certain limits on frequent trading in the funds. Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) limits an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account. ETF Shares are not subject to these frequent-trading limits.
For Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, the limitations apply to exchanges made online or by telephone.
These frequent-trading limitations do not apply to the following:
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Transactions through Vanguard’s Automatic Investment Plan, Automatic Exchange Service, Direct Deposit Service, Automatic Withdrawal Plan, Required Minimum Distribution Service, and Vanguard Small Business Online®.
• Discretionary transactions through Vanguard Personal Advisor Services®, Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services®, and Vanguard Digital Advisor™.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans).
• Transfers and reregistrations of shares within the same fund.
• Purchases of shares by asset transfer or direct rollover.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Checkwriting redemptions.
• Section 529 college savings plans.
35
• Certain approved institutional portfolios and asset allocation programs, as well as trades made by funds or trusts managed by Vanguard or its affiliates that invest in other Vanguard funds. (Please note that shareholders of Vanguard’s funds of funds are subject to the limitations.)
For participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans,* the frequent-trading limitations do not apply to:
• Purchases of shares with participant payroll or employer contributions or loan repayments.
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan.
• Redemptions of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan.
• Transactions executed through the Vanguard Managed Account Program.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Share or asset transfers or rollovers.
• Reregistrations of shares.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Exchange requests submitted by written request to Vanguard. (Exchange requests submitted by fax, if otherwise permitted, are subject to the limitations.)
* The following Vanguard fund accounts are subject to the frequent-trading limitations: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Accounts Held by Institutions (Other Than Defined Contribution Plans)
Vanguard will systematically monitor for frequent trading in institutional clients’ accounts. If we detect suspicious trading activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include applying to a client’s accounts the 30-day policy previously described, prohibiting a client’s purchases of fund shares, and/or revoking the client’s exchange privilege.
Accounts Held by Intermediaries
When intermediaries establish accounts in Vanguard funds for the benefit of their clients, we cannot always monitor the trading activity of the individual clients. However, we review trading activity at the intermediary (omnibus) level, and if we detect suspicious activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action. If necessary, Vanguard may prohibit additional purchases of fund shares
36
by an intermediary, including for the benefit of certain of the intermediary’s clients. Intermediaries also may monitor their clients’ trading activities with respect to Vanguard funds.
For those Vanguard funds that charge purchase and/or redemption fees, intermediaries will be asked to assess these fees on client accounts and remit these fees to the funds. The application of purchase and redemption fees and frequent-trading limitations may vary among intermediaries. There are no assurances that Vanguard will successfully identify all intermediaries or that intermediaries will properly assess purchase and redemption fees or administer frequent-trading limitations. If you invest with Vanguard through an intermediary, please read that firm’s materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply.
Other Rules You Should Know
Prospectus and Shareholder Report Mailings
When two or more shareholders have the same last name and address, just one summary prospectus (or prospectus) and/or shareholder report may be sent in an attempt to eliminate the unnecessary expense of duplicate mailings. You may request individual prospectuses and reports by contacting our Client Services Department in writing, by telephone, or online. See Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard.com
Registration. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can review your account holdings; buy, sell, or exchange shares of most Vanguard funds; and perform most other transactions through our website. You must register for this service online.
Electronic delivery. Vanguard can deliver your account statements, transaction confirmations, prospectuses, certain tax forms, and shareholder reports electronically. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can consent to the electronic delivery of these documents by logging on and changing your mailing preferences under “Account Maintenance.” You can revoke your electronic consent at any time through our website, and we will begin to send paper copies of these documents within 30 days of receiving your revocation.
Telephone Transactions
Automatic. When we set up your account, we will automatically enable you to do business with us by telephone, unless you instruct us otherwise in writing.
37
Tele-Account®. To obtain fund and account information through Vanguard’s automated telephone service, you must first establish a Personal Identification Number (PIN) by calling Tele-Account at 800-662-6273.
Proof of a caller’s authority. We reserve the right to refuse a telephone request if the caller is unable to provide the requested information or if we reasonably believe that the caller is not an individual authorized to act on the account. Before we allow a caller to act on an account, we may request the following information:
• Authorization to act on the account (as the account owner or by legal documentation or other means).
• Account registration and address.
• Fund name and account number, if applicable.
• Other information relating to the caller, the account owner, or the account.
Good Order
We reserve the right to reject any transaction instructions that are not in “good order.” Good order generally means that your instructions:
• Are provided by the person(s) authorized in accordance with Vanguard’s policies and procedures to access the account and request transactions.
• Include the fund name and account number.
• Include the amount of the transaction (stated in dollars, shares, or percentage).
Written instructions also must generally be provided on a Vanguard form and include:
• Signature(s) and date from the authorized person(s).
• Signature guarantees or notarized signatures, if required for the type of transaction. (Call Vanguard for specific requirements.)
• Any supporting documentation that may be required.
Good order requirements may vary among types of accounts and transactions. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise the requirements for good order.
38
Future Trade-Date Requests
Vanguard does not accept requests to hold a purchase, conversion, redemption, or exchange transaction for a future date. All such requests will receive trade dates as previously described in Purchasing Shares, Converting Shares, Redeeming Shares, and Exchanging Shares. Vanguard reserves the right to return future-dated purchase checks.
Accounts With More Than One Owner
If an account has more than one owner or authorized person, Vanguard generally will accept instructions from any one owner or authorized person.
Responsibility for Fraud
You should take precautions to protect yourself from fraud. Keep your account-related information private, and review any account confirmations, statements, or other information that we provide to you as soon as you receive them. Let us know immediately if you discover unauthorized activity or see something on your account that you do not understand or that looks unusual.
Vanguard will not be responsible for losses that result from transactions by a person who we reasonably believe is authorized to act on your account.
Uncashed Checks
Please cash your distribution or redemption checks promptly. Vanguard will not pay interest on uncashed checks. Vanguard may be required to transfer assets related to uncashed checks to a state under the state’s abandoned property law.
Dormant Accounts
If your account has no activity in it for a period of time, Vanguard may be required to transfer it to a state under the state’s abandoned property law, subject to potential federal or state withholding taxes.
Unusual Circumstances
If you experience difficulty contacting Vanguard online or by telephone, you can send us your transaction request on a Vanguard form by regular or express mail.
Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms
You may purchase or sell shares of most Vanguard funds through a financial intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. Please consult your financial intermediary to determine which, if any, shares are available through that firm and to learn about other rules that may apply. Your financial
39
intermediary can provide you with account information and any required tax forms. You may be required to pay a commission on purchases of mutual fund shares made through a financial intermediary.
Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of any purchase or redemption fees and the monitoring of frequent trading for accounts held by intermediaries.
Account Service Fee
Vanguard may charge a $20 account service fee on fund accounts that have a balance below $10,000 for any reason, including market fluctuation. The account service fee may be applied to both retirement and nonretirement fund accounts and may be assessed on fund accounts in all Vanguard funds, regardless of the account minimum. The fee, which will be collected by redeeming fund shares in the amount of $20, will be deducted from fund accounts subject to the fee once per calendar year.
If you elect to receive your statements and other materials electronically (i.e., by e-delivery), the account service fee will not be charged, so long as your election remains in effect. You can make your e-delivery election on vanguard.com.
Beginning on January 1, 2021, you may elect to receive paper copies of shareholder reports free of charge as noted on the cover of this prospectus.
Certain account types have alternative fee structures, including SIMPLE IRAs, Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Low-Balance Accounts
The Fund reserves the right to liquidate a fund account whose balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. This liquidation policy applies to nonretirement fund accounts and accounts that are held through intermediaries. Any such liquidation will be preceded by written notice to the investor. Shares redeemed in accordance with this policy will be subject to applicable redemption fees.
Right to Change Policies
In addition to the rights expressly stated elsewhere in this prospectus, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to (1) alter, add, or discontinue any conditions of purchase (including eligibility requirements), redemption, exchange, conversion, service, or privilege at any time and (2) alter, impose, discontinue, or waive any purchase fee, redemption fee, account service fee, or other fee
40
charged to a shareholder or a group of shareholders. Changes may affect any or all investors. These actions will be taken when, at the sole discretion of Vanguard management, Vanguard believes they are in the best interest of a fund.
Account Restrictions
Vanguard reserves the right to: (1) redeem all or a portion of a fund/account to meet a legal obligation, including tax withholding, tax lien, garnishment order, or other obligation imposed on your account by a court or government agency; (2) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options in the case of threatening conduct or activity; (3) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options if Vanguard believes or suspects that not doing so could result in a suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal transaction; (4) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if it is required to do so by a court or government agency; (5) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if Vanguard believes that doing so will prevent fraud, financial exploitation or abuse, or to protect vulnerable investors; (6) freeze any account and/or suspend account services if Vanguard has received reasonable notice of a dispute regarding the assets in an account, including notice of a dispute between the registered or beneficial account owners; and (7) freeze any account and/or suspend account services upon initial notification to Vanguard of the death of an account owner.
Share Classes
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to change the eligibility requirements of its share classes, including the types of clients who are eligible to purchase each share class.
Fund and Account Updates
Confirmation Statements
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) a confirmation of your trade date and the amount of your transaction when you buy, sell, exchange, or convert shares. However, we will not send confirmations reflecting only checkwriting redemptions or the reinvestment of dividend or capital gains distributions. For any month in which you had a checkwriting redemption, a Checkwriting Activity Statement will be sent to you itemizing the checkwriting redemptions for that month. Promptly review each confirmation statement that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on a confirmation statement, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
41
Portfolio Summaries
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) quarterly portfolio summaries to help you keep track of your accounts throughout the year. Each summary shows the market value of your account at the close of the statement period, as well as all distributions, purchases, redemptions, exchanges, transfers, and conversions for the current calendar quarter (or month). Promptly review each summary that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on the summary, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Tax Information Statements
For most accounts, Vanguard (or your intermediary) is required to provide annual tax forms to assist you in preparing your income tax returns. These forms are generally available for each calendar year early in the following year. Registered users of vanguard.com can also view certain forms through our website. Vanguard (or your intermediary) may also provide you with additional tax-related documentation. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Annual and Semiannual Reports
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) reports about Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund twice a year, in June and December. These reports include overviews of the financial markets and provide the following specific Fund information:
• Performance assessments and comparisons with industry benchmarks.
• Financial statements with listings of Fund holdings.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Employer-Sponsored Plans
Your plan administrator or your employee benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how to participate in your plan and how to elect the Fund as an investment option.
• If you have any questions about the Fund or Vanguard, including those about the Fund’s investment objective, strategies, or risks, contact Vanguard Participant Services toll-free at 800-523-1188 or visit our website at vanguard.com.
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• If you have questions about your account, contact your plan administrator or the organization that provides recordkeeping services for your plan.
• Be sure to carefully read each topic that pertains to your transactions with Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right to change its policies without notice to shareholders.
Transactions
Processing times for your transaction requests may differ among recordkeepers or among transaction and funding types. Your plan’s recordkeeper (which may also be Vanguard) will determine the necessary processing time frames for your transaction requests prior to submission to the Fund. Consult your recordkeeper or plan administrator for more information.
If Vanguard is serving as your plan recordkeeper and if your transaction involves one or more investments with an early cut-off time for processing or another trading restriction, your entire transaction will be subject to the restriction when the trade date for your transaction is determined.
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Contacting Vanguard  
Web
 
Vanguard.com
For the most complete source of Vanguard news
For fund, account, and service information
For most account transactions
For literature requests
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
 
Phone
Vanguard Tele-Account®
800-662-6273
For automated fund and account information
Toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Investor Information 800-662-7447
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For fund and service information
For literature requests
Client Services 800-662-2739
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For account information
For most account transactions
Participant Services 800-523-1188
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For information and services for participants in
employer-sponsored plans
Institutional Division
888-809-8102
For information and services for large institutional
investors
Financial Advisor and Intermediary
Sales Support 800-997-2798
For information and services for financial intermediaries
including financial advisors, broker-dealers, trust
institutions, and insurance companies
Financial Advisory and Intermediary
Trading Support 800-669-0498
For account information and trading support for
financial intermediaries including financial advisors,
broker-dealers, trust institutions, and insurance
companies
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Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Newspaper
Abbreviation
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
International Dividend
Appreciation Index Fund
 
 
 
 
Admiral Shares
3/2/2016
VanIntDvAlAdm
515
921946844
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
“Dividend Achievers” is a trademark of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (collectively, with its affiliates, “NASDAQ OMX”) and has been licensed for use by The Vanguard Group, Inc. Vanguard mutual funds are not sponsored, endorsed, sold, or promoted by NASDAQ OMX and NASDAQ OMX makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in the funds. NASDAQ OMX MAKES NO WARRANTIES AND BEARS NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE VANGUARD FUNDS.
45
Glossary of Investment Terms
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Common Stock. A security representing ownership rights in a corporation.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund (or one of its share classes) are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Indexing. A low-cost investment strategy in which a mutual fund attempts to track—rather than outperform—a specified market benchmark, or “index.”
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Median Market Capitalization. An indicator of the size of companies in which a fund invests; the midpoint of market capitalization (market price x shares outstanding) of a fund's stocks, weighted by the proportion of the fund's assets invested in each stock. Stocks representing half of the fund's assets have market capitalizations above the median, and the rest are below it.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
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Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, a return of capital reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a mutual fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
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Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about the Fund or other Vanguard funds, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
If you are an individual investor:
Telephone: 800-662-7447; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a participant in an employer-sponsored plan:
Telephone: 800-523-1188; Text telephone for people
with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a current Vanguard shareholder and would like information about your account, account transactions, and/or account statements, please call:
Client Services Department
Telephone: 800-662-2739; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 2015 022021
 
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Exchange-traded fund shares that are not individually redeemable and are listed on Nasdaq
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares (VYMI)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
ETF Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of non-U.S. companies that are characterized by high dividend yield.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell ETF Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Transaction Fee on Purchases and Sales
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Transaction Fee on Reinvested Dividends
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Transaction Fee on Conversion to ETF Shares
None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.23%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.05%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.28%
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s ETF Shares with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund's shares. This example assumes that the shares provide a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to sell your shares at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$29
$90
$157
$356
1
This example does not include the brokerage commissions that you may pay to buy and sell ETF Shares of the Fund.
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 20% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index, which focuses on companies located in developed and emerging markets, excluding the United States, that are forecasted to have above-average dividend yields. The Fund invests by sampling the Index, meaning that it holds a broadly diversified collection of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the full Index in terms of key characteristics. These key characteristics include industry weightings and market capitalization, as well as certain financial measures, such as price/earnings ratio and dividend yield.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance:
•  Stock market risk , which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund’s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
•  Country/regional risk , which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located
2
in any one country or region, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Emerging markets risk , which is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
•  Currency risk , which is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Investment style risk , which is the chance that returns from dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Dividend-paying stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than the global markets in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
•  Index sampling risk , which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund's target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.
Because ETF Shares are traded on an exchange, they are subject to additional risks:
• The Fund’s ETF Shares are listed for trading on Nasdaq and are bought and sold on the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of an ETF Share typically will approximate its net asset value (NAV), there may be times when the market price and the NAV differ significantly. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy ETF Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares.
• Although the Fund’s ETF Shares are listed for trading on Nasdaq, it is possible that an active trading market may not be maintained.
• Trading of the Fund’s ETF Shares may be halted by the activation of individual or marketwide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). Trading of the Fund’s ETF Shares may also be halted if (1) the shares are delisted from Nasdaq without first being listed on another exchange or (2) Nasdaq officials determine that such action is appropriate in the interest of a fair and orderly market or for the protection of investors.
3
An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund’s ETF Shares (based on NAV) has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the ETF Shares compare with those of the Fund's target index, which has investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index returns are adjusted for withholding taxes applicable to U.S.-based mutual funds organized as Delaware statutory trusts. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
18.55%
December 31, 2020
Lowest
-28.26%
March 31, 2020
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Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
Since
Inception
(Feb. 25,
2016)
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
ETF Shares
 
 
Based on NAV
 
 
Return Before Taxes
–0.65%
8.10%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
–1.50
7.12
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
0.09
6.24
Based on Market Price
 
 
Return Before Taxes
–1.06
8.06
FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
–0.65
8.55
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Portfolio Managers
Justin E. Hales, CFA, CFP, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016.
Michael Perre, Principal of Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
ETF Shares may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a brokerage firm. The price you pay or receive for ETF Shares will be the prevailing market price, which may be more (premium) or less (discount) than the NAV of
5
the shares. The brokerage firm may charge you a commission to execute the transaction. Unless imposed by your brokerage firm, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest and no minimum number of shares you must buy. ETF Shares of the Fund cannot be directly purchased from or redeemed with the Fund, except by certain authorized broker-dealers. These broker-dealers may purchase and redeem ETF Shares only in large blocks (Creation Units), typically in exchange for baskets of securities.
 
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (bid-ask spread). Recent information, including information on the Fund's NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available online at www.vanguard.com.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisor do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
6
Investing in Vanguard ETF® Shares
What Are Vanguard ETF Shares?
Vanguard ETF Shares are an exchange-traded class of shares issued by certain Vanguard funds. ETF Shares represent an interest in the portfolio of stocks or bonds held by the issuing fund. This prospectus describes Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF, a class of shares issued by Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund. In addition to ETF Shares, the Fund offers one conventional (not exchange-traded) class of shares. This prospectus, however, relates only to ETF Shares.
How Are Vanguard ETF Shares Different From Conventional Mutual Fund Shares?
Conventional mutual fund shares can be directly purchased from and redeemed with the issuing fund for cash at the net asset value (NAV), typically calculated once a day. ETF Shares, by contrast, cannot be purchased directly from or redeemed directly with the issuing fund by an individual investor. Rather, ETF Shares can only be purchased or redeemed directly from the issuing fund by certain authorized broker-dealers. These broker-dealers may purchase and redeem ETF Shares only in large blocks (Creation Units), usually in exchange for baskets of securities and not for cash (although some funds issue and redeem Creation Units in exchange for cash or a combination of cash and securities).
An organized secondary trading market is expected to exist for ETF Shares, unlike conventional mutual fund shares, because ETF Shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange. Individual investors can purchase and sell ETF Shares on the secondary market through a broker. Secondary-market transactions occur not at NAV, but at market prices that are subject to change throughout the day based on the supply of and demand for ETF Shares, changes in the prices of the fund’s portfolio holdings, and other factors.
The market price of a fund's ETF Shares typically will differ somewhat from the NAV of those shares. The difference between market price and NAV is expected to be small most of the time, but in times of market disruption or extreme market volatility, the difference may become significant.
How Do I Buy and Sell Vanguard ETF Shares?
ETF Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on Nasdaq. You can buy and sell ETF Shares on the secondary market in the same way you buy and sell any other exchange-traded security—through a broker. Your broker may charge a commission to execute a transaction. You will also incur the cost of the “bid-ask spread,” which is the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market. Because secondary-market transactions occur at market prices, you may pay
7
more (premium) or less (discount) than NAV when you buy ETF Shares and receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. In times of severe market disruption, the bid-ask spread and premiums/discounts can increase significantly. Unless imposed by your broker, there is no minimum dollar amount you must invest and no minimum number of ETF Shares you must buy.
Your ownership of ETF Shares will be shown on the records of the broker through which you hold the shares. Vanguard will not have any record of your ownership. Your account information will be maintained by your broker, which will provide you with account statements, confirmations of your purchases and sales of ETF Shares, and tax information. Your broker also will be responsible for ensuring that you receive income and capital gains distributions, as well as shareholder reports and other communications from the fund whose ETF Shares you own. You will receive other services (e.g., dividend reinvestment and average cost information) only if your broker offers these services.
8
Investing in Index Funds
What Is Indexing?
Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or “index.” An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets—such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments—such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. One cannot invest directly in an index.
The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index and the weighting of each security in the index. Under normal circumstances, the index sponsor will rebalance an index on a regular schedule. An index sponsor may carry out additional ad hoc index rebalances or delay or cancel a scheduled rebalance. Generally, the index sponsor does not provide any warranty, or accept any liability, with respect to the quality, accuracy, or completeness of either the target index or its related data. Errors made by the index sponsor may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index sponsor for a period of time or at all. Vanguard does not provide any warranty or guarantee against such errors. Therefore, the gains, losses, or costs associated with the index sponsor’s errors will generally be borne by the index fund and its shareholders.
An index fund seeks to hold all, or a representative sample, of the securities that make up its target index. Index funds attempt to mirror the performance of the target index, for better or worse. However, an index fund generally does not perform exactly like its target index. For example, index funds have operating expenses and transaction costs. Market indexes do not, and therefore they will usually have a slight performance advantage over funds that track them. The ability of an index fund to match its performance to that of its target index can also be impacted by, among other things, the timing and size of cash flows and the size of the fund. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could also have an adverse effect on a fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the index.
Index funds typically have the following characteristics:
•  Variety of investments . Depending on a fund’s benchmark index, the fund may invest in the securities of a variety of companies, industries, and/or governments or government agencies.
•  Relative performance consistency . Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
•  Low cost . Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity—and thus brokerage commissions and other transaction costs—to a minimum compared with actively managed funds.
9
More on the Fund and ETF Shares
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.
Share Class Overview
This prospectus offers the Fund’s ETF Shares, an exchange-traded class of shares. A separate prospectus offers the Fund’s Admiral™ Shares, which generally have an investment minimum of $3,000.
Both share classes offered by the Fund have the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. However, different share classes have different expenses; as a result, their investment returns will differ.
A Note to Investors
Vanguard ETF Shares can be purchased directly from the issuing Fund only by certain authorized broker-dealers in exchange for a basket of securities (or, in some cases, for cash or a combination of cash and securities). Individual investors generally will not be able to purchase ETF Shares directly from the Fund. Instead, these investors will purchase ETF Shares on the secondary market through a broker.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are deducted
from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the net assets
of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated in the Fees
and Expenses section, Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
ETF Shares’ expense ratio would be 0.28%, or $2.80 per $1,000 of average
net assets. The average expense ratio for international equity income funds
in 2019 was 1.25%, or $12.50 per $1,000 of average net assets (derived
from data provided by Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company, which reports on
the fund industry).
 
10
Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing an ETF. That is because
you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of operating a
fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or sells
securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross income
or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small differences
in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund's board of trustees, which oversees the Fund's management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund’s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in the stocks that make up its target index. The Fund may change its 80% policy only upon 60 days' notice to shareholders.
Market Exposure
The Fund invests mainly in stocks of companies located in developed and emerging markets outside of the United States that are characterized by high dividend yields relative to global stock markets. Stocks purchased by the Fund are expected to pay high dividends and may also have the potential for long-term capital appreciation.
   
The Fund is subject to stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund‘s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the Fund‘s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
11
   
The Fund is subject to country/regional risk and currency risk. Country/regional risk is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the Fund‘s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Currency risk is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Country/regional risk and currency risk are especially high in emerging markets.
   
The Fund is subject to emerging markets risk, which is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
 
Plain Talk About International Investing
U.S. investors who invest in foreign securities will encounter risks not
typically associated with U.S. companies because foreign stock and bond
markets operate differently from the U.S. markets. For instance, foreign
companies and governments may not be subject to the same or similar
accounting, auditing, legal, tax, and financial reporting standards and
practices as U.S. companies and the U.S. government, and their stocks and
bonds may not be as liquid as those of similar U.S. entities. In addition,
foreign stock exchanges, brokers, companies, bond markets, and dealers
may be subject to less government supervision and regulation than their
counterparts in the United States. These factors, among others, could
negatively affect the returns U.S. investors receive from foreign investments.
   
The Fund is subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Dividend-paying stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse— than the global markets in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
12
Security Selection
The Fund attempts to track the investment performance of the FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index, which consists of companies whose common stocks are characterized by high dividend yields relative to global stock markets. The FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index is maintained by FTSE Group (FTSE), a widely known global index provider.
 
The Fund uses a sampling method of indexing, meaning that the Fund’s advisor, using computer programs, generally selects from the target index a representative sample of securities that will resemble the target index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. These include industry weightings, market capitalization, and other financial characteristics of stocks.
   
The Fund is subject to index sampling risk, which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund’s target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.
Depositary receipts. The Fund, in most cases, will obtain economic exposure to stocks of its target index (component securities) by investing directly in the component securities. However, the Fund reserves the right to obtain economic exposure to component securities indirectly by purchasing depositary receipts (also sold as participatory notes) of the component securities. Depositary receipts are securities that are listed on exchanges or quoted in over-the-counter markets in one country but represent shares of issuers domiciled in another country. Generally, the Fund will hold depositary receipts only when the advisor believes that the Fund would benefit from holding the depositary receipt, rather than the underlying component security. For example, the Fund might opt to hold depositary receipts if the foreign market in which a stock trades does not provide adequate protection to the rights of foreign investors or if government regulators place restrictions on the free flow of capital or currency. The Fund treats depositary receipts that represent interests in component securities as component securities for purposes of any requirements related to the percentage of component securities held in the Fund’s portfolio.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the index it currently tracks if the current index is discontinued, if the Fund's agreement with the sponsor of its target index is terminated, or for any other reason determined in good faith by the Fund’s board of trustees. In any such instance, the substitute index would represent the same market segment as the current index.
13
To track its target index as closely as possible, the Fund attempts to remain fully invested in stocks. To help stay fully invested and to reduce transaction costs, the Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives, including equity futures. The Fund may also use derivatives such as total return swaps to obtain exposure to a stock, a basket of stocks, or an index. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. Investments in derivatives may subject the Fund to risks different from, and possibly greater than, those of investments directly in the underlying securities or assets. The Fund will not use derivatives for speculation or for the purpose of leveraging (magnifying) investment returns.
The Fund may enter into foreign currency exchange forward contracts, which are a type of derivative, in order to maintain the same currency exposure as its index. A foreign currency exchange forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell a currency at a specific price on a specific date, usually 30, 60, or 90 days in the future. In other words, the contract guarantees an exchange rate on a given date. These contracts, however, would not prevent the Fund’s securities from falling in value as a result of risks other than unfavorable currency exchange movements. The Fund may use these contracts to gain currency exposure when investing in equity futures and to settle trades in a foreign currency.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Redemptions of ETF Shares are typically met through a combination of cash and securities held by the Fund; see “How Are Vanguard ETF Shares Different From Conventional Mutual Fund Shares?” If cash is used to meet redemptions, the Fund typically obtains such cash through positive cash flows or the sale of Fund holdings consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and strategy. Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information for further information on redemptions of ETF Shares.
14
Under certain circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when the advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund's best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund's investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund's investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case when the Fund receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
Special Risks of Exchange-Traded Shares
   
ETF Shares are not individually redeemable. They can be redeemed with the issuing Fund at NAV only by certain authorized broker-dealers and only in large blocks known as Creation Units. Consequently, if you want to liquidate some or all of your ETF Shares, you must sell them on the secondary market at prevailing market prices.
   
The market price of ETF Shares may differ from NAV. Although it is expected that the market price of an ETF Share typically will approximate its NAV, there may be times when the market price and the NAV differ significantly. Thus, you may pay more (premium) or less (discount) than NAV when you buy ETF Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. These discounts and premiums are likely to be greatest during times of market disruption or extreme market volatility.
Vanguard’s website at vanguard.com shows the previous day’s closing NAV and closing market price for the Fund’s ETF Shares. The website also discloses, in the Premium/Discount Analysis section of the ETF Shares’ Price & Performance page, how frequently the Fund’s ETF Shares traded at a premium or discount to NAV (based on closing NAVs and market prices) and the magnitudes of such premiums and discounts.
15
   
An active trading market may not exist. Although Vanguard ETF Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not be maintained. Although this could happen at any time, it is more likely to occur during times of severe market disruption. If you attempt to sell your ETF Shares when an active trading market is not functioning, you may have to sell at a significant discount to NAV. In extreme cases, you may not be able to sell your shares at all.
   
Trading may be halted. Trading of Vanguard ETF Shares on an exchange may be halted by the activation of individual or marketwide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). Trading of ETF Shares may also be halted if (1) the shares are delisted from the listing exchange without first being listed on another exchange or (2) exchange officials determine that such action is appropriate in the interest of a fair and orderly market or for the protection of investors.
Conversion Privilege
Owners of conventional shares issued by the Fund may convert those shares to ETF Shares of equivalent value of the same fund. Please note that investors who own conventional shares through a 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored retirement or benefit plan generally may not convert those shares to ETF Shares and should check with their plan sponsor or recordkeeper. ETF Shares, whether acquired through a conversion or purchased on the secondary market, cannot be converted to conventional shares by a shareholder. Also, ETF Shares of one fund cannot be exchanged for ETF Shares of another fund.
You must hold ETF Shares in a brokerage account. Thus, before converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, you must have an existing, or open a new, brokerage account. This account may be with Vanguard Brokerage Services® or with any other brokerage firm. To initiate a conversion of conventional shares to ETF Shares, please contact your broker.
Vanguard Brokerage Services does not impose a fee on conversions from Vanguard conventional shares to Vanguard ETF Shares. However, other brokerage firms may charge a fee to process a conversion. Vanguard reserves the right, in the future, to impose a transaction fee on conversions or to limit, temporarily suspend, or terminate the conversion privilege.
Converting conventional shares to ETF Shares is generally accomplished as follows. First, after your broker notifies Vanguard of your request to convert, Vanguard will transfer your conventional shares from your account to the broker’s omnibus account with Vanguard (an account maintained by the broker on behalf of all its customers who hold conventional Vanguard fund shares
16
through the broker). After the transfer, Vanguard’s records will reflect your broker, not you, as the owner of the shares. Next, your broker will instruct Vanguard to convert the appropriate number or dollar amount of conventional shares in its omnibus account to ETF Shares of equivalent value, based on the respective NAVs of the two share classes.
Your Fund’s transfer agent will reflect ownership of all ETF Shares in the name of the Depository Trust Company (DTC). The DTC will keep track of which ETF Shares belong to your broker, and your broker, in turn, will keep track of which ETF Shares belong to you.
Because the DTC is unable to handle fractional shares, only whole shares can be converted. For example, if you owned 300.25 conventional shares, and this was equivalent in value to 90.75 ETF Shares, the DTC account would receive 90 ETF Shares. Conventional shares with a value equal to 0.75 ETF Shares (in this example, that would be 2.481 conventional shares) would remain in the broker’s omnibus account with Vanguard. Your broker then could either (1) credit your account with 0.75 ETF Shares or (2) redeem the 2.481 conventional shares for cash at NAV and deliver that cash to your account. If your broker chose to redeem your conventional shares, you would realize a gain or loss on the redemption that must be reported on your tax return (unless you hold the shares in an IRA or other tax-deferred account). Please consult your broker for information on how it will handle the conversion process, including whether it will impose a fee to process a conversion.
If you convert your conventional shares to ETF Shares through Vanguard Brokerage Services, all conventional shares for which you request conversion will be converted to ETF Shares of equivalent value. Because no fractional shares will have to be sold, the transaction will not be taxable.
Here are some important points to keep in mind when converting conventional shares of a Vanguard fund to ETF Shares:
• The conversion process can take anywhere from several days to several weeks, depending on your broker. Vanguard generally will process conversion requests either on the day they are received or on the next business day. Vanguard imposes conversion blackout windows around the dates when a fund with ETF Shares declares dividends. This is necessary to prevent a shareholder from collecting a dividend from both the conventional share class currently held and also from the ETF share class to which the shares will be converted.
• Until the conversion process is complete, you will remain fully invested in a fund’s conventional shares, and your investment will increase or decrease in value in tandem with the NAV of those shares.
17
• The conversion transaction is nontaxable except, if applicable, to the very limited extent previously described.
A precautionary note to investment companies: Vanguard ETF Shares are issued by registered investment companies, and therefore the acquisition of such shares by other investment companies is subject to the restrictions of Section 12(d)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Vanguard has obtained an SEC exemptive order that allows registered investment companies to invest in the issuing funds beyond the limits of Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions, including the requirement to enter into a participation agreement with Vanguard.
Frequent Trading and Market-Timing
Unlike frequent trading of a Vanguard fund’s conventional (i.e., not exchange-traded) classes of shares, frequent trading of ETF Shares does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. The vast majority of trading in ETF Shares occurs on the secondary market. Because these trades do not involve the issuing fund, they do not harm the fund or its shareholders. Certain broker-dealers are authorized to purchase and redeem ETF Shares directly with the issuing fund. Because these trades typically are effected in kind (i.e., for securities and not for cash), or are assessed a transaction fee when effected in cash, they do not cause any of the harmful effects to the issuing fund (as previously noted) that may result from frequent trading. For these reasons, the board of trustees of each fund that issues ETF Shares has determined that it is not necessary to adopt policies and procedures to detect and deter frequent trading and market-timing of ETF Shares.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. Generally, an index fund sells securities in response to redemption requests from shareholders of conventional (not exchange-traded) shares or to changes in the composition of its target index. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds
18
with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc., P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482, which began operations in 1975, serves as advisor to the Fund through its Equity Index Group. As of October 31, 2020, Vanguard served as advisor for approximately $5.2 trillion in assets. Vanguard provides investment advisory services to the Fund pursuant to the Funds’ Service Agreement and subject to the supervision and oversight of the trustees and officers of the Fund.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the advisory expenses represented an effective annual rate of 0.02% of the Fund’s average net assets.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an
19
additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory arrangement, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
The managers primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund are:
Justin E. Hales, CFA, CFP, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has been with Vanguard since 2004, has worked in investment management since 2006, has managed investment portfolios since 2014, and has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016. Education: B.A., University of Maryland.
Michael Perre, Principal of Vanguard. He has been with Vanguard since 1990, has managed investment portfolios since 1999, and has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016. Education: B.A., Saint Joseph’s University; M.B.A., Villanova University.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest and dividends, less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income dividends generally are distributed quarterly in March, June, September, and December;
20
capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.  
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest and dividends as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of
investments. Income consists of both the dividends that the fund earns from
any stock holdings and the interest it receives from any money market and
bond investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells
securities for higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are
either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the
securities for one year or less or for more than one year.
Reinvestment of Distributions
In order to reinvest dividend and capital gains distributions, investors in the Fund's ETF Shares must hold their shares at a broker that offers a reinvestment service. This can be the broker’s own service or a service made available by a third party, such as the broker’s outside clearing firm or the DTC. If a reinvestment service is available, distributions of income and capital gains can automatically be reinvested in additional whole and fractional ETF Shares of the Fund. If a reinvestment service is not available, investors will receive their distributions in cash. To determine whether a reinvestment service is available and whether there is a commission or other charge for using this service, consult your broker.
As with all exchange-traded funds, reinvestment of dividend and capital gains distributions in additional ETF Shares will occur four business days or more after the ex-dividend date (the date when a distribution of dividends or capital gains is deducted from the price of the Fund’s shares). The exact number of days depends on your broker. During that time, the amount of your distribution will not be invested in the Fund and therefore will not share in the Fund’s income, gains, and losses.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional ETF Shares.
21
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income. If you are an individual and meet certain holding-period requirements with respect to your ETF Shares, you may be eligible for reduced tax rates on “qualified dividend income,” if any, or a special tax deduction on “qualified REIT dividends,” if any, distributed by the Fund.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned ETF Shares.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund's normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling your ETF Shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale of ETF Shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale of ETF Shares.
Dividend distributions and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale of ETF Shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
The Fund may be subject to foreign taxes or foreign tax withholding on dividends, interest, and some capital gains that it receives on foreign securities. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so. You may qualify for an offsetting credit or deduction under U.S. tax laws for any
22
amount designated as your portion of the Fund’s foreign tax obligations, provided that you meet certain requirements. See your tax advisor or IRS publications for more information.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.
Share Price and Market Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. Each share class has its own NAV, which is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Remember: If you buy or sell ETF Shares on the secondary market, you will pay or receive the market price, which may be higher or lower than NAV. Your transaction will be priced at NAV only if you purchase or redeem your ETF Shares in Creation Unit blocks (an option available only to certain authorized broker-dealers) or if you convert your conventional fund shares to ETF Shares.
Stocks held by a Vanguard fund are valued at their market value when reliable market quotations are readily available from the principal exchange or market on which they are traded. Such securities are generally valued at their official closing price, the last reported sales price, or if there were no sales that day, the mean between the closing bid and asking prices. When a fund determines that market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
23
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund's pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign exchanges that close many hours before the fund's pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, merger announcement) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities.
Fair-value pricing may be used for domestic securities—for example, if (1) trading in a security is halted and does not resume before the fund's pricing time or a security does not trade in the course of a day and (2) the fund holds enough of the security that its price could affect the NAV.
Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard's website will show the previous day's closing NAV and closing market price for the Fund's ETF Shares.
24
Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
 
 
 
ETF Shares
2/25/2016
4430
921946794
Certain affiliates of the Fund and the advisor may purchase and resell ETF Shares pursuant to the prospectus.
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
25
Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.

26
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
Feb. 25,
20161 to
Oct. 31,
2016
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$61.27
$58.85
$65.69
$55.61
$50.00
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income2
2.076
2.746
2.639
2.329
1.323
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments3
(10.944)
2.302
(7.097)
9.763
5.305
Total from Investment Operations
(8.868)
5.048
(4.458)
12.092
6.628
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(1.932)
(2.628)
(2.382)
(2.012)
(1.018)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
—
—
—
—
—
Total Distributions
(1.932)
(2.628)
(2.382)
(2.012)
(1.018)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$50.47
$61.27
$58.85
$65.69
$55.61
Total Return
–14.55%
8.87%
–7.03%
22.03%
13.37%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$1,325
$1,264
$889
$598
$117
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets
0.28%4
0.27%
0.32%
0.32%
0.32%5,6
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net
Assets
3.81%
4.59%
4.06%
3.73%
3.65%5
Portfolio Turnover Rate7
20%
15%
10%
8%
6%
1
Inception.
2
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
3
Includes increases from purchase and redemption fees of of $.03 for 2020, $.01 for 2019, $.02 for 2018, and $.04 for 2017.
4
The ratio of expense to average net assets for the period net of reduction from custody fee offset arrangements was 0.27%.
5
Annualized.
6
The ratio of total expenses to average net assets before an expense reimbursement of 0.31% was 0.63%. The expense reimbursement was due to higher-than-anticipated custody costs associated with a higher volume of securities transactions, which included transactions from a rebalance of the benchmark index shortly after the Fund’s inception. The Fund is not obligated to repay this amount to Vanguard.
7
Excludes the value of portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of in-kind purchases or redemptions of the fund's capital shares, including ETF Creation Units.
27
 CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
London Stock Exchange Group companies include FTSE International Limited (“FTSE”), Frank Russell Company (“Russell”), MTS Next Limited (“MTS”), and FTSE TMX Global Debt Capital Markets Inc. (“FTSE TMX”). All rights reserved. “FTSE®”, “Russell®”, “MTS®“, “FTSE TMX®” and “FTSE Russell” and other service marks and trademarks related to the FTSE or Russell indexes are trademarks of the London Stock Exchange Group companies and are used by FTSE, MTS, FTSE TMX and Russell under license. All information is provided for information purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure that all information given in this publication is accurate, but no responsibility or liability can be accepted by the London Stock Exchange Group companies nor its licensors for any errors or for any loss from use of this publication. Neither the London Stock Exchange Group companies nor any of their licensors make any claim, prediction, warranty or representation whatsoever, expressly or impliedly, either as to the results to be obtained from the use of the Indices or the fitness or suitability of the Indices for any particular purpose to which they might be put. The London Stock Exchange Group companies do not provide investment advice and nothing in this document should be taken as constituting financial or investment advice. The London Stock Exchange Group companies make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in any asset. A decision to invest in any such asset should not be made in reliance on any information herein. Indexes cannot be invested in directly. Inclusion of an asset in an index is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold that asset. The general information contained in this publication should not be acted upon without obtaining specific legal, tax, and investment advice from a licensed professional. No part of this information may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the London Stock Exchange Group companies. Distribution of the London Stock Exchange Group companies’ index values and the use of their indexes to create financial products require a license with FTSE, FTSE TMX, MTS and/or Russell and/or its licensors.
28
Glossary of Investment Terms
Authorized Participant. Institutional investors that are permitted to purchase Creation Units directly from, and redeem Creation Units directly with, the issuing fund. To be an Authorized Participant, an entity must be a participant in the Depository Trust Company and must enter into an agreement with the fund’s Distributor.
Bid-Ask Spread. The difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase ETF Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for ETF Shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market.
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Common Stock. A security representing ownership rights in a corporation.
Creation Unit. A large block of a specified number of ETF Shares. Certain broker-dealers known as “Authorized Participants” may purchase and redeem ETF Shares from the issuing fund in Creation Unit size blocks.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Ex-Dividend Date. The date when a distribution of dividends and/or capital gains is deducted from the share price of a mutual fund, ETF, or stock. On the ex-dividend date, the share price drops by the amount of the distribution per share (plus or minus any market activity).
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund (or one of its share classes) are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Indexing. A low-cost investment strategy in which a fund attempts to track—rather than outperform—a specified market benchmark, or “index.”
29
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, a return of capital reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
 
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Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund's ETF Shares and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about Vanguard ETF Shares, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
Telephone: 866-499-8473; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-05972
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.U.S. Patent Nos. 6,879,964; 7,337,138; 7,720,749; 7,925,573; 8,090,646; and 8,417,623.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 4430 022021
 
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Prospectus
 February 26, 2021
Admiral™ Shares
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund Admiral Shares (VIHAX)
 See the inside front cover for important information about access to your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports.
 This prospectus contains financial data for the Fund through the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is
a criminal offense.
Important information about access to shareholder reports
Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the SEC, paper copies of your fund’s annual and semiannual shareholder reports will no longer be sent to you by mail, unless you specifically request them. Instead, you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted on the website and will be provided with a link to access the report.
If you have already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund electronically by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you invest directly with the fund, by calling Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or by logging on to vanguard.com.
You may elect to receive paper copies of all future shareholder reports free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact the intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies. If you invest directly with the fund, you can call Vanguard at one of the phone numbers on the back cover of this prospectus or log on to vanguard.com. Your election to receive paper copies will apply to all the funds you hold through an intermediary or directly with Vanguard.
Contents
 
Fund Summary
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of non-U.S. companies that are characterized by high dividend yield.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell Admiral Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)  
 
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases
None
Purchase Fee
0.25%
Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends
None
Redemption Fee
0.25%
Account Service Fee Per Year
(for certain fund account balances below $10,000)
$20
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)  
 
Management Fees
0.23%
12b-1 Distribution Fee
None
Other Expenses
0.05%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.28%
1
Examples
The following examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s Admiral Shares with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. They illustrate the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund’s shares. The first example assumes that the shares provide a return of 5% each year, that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table, and that you were to redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$80
$144
$213
$419
You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your investment (the difference being that the Fund’s 0.25% redemption fee would not apply to any of the following periods, as it would to those in the preceding example):  
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
$54
$115
$182
$380
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense examples, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 20% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index, which focuses on companies located in developed and emerging markets, excluding the United States, that are forecasted to have above-average dividend yields. The Fund invests by sampling the Index, meaning that it holds a broadly diversified collection of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the full Index in terms of key characteristics. These key characteristics include industry weightings and market capitalization, as well as certain financial measures, such as price/earnings ratio and dividend yield.
2
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance:
•  Stock market risk , which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund’s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the Fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
•  Country/regional risk , which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Emerging markets risk , which is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
•  Currency risk , which is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•  Investment style risk , which is the chance that returns from dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Dividend-paying stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than the global markets in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
•  Index sampling risk , which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund's target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.
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An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund‘s Admiral Shares (including annual fund operating expenses but excluding shareholder fees) has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. If applicable shareholder fees were reflected, returns would be less than those shown in the bar chart. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the Admiral Shares (including annual fund operating expenses and any applicable shareholder fees) compare with those of the Fund's target index, which has investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index returns are adjusted for withholding taxes applicable to U.S.-based mutual funds organized as Delaware statutory trusts. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund Admiral Shares
 
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest and lowest returns for a calendar quarter were:  
 
Total Return
Quarter
Highest
18.56%
December 31, 2020
Lowest
-28.28%
March 31, 2020
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Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2020  
 
1 Year
Since
Inception
(Mar. 2,
2016)
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Admiral Shares
 
 
Return Before Taxes
–1.20%
7.29%
Return After Taxes on Distributions
–2.04
6.32
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
–0.23
5.59
FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
–0.65%
7.82%
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Portfolio Managers
Justin E. Hales, CFA, CFP, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016.
Michael Perre, Principal of Vanguard. He has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016.
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Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for Admiral Shares is $3,000. The minimum investment amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility. If you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your plan administrator or your benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how you can invest through your plan.
Tax Information
The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The Fund and its investment advisor do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.
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Investing in Index Funds
What Is Indexing?
Indexing is an investment strategy for tracking the performance of a specified market benchmark, or “index.” An index is a group of securities whose overall performance is used as a standard to measure the investment performance of a particular market. There are many types of indexes. Some represent entire markets—such as the U.S. stock market or the U.S. bond market. Other indexes cover market segments—such as small-capitalization stocks or short-term bonds. One cannot invest directly in an index.
The index sponsor determines the securities to include in the index and the weighting of each security in the index. Under normal circumstances, the index sponsor will rebalance an index on a regular schedule. An index sponsor may carry out additional ad hoc index rebalances or delay or cancel a scheduled rebalance. Generally, the index sponsor does not provide any warranty, or accept any liability, with respect to the quality, accuracy, or completeness of either the target index or its related data. Errors made by the index sponsor may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index sponsor for a period of time or at all. Vanguard does not provide any warranty or guarantee against such errors. Therefore, the gains, losses, or costs associated with the index sponsor’s errors will generally be borne by the index fund and its shareholders.
An index fund seeks to hold all, or a representative sample, of the securities that make up its target index. Index funds attempt to mirror the performance of the target index, for better or worse. However, an index fund generally does not perform exactly like its target index. For example, index funds have operating expenses and transaction costs. Market indexes do not, and therefore they will usually have a slight performance advantage over funds that track them. The ability of an index fund to match its performance to that of its target index can also be impacted by, among other things, the timing and size of cash flows and the size of the fund. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could also have an adverse effect on a fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the index.
Index funds typically have the following characteristics:
•  Variety of investments . Depending on a fund’s benchmark index, the fund may invest in the securities of a variety of companies, industries, and/or governments or government agencies.
•  Relative performance consistency . Because they seek to track market benchmarks, index funds usually do not perform dramatically better or worse than their benchmarks.
•  Low cost . Index funds are generally inexpensive to run compared with actively managed funds. They have low or no research costs and typically keep trading activity—and thus brokerage commissions and other transaction costs—to a minimum compared with actively managed funds.
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More on the Fund
This prospectus describes the principal risks you would face as a Fund shareholder. It is important to keep in mind one of the main principles of investing: generally, the higher the risk of losing money, the higher the potential reward. The reverse, also, is generally true: the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. As you consider an investment in any mutual fund, you should take into account your personal tolerance for fluctuations in the securities markets. Look for this     symbol throughout the prospectus. It is used to mark detailed information about the more significant risks that you would confront as a Fund shareholder. To highlight terms and concepts important to mutual fund investors, we have provided Plain Talk® explanations along the way. Reading the prospectus will help you decide whether the Fund is the right investment for you. We suggest that you keep this prospectus for future reference.
Share Class Overview
This prospectus offers the Fund’s Admiral Shares. The Fund also issues ETF Shares (an exchange-traded class of shares), which are offered through a separate prospectus.
Both share classes offered by the Fund have the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. However, different share classes have different expenses; as a result, their investment returns will differ.  
Plain Talk About Fund Expenses
All mutual funds have operating expenses. These expenses, which are
deducted from a fund’s gross income, are expressed as a percentage of the
net assets of the fund. Assuming that operating expenses remain as stated
in the Fees and Expenses section, Vanguard International High Dividend Yield
Index Fund Admiral Shares’ expense ratio would be 0.28 %, or $2.80 per
$1,000 of average net assets. The average expense ratio for international
equity income funds in 2019 was 1.25%, or $12.50 per $1,000 of average
net assets (derived from data provided by Lipper, a Thomson Reuters
Company, which reports on the mutual fund industry).
 
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Plain Talk About Costs of Investing
Costs are an important consideration in choosing a mutual fund. That is
because you, as a shareholder, pay a proportionate share of the costs of
operating a fund and any transaction costs incurred when the fund buys or
sells securities. These costs can erode a substantial portion of the gross
income or the capital appreciation a fund achieves. Even seemingly small
differences in expenses can, over time, have a dramatic effect on a
fund’s performance.
The following sections explain the principal investment strategies and policies that the Fund uses in pursuit of its investment objective. The Fund's board of trustees, which oversees the Fund's management, may change investment strategies or policies in the interest of shareholders without a shareholder vote, unless those strategies or policies are designated as fundamental. Note that the Fund’s investment objective is not fundamental and may be changed without a shareholder vote. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in the stocks that make up its target index. The Fund may change its 80% policy only upon 60 days‘ notice to shareholders.
Market Exposure
The Fund invests mainly in stocks of companies located in developed and emerging markets outside of the United States that are characterized by high dividend yields relative to global stock markets. Stocks purchased by the Fund are expected to pay high dividends and may also have the potential for long-term capital appreciation.
   
The Fund is subject to stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The Fund‘s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the Fund‘s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
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The Fund is subject to country/regional risk and currency risk. Country/regional risk is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the Fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the Fund‘s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Currency risk is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Country/regional risk and currency risk are especially high in emerging markets.
   
The Fund is subject to emerging markets risk, which is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
 
Plain Talk About International Investing
U.S. investors who invest in foreign securities will encounter risks not
typically associated with U.S. companies because foreign stock and bond
markets operate differently from the U.S. markets. For instance, foreign
companies and governments may not be subject to the same or similar
accounting, auditing, legal, tax, and financial reporting standards and
practices as U.S. companies and the U.S. government, and their stocks and
bonds may not be as liquid as those of similar U.S. entities. In addition,
foreign stock exchanges, brokers, companies, bond markets, and dealers
may be subject to less government supervision and regulation than their
counterparts in the United States. These factors, among others, could
negatively affect the returns U.S. investors receive from foreign investments.
   
The Fund is subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from dividend-paying stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Dividend-paying stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse— than the global markets in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years.
Market disruptions can adversely affect local and global markets as well as normal market conditions and operations. Any such disruptions could have an adverse impact on the value of the Fund's investments and Fund performance.
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Security Selection
The Fund attempts to track the investment performance of the FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index, which consists of companies whose common stocks are characterized by high dividend yields relative to global stock markets. The FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index is maintained by FTSE Group (FTSE), a widely known global index provider.
 
The Fund uses a sampling method of indexing, meaning that the Fund’s advisor, using computer programs, generally selects from the target index a representative sample of securities that will resemble the target index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. These include industry weightings, market capitalization, and other financial characteristics of stocks.
   
The Fund is subject to index sampling risk, which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund's target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.
Depositary receipts. The Fund, in most cases, will obtain economic exposure to stocks of its target index (component securities) by investing directly in the component securities. However, the Fund reserves the right to obtain economic exposure to component securities indirectly by purchasing depositary receipts (also sold as participatory notes) of the component securities. Depositary receipts are securities that are listed on exchanges or quoted in over-the-counter markets in one country but represent shares of issuers domiciled in another country. Generally, the Fund will hold depositary receipts only when the advisor believes that the Fund would benefit from holding the depositary receipt, rather than the underlying component security. For example, the Fund might opt to hold depositary receipts if the foreign market in which a stock trades does not provide adequate protection to the rights of foreign investors or if government regulators place restrictions on the free flow of capital or currency. The Fund treats depositary receipts that represent interests in component securities as component securities for purposes of any requirements related to the percentage of component securities held in the Fund’s portfolio.
Other Investment Policies and Risks
The Fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the index it currently tracks if the current index is discontinued, if the Fund‘s agreement with the sponsor of its target index is terminated, or for any other reason determined in good faith by the Fund’s board of trustees. In any such instance, the substitute index would represent the same market segment as the current index.
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To track its target index as closely as possible, the Fund attempts to remain fully invested in stocks. To help stay fully invested and to reduce transaction costs, the Fund may invest, to a limited extent, in derivatives, including equity futures. The Fund may also use derivatives such as total return swaps to obtain exposure to a stock, a basket of stocks, or an index. Generally speaking, a derivative is a financial contract whose value is based on the value of a financial asset (such as a stock, a bond, or a currency), a physical asset (such as gold, oil, or wheat), a market index, or a reference rate. Investments in derivatives may subject the Fund to risks different from, and possibly greater than, those of investments directly in the underlying securities or assets. The Fund will not use derivatives for speculation or for the purpose of leveraging (magnifying) investment returns.
The Fund may enter into foreign currency exchange forward contracts, which are a type of derivative, in order to maintain the same currency exposure as its index. A foreign currency exchange forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell a currency at a specific price on a specific date, usually 30, 60, or 90 days in the future. In other words, the contract guarantees an exchange rate on a given date. These contracts, however, would not prevent the Fund’s securities from falling in value as a result of risks other than unfavorable currency exchange movements. The Fund may use these contracts to gain currency exposure when investing in equity futures and to settle trades in a foreign currency.
Cash Management
The Fund's daily cash balance may be invested in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and/or Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund (each, a CMT Fund), which are low-cost money market funds. When investing in a CMT Fund, the Fund bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the CMT Fund in which it invests. Vanguard receives no additional revenue from Fund assets invested in a CMT Fund.
Methods Used to Meet Redemption Requests
Under normal circumstances, the Fund typically expects to meet redemptions with positive cash flows. When this is not an option, the Fund seeks to maintain its risk exposure by selling a cross section of the Fund’s holdings to meet redemptions, while also factoring in transaction costs. Additionally, the Fund may work with larger clients to implement their redemptions in a manner that is least disruptive to the portfolio; see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section.
Under certain circumstances, including under stressed market conditions, there are additional tools that the Fund may use in order to meet redemptions, including advancing the settlement of market trades with counterparties to match investor redemption payments or delaying settlement of an investor’s
12
transaction to match trade settlement within regulatory requirements. The Fund may also suspend payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven days; see “Emergency circumstances” under Redeeming Shares in the Investing With Vanguard section. Additionally under these unusual circumstances, the Fund may borrow money (subject to certain regulatory conditions and if available under board-approved procedures) through an interfund lending facility; through a bank line-of-credit, including a joint committed credit facility; or through an uncommitted line-of-credit from Vanguard in order to meet redemption requests.
Temporary Investment Measures
The Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies when the advisor believes that doing so is in the Fund‘s best interest, so long as the strategy or policy employed is consistent with the Fund‘s investment objective. For instance, the Fund may invest beyond its normal limits in derivatives or exchange-traded funds that are consistent with the Fund‘s investment objective when those instruments are more favorably priced or provide needed liquidity, as might be the case when the Fund receives large cash flows that it cannot prudently invest immediately.
Purchase and Redemption Fees
The Fund charges a 0.25% fee on all purchases of its shares, including shares that you purchase by exchange from another Vanguard fund. In addition, the Fund charges a 0.25% fee on redemptions of its shares. The fee applies if you redeem shares by selling or by exchanging to another Vanguard fund or if Vanguard liquidates your Fund account because the balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation.
 
Unlike a sales charge or a load paid to a broker or a fund management company, purchase and redemption fees are paid directly to the Fund to offset the costs of buying and selling securities.
 See Investing With Vanguard for more information about fees.
Frequent Trading or Market-Timing
Background. Some investors try to profit from strategies involving frequent trading of mutual fund shares, such as market-timing. For funds holding foreign securities, investors may try to take advantage of an anticipated difference between the price of the fund’s shares and price movements in overseas markets, a practice also known as time-zone arbitrage. Investors also may try to engage in frequent trading of funds holding investments such as small-cap stocks and high-yield bonds. As money is shifted into and out of a fund by a shareholder engaging in frequent trading, the fund incurs costs for buying and
13
selling securities, resulting in increased brokerage and administrative costs. These costs are borne by all fund shareholders, including the long-term investors who do not generate the costs. In addition, frequent trading may interfere with an advisor’s ability to efficiently manage the fund.
Policies to address frequent trading. The Vanguard funds (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) do not knowingly accommodate frequent trading. The board of trustees of each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) has adopted policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and discourage frequent trading and, in some cases, to compensate the fund for the costs associated with it. These policies and procedures do not apply to ETF Shares because frequent trading in ETF Shares generally does not disrupt portfolio management or otherwise harm fund shareholders. Although there is no assurance that Vanguard will be able to detect or prevent frequent trading or market-timing in all circumstances, the following policies have been adopted to address these issues:
• Each Vanguard fund reserves the right to reject any purchase request—including exchanges from other Vanguard funds—without notice and regardless of size. For example, a purchase request could be rejected because the investor has a history of frequent trading or if Vanguard determines that such purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
• Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) generally prohibits, except as otherwise noted in the Investing With Vanguard section, an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account.
• Certain Vanguard funds charge shareholders purchase and/or redemption fees on transactions.
See the Investing With Vanguard section of this prospectus for further details on Vanguard’s transaction policies.
Each Vanguard fund (other than retail and government money market funds), in determining its net asset value, will use fair-value pricing when appropriate, as described in the Share Price section. Fair-value pricing may reduce or eliminate the profitability of certain frequent-trading strategies.
Do not invest with Vanguard if you are a market-timer.
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Turnover Rate
Although the Fund generally seeks to invest for the long term, it may sell securities regardless of how long they have been held. Generally, an index fund sells securities in response to redemption requests from shareholders of conventional (not exchange-traded) shares or to changes in the composition of its target index. The Financial Highlights section of this prospectus shows historical turnover rates for the Fund. A turnover rate of 100%, for example, would mean that the Fund had sold and replaced securities valued at 100% of its net assets within a one-year period. In general, the greater the turnover rate, the greater the impact transaction costs will have on a fund’s return. Also, funds with high turnover rates may be more likely to generate capital gains, including short-term capital gains, that must be distributed to shareholders and will be taxable to shareholders investing through a taxable account.
The Fund and Vanguard
The Fund is a member of The Vanguard Group, a family of over 200 funds. All of the funds that are members of The Vanguard Group (other than funds of funds) share in the expenses associated with administrative services and business operations, such as personnel, office space, and equipment.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation provides marketing services to the funds. Although fund shareholders do not pay sales commissions or 12b-1 distribution fees, each fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of the Vanguard funds’ marketing costs.  
Plain Talk About Vanguard’s Unique Corporate Structure
The Vanguard Group is owned jointly by the funds it oversees and thus
indirectly by the shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are
operated by management companies that are owned by third parties—either
public or private stockholders—and not by the funds they serve.
Investment Advisor
The Vanguard Group, Inc., P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482, which began operations in 1975, serves as advisor to the Fund through its Equity Index Group. As of October 31, 2020, Vanguard served as advisor for approximately
15
$5.2 trillion in assets. Vanguard provides investment advisory services to the Fund pursuant to the Funds’ Service Agreement and subject to the supervision and oversight of the trustees and officers of the Fund.
For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, the advisory expenses represented an effective annual rate of 0.02% of the Fund’s average net assets.
Under the terms of an SEC exemption, the Fund's board of trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, change the terms of an advisory agreement with a third-party investment advisor or hire a new third-party investment advisor—either as a replacement for an existing advisor or as an additional advisor. Any significant change in the Fund's advisory arrangements will be communicated to shareholders in writing. As the Fund's sponsor and overall manager, Vanguard may provide investment advisory services to the Fund at any time. Vanguard may also recommend to the board of trustees that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised. The Fund has filed an application seeking a similar SEC exemption with respect to investment advisors that are wholly owned subsidiaries of Vanguard. If the exemption is granted, the Fund may rely on the new SEC relief.
For a discussion of why the board of trustees approved the Fund's investment advisory arrangement, see the most recent semiannual report to shareholders covering the fiscal period ended April 30.
The managers primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund are:
Justin E. Hales, CFA, CFP, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has been with Vanguard since 2004, has worked in investment management since 2006, has managed investment portfolios since 2014, and has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016. Education: B.A., University of Maryland.
Michael Perre, Principal of Vanguard. He has been with Vanguard since 1990, has managed investment portfolios since 1999, and has co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2016. Education: B.A., Saint Joseph’s University; M.B.A., Villanova University.
The Fund's Statement of Additional Information provides information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts under management, and ownership of shares of the Fund.
16
Dividends, Capital Gains, and Taxes
Fund Distributions
The Fund distributes to shareholders virtually all of its net income (interest and dividends, less expenses) as well as any net short-term or long-term capital gains realized from the sale of its holdings. From time to time, the Fund may also make distributions that are treated as a return of capital. Income dividends generally are distributed quarterly in March, June, September, and December; capital gains distributions, if any, generally occur annually in December. In addition, the Fund may occasionally make a supplemental distribution at some other time during the year.
You can receive distributions of income or capital gains in cash, or you can have them automatically reinvested in more shares of the Fund. However, if you are investing through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, your distributions will be automatically reinvested in additional Fund shares.  
Plain Talk About Distributions
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your portion of a fund’s income from
interest and dividends as well as capital gains from the fund’s sale of
investments. Income consists of both the dividends that the fund earns from
any stock holdings and the interest it receives from any money market and
bond investments. Capital gains are realized whenever the fund sells
securities for higher prices than it paid for them. These capital gains are
either short-term or long-term, depending on whether the fund held the
securities for one year or less or for more than one year.
Basic Tax Points
Investors in taxable accounts should be aware of the following basic federal income tax points:
• Distributions are taxable to you whether or not you reinvest these amounts in additional Fund shares.
• Distributions declared in December—if paid to you by the end of January—are taxable as if received in December.
• Any dividend distribution or short-term capital gains distribution that you receive is taxable to you as ordinary income. If you are an individual and meet certain holding-period requirements with respect to your Fund shares, you may
17
be eligible for reduced tax rates on “qualified dividend income,” if any, or a special tax deduction on “qualified REIT dividends,” if any, distributed by the Fund.
• Any distribution of net long-term capital gains is taxable to you as long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned shares in the Fund.
• Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of the Fund's normal investment activities and cash flows.
• Your cost basis in the Fund will be decreased by the amount of any return of capital that you receive. This, in turn, will affect the amount of any capital gain or loss that you realize when selling or exchanging your Fund shares.
• Return of capital distributions generally are not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost basis is at zero, return of capital distributions will be treated as capital gains.
• A sale or exchange of Fund shares is a taxable event. This means that you may have a capital gain to report as income, or a capital loss to report as a deduction, when you complete your tax return.
• Any conversion between classes of shares of the same fund is a nontaxable event. By contrast, an exchange between classes of shares of different funds is a taxable event.
• Vanguard (or your intermediary) will send you a statement each year showing the tax status of all of your distributions.
Individuals, trusts, and estates whose income exceeds certain threshold amounts are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on “net investment income.” Net investment income takes into account distributions paid by the Fund and capital gains from any sale or exchange of Fund shares.
Dividend distributions and capital gains distributions that you receive, as well as your gains or losses from any sale or exchange of Fund shares, may be subject to state and local income taxes.
The Fund may be subject to foreign taxes or foreign tax withholding on dividends, interest, and some capital gains that it receives on foreign securities. If at the end of the taxable year more than 50% of the value of the Fund’s assets consists of securities of foreign corporations, and the Fund makes a special election, you will generally be required to include in your income, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, your share of the qualifying foreign income taxes paid by the Fund in respect of its foreign portfolio securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will make this election for a taxable year, even if it is eligible to do so. You may qualify for an offsetting credit or deduction under U.S. tax laws for any
18
amount designated as your portion of the Fund’s foreign tax obligations, provided that you meet certain requirements. See your tax advisor or IRS publications for more information.
This prospectus provides general tax information only. If you are investing through a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, special tax rules apply. Please consult your tax advisor for detailed information about any tax consequences for you.  
Plain Talk About Buying a Dividend
Unless you are a tax-exempt investor or investing through a tax-advantaged
account (such as an IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement or savings
plan), you should consider avoiding a purchase of fund shares shortly before
the fund makes a distribution, because doing so can cost you money in
taxes. This is known as “buying a dividend.” For example: On December 15,
you invest $5,000, buying 250 shares for $20 each. If the fund pays a
distribution of $1 per share on December 16, its share price will drop to $19
(not counting market change). You still have only $5,000 (250 shares x $19 =
$4,750 in share value, plus 250 shares x $1 = $250 in distributions), but you
owe tax on the $250 distribution you received—even if you reinvest it in
more shares. To avoid buying a dividend, check a fund’s distribution schedule
before you invest.
General Information
Backup withholding. By law, Vanguard must withhold 24% of any taxable distributions or redemptions from your account if you do not:
• Provide your correct taxpayer identification number.
• Certify that the taxpayer identification number is correct.
• Confirm that you are not subject to backup withholding.
Similarly, Vanguard (or your intermediary) must withhold taxes from your account if the IRS instructs us to do so.
Foreign investors. Vanguard funds offered for sale in the United States (Vanguard U.S. funds), including the Fund offered in this prospectus, are not widely available outside the United States. Non-U.S. investors should be aware that U.S. withholding and estate taxes and certain U.S. tax reporting requirements may apply to any investments in Vanguard U.S. funds. Foreign investors should visit the non-U.S. investors page on our website at vanguard.com for information on Vanguard’s non-U.S. products.
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Invalid addresses. If a dividend distribution or capital gains distribution check mailed to your address of record is returned as undeliverable, Vanguard will automatically reinvest the distribution and all future distributions until you provide us with a valid mailing address. Reinvestments will receive the net asset value calculated on the date of the reinvestment.
Share Price
Share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. Each share class has its own NAV, which is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Fund does not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of the Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
Stocks held by a Vanguard fund are valued at their market value when reliable market quotations are readily available from the principal exchange or market on which they are traded. Such securities are generally valued at their official closing price, the last reported sales price, or if there were no sales that day, the mean between the closing bid and asking prices. When a fund determines that market quotations either are not readily available or do not accurately reflect the value of a security, the security is priced at its fair value (the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the current sale of the security).
The values of any foreign securities held by a fund are converted into U.S. dollars using an exchange rate obtained from an independent third party as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE. The values of any mutual fund shares, including institutional money market fund shares, held by a fund are based on the NAVs of the shares. The values of any ETF shares or closed-end fund shares held by a fund are based on the market value of the shares.
A fund also will use fair-value pricing if the value of a security it holds has been materially affected by events occurring before the fund's pricing time but after the close of the principal exchange or market on which the security is traded. This most commonly occurs with foreign securities, which may trade on foreign
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exchanges that close many hours before the fund's pricing time. Intervening events might be company-specific (e.g., earnings report, merger announcement) or country-specific or regional/global (e.g., natural disaster, economic or political news, act of terrorism, interest rate change). Intervening events include price movements in U.S. markets that exceed a specified threshold or that are otherwise deemed to affect the value of foreign securities.
Fair-value pricing may be used for domestic securities—for example, if (1) trading in a security is halted and does not resume before the fund's pricing time or a security does not trade in the course of a day and (2) the fund holds enough of the security that its price could affect the NAV.
Fair-value prices are determined by Vanguard according to procedures adopted by the board of trustees. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate the NAV may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities.
Vanguard fund share prices are published daily on our website at vanguard.com/prices.
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Financial Highlights
Financial highlights information is intended to help you understand a fund’s performance for the past five years (or, if shorter, its period of operations). Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. Total return represents the rate that an investor would have earned or lost each period on an investment in a fund or share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions). This information has been obtained from the financial statements audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with fund financial statements, is included in a fund’s most recent annual report to shareholders. You may obtain a free copy of a fund’s latest annual or semiannual report, which is available upon request.
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Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund Admiral Shares  
 
Year Ended October 31,
March 2,
20161 to
Oct. 31,
2016
For a Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period
2020
2019
2018
2017
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period
$29.69
$28.52
$31.83
$26.92
$25.00
Investment Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Net Investment Income2
1.034
1.322
1.264
1.114
0.597
Net Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss) on
Investments3
(5.336)
1.120
(3.423)
4.743
1.817
Total from Investment Operations
(4.302)
2.442
(2.159)
5.857
2.414
Distributions
 
 
 
 
 
Dividends from Net Investment Income
(0.938)
(1.272)
(1.151)
(0.947)
(0.494)
Distributions from Realized Capital Gains
—
—
—
—
—
Total Distributions
(0.938)
(1.272)
(1.151)
(0.947)
(0.494)
Net Asset Value, End of Period
$24.45
$29.69
$28.52
$31.83
$26.92
Total Return4
–14.59%5
8.83%5
–7.00%5
22.04%5
9.73%
Ratios/Supplemental Data
 
 
 
 
 
Net Assets, End of Period (Millions)
$267
$199
$181
$168
$84
Ratio of Total Expenses to Average Net Assets
0.28%6
0.27%
0.32%
0.32%
0.32%7,8
Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net
Assets
3.99%
4.57%
4.06%
3.73%
3.65%7
Portfolio Turnover Rate9
20%
15%
10%
8%
6%
1
Inception.
2
Calculated based on average shares outstanding.
3
Includes increases from purchase and redemption fees of $.01 for 2020, $.01 for 2019, $.01 for 2018, and $.02 for 2017.
4
Total returns do not include account service fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
5
Total returns do not include transaction fees that may have applied in the periods shown.
6
The ratio of expense to average net assets for the period net of reduction from custody fee offset arrangements was 0.27%.
7
Annualized.
8
The ratio of total expenses to average net assets before an expense reimbursement of 0.31% was 0.63%. The expense reimbursement was due to higher-than-anticipated custody costs associated with a higher volume of securities transactions, which included transactions from a rebalance of the benchmark index shortly after the fund’s inception. The fund is not obligated to repay this amount to Vanguard.
9
Excludes the value of portfolio securities received or delivered as a result of in-kind purchases or redemptions of the fund's capital shares, including ETF Creation Units.
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Investing With Vanguard
This section of the prospectus explains the basics of doing business with Vanguard. Vanguard fund shares can be held directly with Vanguard or indirectly through an intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. If you hold Vanguard fund shares directly with Vanguard, you should carefully read each topic within this section that pertains to your relationship with Vanguard. If you hold Vanguard fund shares indirectly through an intermediary (including shares held in a brokerage account through Vanguard Brokerage Services®), please see Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms, and also refer to your account agreement with the intermediary for information about transacting in that account. If you hold Vanguard fund shares through an employer-sponsored retirement or savings plan, please see Employer-Sponsored Plans. Vanguard reserves the right to change the following policies without notice. Please call or check online for current information. See Contacting Vanguard.
For Vanguard fund shares held directly with Vanguard, each fund you hold in an account is a separate “fund account.” For example, if you hold three funds in a nonretirement account titled in your own name, two funds in a nonretirement account titled jointly with your spouse, and one fund in an individual retirement account, you have six fund accounts—and this is true even if you hold the same fund in multiple accounts. Note that each reference to “you” in this prospectus applies to any one or more registered account owners or persons authorized to transact on your account.
Purchasing Shares
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to increase or decrease the minimum amount required to open, convert shares to, or maintain a fund account or to add to an existing fund account.
Investment minimums may differ for certain categories of investors.
Account Minimums for Admiral Shares
To open and maintain an account. $3,000. Financial intermediaries, institutional clients, and Vanguard-advised clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares. If you are investing through an intermediary, please contact that firm directly for more information regarding your eligibility.
To add to an existing account. Generally $1.
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How to Initiate a Purchase Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your purchase request.
Online. You may open certain types of accounts, request a purchase of shares, and request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to begin the account registration process or request that the account-opening forms be sent to you. You may also call Vanguard to request a purchase of shares in your account or to request an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
By mail. You may send Vanguard your account registration form and check to open a new fund account. To add to an existing fund account, you may send your check with an Invest-by-Mail form (from a transaction confirmation or your account statement) or with a deposit slip (available online).
How to Pay for a Purchase
By electronic bank transfer. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund through an electronic transfer of money from a bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate the bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can purchase shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Investment Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your purchase request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. Wiring instructions vary for different types of purchases. Please call Vanguard for instructions and policies on purchasing shares by wire. See Contacting Vanguard.
By check. You may make initial or additional purchases to your fund account by sending a check with a deposit slip or by utilizing our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access. Also see How to Initiate a Purchase Request. Make your check payable to Vanguard and include the appropriate fund number (Vanguard—530).
By exchange. You may purchase shares of a Vanguard fund using the proceeds from the simultaneous redemption of shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail with an exchange form. See Exchanging Shares.
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Trade Date
The trade date for any purchase request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request, the manner in which you are paying, and the type of fund you are purchasing. Your purchase will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For purchases by check into all funds other than money market funds and for purchases by exchange, wire, or electronic bank transfer into all funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the same day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day.
For purchases by check into money market funds: If the purchase request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date for the purchase will be the next business day. If the purchase request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date for the purchase will be the second business day following the day Vanguard receives the purchase request. Because money market instruments must be purchased with federal funds and it takes a money market mutual fund one business day to convert check proceeds into federal funds, the trade date for the purchase will be one business day later than for other funds.
If your purchase request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
For further information about purchase transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Purchase Fee
The Fund charges a purchase fee of 0.25% on all share purchases, including shares purchased by exchange from another Vanguard fund. The purchase fee is deducted from the amount of each new purchase and is paid directly to the Fund to offset the cost of buying securities.
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Purchase fees will not apply to Vanguard fund account purchases in the following circumstances: (1) purchases of shares through reinvested dividends or capital gains distributions; (2) share transfers, rollovers, or reregistrations within the same fund; (3) conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund; (4) purchases in kind; and (5) share rollovers to an IRA within the same Vanguard fund for plans in which Vanguard serves as a recordkeeper.
Other Purchase Rules You Should Know
Admiral Shares. Admiral Shares generally are not available for SIMPLE IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Check purchases. All purchase checks must be written in U.S. dollars, be drawn on a U.S. bank, and be accompanied by good order instructions. Vanguard does not accept cash, traveler’s checks, starter checks, or money orders. In addition, Vanguard may refuse checks that are not made payable to Vanguard.
New accounts. We are required by law to obtain from you certain personal information that we will use to verify your identity. If you do not provide the information, we may not be able to open your account. If we are unable to verify your identity, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to close your account or take such other steps as we deem reasonable. Certain types of accounts may require additional documentation.
Refused or rejected purchase requests. Vanguard reserves the right to stop selling fund shares or to reject any purchase request at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, purchases requested by exchange from another Vanguard fund. This also includes the right to reject any purchase request because the investor has a history of frequent trading or because the purchase may negatively affect a fund’s operation or performance.
Large purchases. Call Vanguard before attempting to invest a large dollar amount.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any purchase request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a purchase request.
Converting Shares
If you convert from Admiral Shares to ETF Shares, the transaction will be based on the respective NAVs of the separate share classes on the trade date of the conversion.
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Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any self-directed conversion request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a conversion request.
A conversion between share classes of the same fund is a nontaxable event.
Conversions to ETF Shares
Owners of conventional shares (i.e., not exchange-traded shares) issued by the Fund may convert those shares to ETF Shares of equivalent value of the same fund. Please note that investors who own conventional shares through a 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored retirement or benefit plan generally may not convert those shares to ETF Shares and should check with their plan sponsor or recordkeeper. ETF Shares, whether acquired through a conversion or purchased on the secondary market, cannot be converted to conventional shares by a shareholder. Also, ETF Shares of one fund cannot be exchanged for ETF Shares of another fund.
ETF Shares must be held in a brokerage account. Thus, before converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, you must have an existing, or open a new, brokerage account. This account may be with Vanguard Brokerage Services or with any other brokerage firm.
Vanguard Brokerage Services does not impose a fee on conversions from conventional shares to Vanguard ETF Shares. However, other brokerage firms may charge a fee to process a conversion. Vanguard reserves the right, in the future, to impose a transaction fee on conversions or to limit, temporarily suspend, or terminate the conversion privilege. For additional information on converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, please contact Vanguard to obtain a prospectus for ETF Shares. See Contacting Vanguard.
Redeeming Shares
How to Initiate a Redemption Request
Be sure to check Exchanging Shares, Frequent-Trading Limitations, and Other Rules You Should Know before placing your redemption request.
Online. You may request a redemption of shares or request an exchange through our website or our mobile application if your account is eligible and you are registered for online access.
By telephone. You may call Vanguard to request a redemption of shares or an exchange. See Contacting Vanguard.
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By mail. You may send a form (available online) to Vanguard to redeem from a fund account or to make an exchange.
How to Receive Redemption Proceeds
By electronic bank transfer. You may have the proceeds of a fund redemption sent directly to a designated bank account. To establish the electronic bank transfer service on an account, you must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form. After the service is set up on your account, you can redeem shares by electronic bank transfer on a regular schedule (Automatic Withdrawal Plan), if eligible, or upon request. Your redemption request can be initiated online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail.
By wire. To receive your proceeds by wire, you may instruct Vanguard to wire your redemption proceeds ($100 minimum) to a previously designated bank account. To establish the wire redemption service, you generally must designate a bank account online, complete a form, or fill out the appropriate section of your account registration form.
Please note that Vanguard charges a $10 wire fee for outgoing wire redemptions. The fee is assessed in addition to, rather than being withheld from, redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the fund in which you invest. For example, if you redeem $100 via a wire, you will receive the full $100, and the $10 fee will be assessed to your fund account through an additional redemption of fund shares. If you redeem your entire fund account, your redemption proceeds will be reduced by the amount of the fee. The wire fee does not apply to accounts held by Flagship and Flagship Select clients; accounts held through intermediaries, including Vanguard Brokerage Services; or accounts held by institutional clients.
By exchange. You may have the proceeds of a Vanguard fund redemption invested directly in shares of another Vanguard fund. You may initiate an exchange online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Exchanging Shares.
By check. If you have not chosen another redemption method, Vanguard will mail you a redemption check, generally payable to all registered account owners, normally within two business days of your trade date, and generally to the address of record.
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Trade Date
The trade date for any redemption request received in good order will depend on the day and time Vanguard receives your request and the manner in which you are redeeming. Your redemption will be executed using the NAV as calculated on the trade date. NAVs are calculated only on days that the NYSE is open for trading (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, NAVs will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The time selected for NAV calculation in this rare event shall also serve as the conclusion of the trading day. See Share Price.
For redemptions by check, exchange, or wire: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from money market funds: For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day before 10:45 a.m., Eastern time (2 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund; 12:30 p.m., Eastern time, for Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business the same day. For telephone requests received by Vanguard on a business day after those cut-off times, or on a nonbusiness day, and for all requests other than by telephone, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day.
• Note on timing of wire redemptions from all other funds: For requests received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the next business day. For requests received by Vanguard on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the redemption proceeds generally will leave Vanguard by the close of business on the second business day after Vanguard receives the request.
For redemptions by electronic bank transfer: If the redemption request is received by Vanguard on a business day before the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time), the trade date will be the same day. If
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the redemption request is received on a business day after the close of regular trading on the NYSE, or on a nonbusiness day, the trade date will be the next business day.
If your redemption request is not accurate and complete, it may be rejected. If we are unable to send your redemption proceeds by wire or electronic bank transfer because the receiving institution rejects the transfer, Vanguard will make additional efforts to complete your transaction. If Vanguard is still unable to complete the transaction, we may send the proceeds of the redemption to you by check, generally payable to all registered account owners, or use your proceeds to purchase new shares of the fund from which you sold shares for the purpose of the wire or electronic bank transfer transaction. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order.
If your redemption request is received in good order, we typically expect that redemption proceeds will be paid by the Fund within one business day of the trade date; however, in certain circumstances, investors may experience a longer settlement period at the time of the transaction. For further information, see “Potentially disruptive redemptions” and “Emergency circumstances.”
For further information about redemption transactions, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Redemption Fee
The Fund charges a 0.25% redemption fee. The fee applies if you redeem shares by selling or by exchanging to another Vanguard fund or if Vanguard liquidates your Fund account because the balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. The fee is withheld from redemption proceeds and is paid directly to the Fund.
Redemption fees will not apply to Vanguard fund account redemptions in the following circumstances: (1) redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees; redemptions of shares to revoke an IRA within the period of time set forth in the Vanguard Traditional IRA, SEP-IRA, and Roth IRA Disclosure Statement; redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs, certain Vanguard Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans); and redemptions from Section 529 college savings plans; (2) share transfers, rollovers, or reregistrations within the same fund; (3) conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund; (4) redemptions in kind; and (5) for a one-year period, share rollovers to an IRA held at Vanguard from a retirement plan for which Vanguard serves as a recordkeeper.*
 
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Also, participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans* will not incur redemption fees for the following: exchanges of shares purchased with participant payroll or employer contributions; exchanges of shares purchased with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions; distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan; redemptions or transfers of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan; and direct rollovers into IRAs.
 
Participants will incur redemption fees if, after making an exchange, a transfer, or a rollover into a fund with a redemption fee, the participant makes a subsequent exchange out of that fund.
 
If Vanguard does not serve as recordkeeper for your plan, redemption fees may be applied differently. Please read your recordkeeper’s plan materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply. Also see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of redemption fees by intermediaries.
 
*The following Vanguard fund accounts will be subject to redemption fees: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, and Vanguard Retirement Plans for which Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company serves as trustee.
Other Redemption Rules You Should Know
Documentation for certain accounts. Special documentation may be required to redeem from certain types of accounts, such as trust, corporate, nonprofit, or retirement accounts. Please call us before attempting to redeem from these types of accounts.
Potentially disruptive redemptions. Vanguard reserves the right to pay all or part of a redemption in kind—that is, in the form of securities—if we reasonably believe that a cash redemption would negatively affect the fund’s operation or performance or that the shareholder may be engaged in market-timing or frequent trading. Under these circumstances, Vanguard also reserves the right to delay payment of the redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. By calling us before you attempt to redeem a large dollar amount, you may avoid in-kind or delayed payment of your redemption. Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations for information about Vanguard’s policies to limit frequent trading.
Recently purchased shares. Although you can redeem shares at any time, proceeds may not be made available to you until the fund collects payment for your purchase. This may take up to seven calendar days for shares purchased by
32
check or by electronic bank transfer. If you have written a check on a fund in an account with checkwriting privileges, that check may be rejected if your fund account does not have a sufficient available balance.
Address change. If you change your address online or by telephone, there may be up to a 14-day restriction (starting on the business day after your address is changed) on your ability to request check redemptions online and by telephone. You can request a redemption in writing (using a form available online) at any time. Confirmations of address changes are sent to both the old and new addresses.
Payment to a different person or address. At your request, we can make your redemption check payable, or wire your redemption proceeds, to a different person or send it to a different address. However, this generally requires the written consent of all registered account owners and may require additional documentation, such as a signature guarantee or a notarized signature. You may obtain a signature guarantee from some commercial or savings banks, credit unions, trust companies, or member firms of a U.S. stock exchange.
No cancellations. Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any redemption request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing a redemption request.
Emergency circumstances. Vanguard funds can postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. In addition, Vanguard funds can suspend redemptions and/or postpone payments of redemption proceeds beyond seven calendar days at times when the NYSE is closed or during emergency circumstances, as determined by the SEC.
Exchanging Shares
An exchange occurs when you use the proceeds from the redemption of shares of one Vanguard fund to simultaneously purchase shares of a different Vanguard fund. You can make exchange requests online (if you are registered for online access), by telephone, or by mail. See Purchasing Shares and Redeeming Shares.
If the NYSE is open for regular trading (generally until 4 p.m., Eastern time, on a business day) at the time an exchange request is received in good order, the trade date generally will be the same day. See Other Rules You Should Know—Good Order for additional information on all transaction requests.
Vanguard will not accept your request to cancel any exchange request once processing has begun. Please be careful when placing an exchange request.
33
Call Vanguard before attempting to exchange a large dollar amount. By calling us before you attempt to exchange a large dollar amount, you may avoid delayed or rejected transactions.
Please note that Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise or terminate the exchange privilege, limit the amount of any exchange, or reject an exchange, at any time, for any reason. See Frequent-Trading Limitations for additional restrictions on exchanges.
Frequent-Trading Limitations
Because excessive transactions can disrupt management of a fund and increase the fund’s costs for all shareholders, the board of trustees of each Vanguard fund places certain limits on frequent trading in the funds. Each Vanguard fund (other than money market funds and short-term bond funds, but including Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund) limits an investor’s purchases or exchanges into a fund account for 30 calendar days after the investor has redeemed or exchanged out of that fund account. ETF Shares are not subject to these frequent-trading limits.
For Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, the limitations apply to exchanges made online or by telephone.
These frequent-trading limitations do not apply to the following:
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Transactions through Vanguard’s Automatic Investment Plan, Automatic Exchange Service, Direct Deposit Service, Automatic Withdrawal Plan, Required Minimum Distribution Service, and Vanguard Small Business Online®.
• Discretionary transactions through Vanguard Personal Advisor Services®, Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services®, and Vanguard Digital Advisor™.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Redemptions of shares to remove excess shareholder contributions to certain types of retirement accounts (including, but not limited to, IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans).
• Transfers and reregistrations of shares within the same fund.
• Purchases of shares by asset transfer or direct rollover.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Checkwriting redemptions.
• Section 529 college savings plans.
34
• Certain approved institutional portfolios and asset allocation programs, as well as trades made by funds or trusts managed by Vanguard or its affiliates that invest in other Vanguard funds. (Please note that shareholders of Vanguard’s funds of funds are subject to the limitations.)
For participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans,* the frequent-trading limitations do not apply to:
• Purchases of shares with participant payroll or employer contributions or loan repayments.
• Purchases of shares with reinvested dividend or capital gains distributions.
• Distributions, loans, and in-service withdrawals from a plan.
• Redemptions of shares as part of a plan termination or at the direction of the plan.
• Transactions executed through the Vanguard Managed Account Program.
• Redemptions of shares to pay fund or account fees.
• Share or asset transfers or rollovers.
• Reregistrations of shares.
• Conversions of shares from one share class to another in the same fund.
• Exchange requests submitted by written request to Vanguard. (Exchange requests submitted by fax, if otherwise permitted, are subject to the limitations.)
* The following Vanguard fund accounts are subject to the frequent-trading limitations: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, certain Individual 403(b)(7) Custodial Accounts, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Accounts Held by Institutions (Other Than Defined Contribution Plans)
Vanguard will systematically monitor for frequent trading in institutional clients’ accounts. If we detect suspicious trading activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action, which may include applying to a client’s accounts the 30-day policy previously described, prohibiting a client’s purchases of fund shares, and/or revoking the client’s exchange privilege.
Accounts Held by Intermediaries
When intermediaries establish accounts in Vanguard funds for the benefit of their clients, we cannot always monitor the trading activity of the individual clients. However, we review trading activity at the intermediary (omnibus) level, and if we detect suspicious activity, we will investigate and take appropriate action. If necessary, Vanguard may prohibit additional purchases of fund shares
35
by an intermediary, including for the benefit of certain of the intermediary’s clients. Intermediaries also may monitor their clients’ trading activities with respect to Vanguard funds.
For those Vanguard funds that charge purchase and/or redemption fees, intermediaries will be asked to assess these fees on client accounts and remit these fees to the funds. The application of purchase and redemption fees and frequent-trading limitations may vary among intermediaries. There are no assurances that Vanguard will successfully identify all intermediaries or that intermediaries will properly assess purchase and redemption fees or administer frequent-trading limitations. If you invest with Vanguard through an intermediary, please read that firm’s materials carefully to learn of any other rules or fees that may apply.
Other Rules You Should Know
Prospectus and Shareholder Report Mailings
When two or more shareholders have the same last name and address, just one summary prospectus (or prospectus) and/or shareholder report may be sent in an attempt to eliminate the unnecessary expense of duplicate mailings. You may request individual prospectuses and reports by contacting our Client Services Department in writing, by telephone, or online. See Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard.com
Registration. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can review your account holdings; buy, sell, or exchange shares of most Vanguard funds; and perform most other transactions through our website. You must register for this service online.
Electronic delivery. Vanguard can deliver your account statements, transaction confirmations, prospectuses, certain tax forms, and shareholder reports electronically. If you are a registered user of vanguard.com, you can consent to the electronic delivery of these documents by logging on and changing your mailing preferences under “Account Maintenance.” You can revoke your electronic consent at any time through our website, and we will begin to send paper copies of these documents within 30 days of receiving your revocation.
Telephone Transactions
Automatic. When we set up your account, we will automatically enable you to do business with us by telephone, unless you instruct us otherwise in writing.
36
Tele-Account®. To obtain fund and account information through Vanguard’s automated telephone service, you must first establish a Personal Identification Number (PIN) by calling Tele-Account at 800-662-6273.
Proof of a caller’s authority. We reserve the right to refuse a telephone request if the caller is unable to provide the requested information or if we reasonably believe that the caller is not an individual authorized to act on the account. Before we allow a caller to act on an account, we may request the following information:
• Authorization to act on the account (as the account owner or by legal documentation or other means).
• Account registration and address.
• Fund name and account number, if applicable.
• Other information relating to the caller, the account owner, or the account.
Good Order
We reserve the right to reject any transaction instructions that are not in “good order.” Good order generally means that your instructions:
• Are provided by the person(s) authorized in accordance with Vanguard’s policies and procedures to access the account and request transactions.
• Include the fund name and account number.
• Include the amount of the transaction (stated in dollars, shares, or percentage).
Written instructions also must generally be provided on a Vanguard form and include:
• Signature(s) and date from the authorized person(s).
• Signature guarantees or notarized signatures, if required for the type of transaction. (Call Vanguard for specific requirements.)
• Any supporting documentation that may be required.
Good order requirements may vary among types of accounts and transactions. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to revise the requirements for good order.
37
Future Trade-Date Requests
Vanguard does not accept requests to hold a purchase, conversion, redemption, or exchange transaction for a future date. All such requests will receive trade dates as previously described in Purchasing Shares, Converting Shares, Redeeming Shares, and Exchanging Shares. Vanguard reserves the right to return future-dated purchase checks.
Accounts With More Than One Owner
If an account has more than one owner or authorized person, Vanguard generally will accept instructions from any one owner or authorized person.
Responsibility for Fraud
You should take precautions to protect yourself from fraud. Keep your account-related information private, and review any account confirmations, statements, or other information that we provide to you as soon as you receive them. Let us know immediately if you discover unauthorized activity or see something on your account that you do not understand or that looks unusual.
Vanguard will not be responsible for losses that result from transactions by a person who we reasonably believe is authorized to act on your account.
Uncashed Checks
Please cash your distribution or redemption checks promptly. Vanguard will not pay interest on uncashed checks. Vanguard may be required to transfer assets related to uncashed checks to a state under the state’s abandoned property law.
Dormant Accounts
If your account has no activity in it for a period of time, Vanguard may be required to transfer it to a state under the state’s abandoned property law, subject to potential federal or state withholding taxes.
Unusual Circumstances
If you experience difficulty contacting Vanguard online or by telephone, you can send us your transaction request on a Vanguard form by regular or express mail.
Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms
You may purchase or sell shares of most Vanguard funds through a financial intermediary, such as a bank, a broker, or an investment advisor. Please consult your financial intermediary to determine which, if any, shares are available through that firm and to learn about other rules that may apply. Your financial
38
intermediary can provide you with account information and any required tax forms. You may be required to pay a commission on purchases of mutual fund shares made through a financial intermediary.
Please see Frequent-Trading Limitations—Accounts Held by Intermediaries for information about the assessment of any purchase or redemption fees and the monitoring of frequent trading for accounts held by intermediaries.
Account Service Fee
Vanguard may charge a $20 account service fee on fund accounts that have a balance below $10,000 for any reason, including market fluctuation. The account service fee may be applied to both retirement and nonretirement fund accounts and may be assessed on fund accounts in all Vanguard funds, regardless of the account minimum. The fee, which will be collected by redeeming fund shares in the amount of $20, will be deducted from fund accounts subject to the fee once per calendar year.
If you elect to receive your statements and other materials electronically (i.e., by e-delivery), the account service fee will not be charged, so long as your election remains in effect. You can make your e-delivery election on vanguard.com.
Beginning on January 1, 2021, you may elect to receive paper copies of shareholder reports free of charge as noted on the cover of this prospectus.
Certain account types have alternative fee structures, including SIMPLE IRAs, Vanguard Retirement Investment Program pooled plans, and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.
Low-Balance Accounts
The Fund reserves the right to liquidate a fund account whose balance falls below the account minimum for any reason, including market fluctuation. This liquidation policy applies to nonretirement fund accounts and accounts that are held through intermediaries. Any such liquidation will be preceded by written notice to the investor. Shares redeemed in accordance with this policy will be subject to applicable redemption fees.
Right to Change Policies
In addition to the rights expressly stated elsewhere in this prospectus, Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to (1) alter, add, or discontinue any conditions of purchase (including eligibility requirements), redemption, exchange, conversion, service, or privilege at any time and (2) alter, impose, discontinue, or waive any purchase fee, redemption fee, account service fee, or other fee
39
charged to a shareholder or a group of shareholders. Changes may affect any or all investors. These actions will be taken when, at the sole discretion of Vanguard management, Vanguard believes they are in the best interest of a fund.
Account Restrictions
Vanguard reserves the right to: (1) redeem all or a portion of a fund/account to meet a legal obligation, including tax withholding, tax lien, garnishment order, or other obligation imposed on your account by a court or government agency; (2) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options in the case of threatening conduct or activity; (3) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options if Vanguard believes or suspects that not doing so could result in a suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal transaction; (4) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if it is required to do so by a court or government agency; (5) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if Vanguard believes that doing so will prevent fraud, financial exploitation or abuse, or to protect vulnerable investors; (6) freeze any account and/or suspend account services if Vanguard has received reasonable notice of a dispute regarding the assets in an account, including notice of a dispute between the registered or beneficial account owners; and (7) freeze any account and/or suspend account services upon initial notification to Vanguard of the death of an account owner.
Share Classes
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to change the eligibility requirements of its share classes, including the types of clients who are eligible to purchase each share class.
Fund and Account Updates
Confirmation Statements
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) a confirmation of your trade date and the amount of your transaction when you buy, sell, exchange, or convert shares. However, we will not send confirmations reflecting only checkwriting redemptions or the reinvestment of dividend or capital gains distributions. For any month in which you had a checkwriting redemption, a Checkwriting Activity Statement will be sent to you itemizing the checkwriting redemptions for that month. Promptly review each confirmation statement that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on a confirmation statement, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
40
Portfolio Summaries
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) quarterly portfolio summaries to help you keep track of your accounts throughout the year. Each summary shows the market value of your account at the close of the statement period, as well as all distributions, purchases, redemptions, exchanges, transfers, and conversions for the current calendar quarter (or month). Promptly review each summary that we provide to you. It is important that you contact Vanguard immediately with any questions you may have about any transaction reflected on the summary, or Vanguard will consider the transaction properly processed.
Tax Information Statements
For most accounts, Vanguard (or your intermediary) is required to provide annual tax forms to assist you in preparing your income tax returns. These forms are generally available for each calendar year early in the following year. Registered users of vanguard.com can also view certain forms through our website. Vanguard (or your intermediary) may also provide you with additional tax-related documentation. For more information, consult our website at vanguard.com or see Contacting Vanguard.
Annual and Semiannual Reports
We will send (or provide through our website, whichever you prefer) reports about Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund twice a year, in June and December. These reports include overviews of the financial markets and provide the following specific Fund information:
• Performance assessments and comparisons with industry benchmarks.
• Financial statements with listings of Fund holdings.
Portfolio Holdings
Please consult the Fund's Statement of Additional Information or our website for a description of the policies and procedures that govern disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.
Employer-Sponsored Plans
Your plan administrator or your employee benefits office can provide you with detailed information on how to participate in your plan and how to elect the Fund as an investment option.
• If you have any questions about the Fund or Vanguard, including those about the Fund’s investment objective, strategies, or risks, contact Vanguard Participant Services toll-free at 800-523-1188 or visit our website at vanguard.com.
41
• If you have questions about your account, contact your plan administrator or the organization that provides recordkeeping services for your plan.
• Be sure to carefully read each topic that pertains to your transactions with Vanguard.
Vanguard reserves the right to change its policies without notice to shareholders.
Transactions
Processing times for your transaction requests may differ among recordkeepers or among transaction and funding types. Your plan’s recordkeeper (which may also be Vanguard) will determine the necessary processing time frames for your transaction requests prior to submission to the Fund. Consult your recordkeeper or plan administrator for more information.
If Vanguard is serving as your plan recordkeeper and if your transaction involves one or more investments with an early cut-off time for processing or another trading restriction, your entire transaction will be subject to the restriction when the trade date for your transaction is determined.
42
Contacting Vanguard  
Web
 
Vanguard.com
For the most complete source of Vanguard news
For fund, account, and service information
For most account transactions
For literature requests
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
 
Phone
Vanguard Tele-Account®
800-662-6273
For automated fund and account information
Toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Investor Information 800-662-7447
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For fund and service information
For literature requests
Client Services 800-662-2739
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For account information
For most account transactions
Participant Services 800-523-1188
(Text telephone for people with
hearing impairment at 800-749-7273)
For information and services for participants in
employer-sponsored plans
Institutional Division
888-809-8102
For information and services for large institutional
investors
Financial Advisor and Intermediary
Sales Support 800-997-2798
For information and services for financial intermediaries
including financial advisors, broker-dealers, trust
institutions, and insurance companies
Financial Advisory and Intermediary
Trading Support 800-669-0498
For account information and trading support for
financial intermediaries including financial advisors,
broker-dealers, trust institutions, and insurance
companies
Additional Information  
 
Inception
Date
Newspaper
Abbreviation
Vanguard
Fund Number
CUSIP
Number
International High Dividend
Yield Index Fund
 
 
 
 
Admiral Shares
3/2/2016
VanIntHDYIAdm
530
921946828
 
CGS identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2021 American Bankers Association. “CUSIP” is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
43
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.
London Stock Exchange Group companies include FTSE International Limited (“FTSE”), Frank Russell Company (“Russell”), MTS Next Limited (“MTS”), and FTSE TMX Global Debt Capital Markets Inc. (“FTSE TMX”). All rights reserved. “FTSE®”, “Russell®”, “MTS®“, “FTSE TMX®” and “FTSE Russell” and other service marks and trademarks related to the FTSE or Russell indexes are trademarks of the London Stock Exchange Group companies and are used by FTSE, MTS, FTSE TMX and Russell under license. All information is provided for information purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure that all information given in this publication is accurate, but no responsibility or liability can be accepted by the London Stock Exchange Group companies nor its licensors for any errors or for any loss from use of this publication. Neither the London Stock Exchange Group companies nor any of their licensors make any claim, prediction, warranty or representation whatsoever, expressly or impliedly, either as to the results to be obtained from the use of the Indices or the fitness or suitability of the Indices for any particular purpose to which they might be put. The London Stock Exchange Group companies do not provide investment advice and nothing in this document should be taken as constituting financial or investment advice. The London Stock Exchange Group companies make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in any asset. A decision to invest in any such asset should not be made in reliance on any information herein. Indexes cannot be invested in directly. Inclusion of an asset in an index is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold that asset. The general information contained in this publication should not be acted upon without obtaining specific legal, tax, and investment advice from a licensed professional. No part of this information may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the London Stock Exchange Group companies. Distribution of the London Stock Exchange Group companies’ index values and the use of their indexes to create financial products require a license with FTSE, FTSE TMX, MTS and/or Russell and/or its licensors.
44
Glossary of Investment Terms
Capital Gains Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of gains realized on securities that a fund has sold at a profit, minus any realized losses.
Common Stock. A security representing ownership rights in a corporation.
Dividend Distributions. Payments to mutual fund shareholders of income from interest or dividends generated by a fund's investments.
Expense Ratio. A fund's total annual operating expenses expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. The expense ratio includes management and administrative expenses, but it does not include the transaction costs of buying and selling portfolio securities.
Inception Date. The date on which the assets of a fund (or one of its share classes) are first invested in accordance with the fund's investment objective. For funds with a subscription period, the inception date is the day after that period ends. Investment performance is generally measured from the inception date.
Indexing. A low-cost investment strategy in which a mutual fund attempts to track—rather than outperform—a specified market benchmark, or “index.”
Joint Committed Credit Facility. The Fund participates, along with other funds managed by Vanguard, in a committed credit facility provided by a syndicate of lenders pursuant to a credit agreement that may be renewed annually; each Vanguard fund is individually liable for its borrowings, if any, under the credit facility. The amount and terms of the committed credit facility are subject to approval by the Fund's board of trustees and renegotiation with the lender syndicate on an annual basis.
Mutual Fund. An investment company that pools the money of many people and invests it in a variety of securities in an effort to achieve a specific objective over time.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A stock exchange based in New York City that is open for regular trading on business days, Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
Return of Capital. A return of capital occurs when a fund’s distributions exceed its earnings in a fiscal year. A return of capital is a return of all or part of your original investment or amounts paid in excess of your original investment in a fund. In general, a return of capital reduces your cost basis in a fund’s shares and is not taxable to you until your cost basis has been reduced to zero.
45
Securities. Stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other investments.
Total Return. A percentage change, over a specified time period, in a mutual fund's net asset value, assuming the reinvestment of all distributions of dividends and capital gains.
Volatility. The fluctuations in value of a mutual fund or other security. The greater a fund's volatility, the wider the fluctuations in its returns.
Yield. Income (interest or dividends) earned by an investment, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s price.
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Connect with Vanguard® > vanguard.com
For More Information
If you would like more information about Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund, the following documents are available free upon request:
Annual/Semiannual Reports to Shareholders
Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. In the annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during its last fiscal year.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI provides more detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into (and thus legally a part of) this prospectus.
To receive a free copy of the latest annual or semiannual report or the SAI, or to request additional information about the Fund or other Vanguard funds, please visit vanguard.com or contact us as follows:
If you are an individual investor:
Telephone: 800-662-7447; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a participant in an employer-sponsored plan:
Telephone: 800-523-1188; Text telephone for people
with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
If you are a current Vanguard shareholder and would like information about your account, account transactions, and/or account statements, please call:
Client Services Department
Telephone: 800-662-2739; Text telephone for people with hearing impairment: 800-749-7273
Information Provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Reports and other information about the Fund are available in the EDGAR database on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or you can receive copies of this information, for a fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Fund's Investment Company Act file number: 811-07443
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.P 1530 022021
VANGUARD® WHITEHALL FUNDS
STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
February 26, 2021
This Statement of Additional Information is not a prospectus but should be read in conjunction with a Fund’s current prospectus (dated February 26, 2021). To obtain, without charge, a prospectus or the most recent Annual Report to Shareholders, which contains the Fund’s financial statements as hereby incorporated by reference, please contact The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard).
Phone: Investor Information Department at 800-662-7447
Online: vanguard.com
Description of the Trust
Vanguard Whitehall Funds (the Trust) currently offers the following funds and share classes (identified by ticker symbol):  
 
Share Classes1
Fund2
Investor
Admiral
Institutional
Vanguard Selected Value Fund
VASVX
—
—
Vanguard International Explorer Fund
VINEX
—
—
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund
VMGRX
—
—
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund
—
VHYAX
—
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund
—
VGAVX
VGIVX
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund
VMVFX
VMNVX
—
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
—
VIAAX
—
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
—
VIHAX
—
1
Individually, a class; collectively, the classes.
2
Individually, a Fund; collectively, the Funds.
3
Exchange: NYSE Arca.
4
Exchange: Nasdaq.
The Trust has the ability to offer additional funds or classes of shares. There is no limit on the number of full and fractional shares that may be issued for a single fund or class of shares.
Throughout this document, any references to “class” apply only to the extent a Fund issues multiple classes.
B-1
Organization
The Trust was organized as a Maryland corporation in 1995 and was reorganized as a Delaware statutory trust in 1998. Prior to its reorganization as a Delaware statutory trust, the Trust was known as Vanguard Whitehall Funds, Inc. The Trust is registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act) as an open-end management investment company. All Funds within the Trust, other than Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, are classified as diversified within the meaning of the 1940 Act. Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund is classified as nondiversified within the meaning of the 1940 Act.
Service Providers
Custodians. The Bank of New York Mellon, 240 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10286 (for Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund); JPMorgan Chase Bank, 383 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10179 (for Vanguard International Explorer Fund and Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund); and State Street Bank and Trust Company, One Lincoln Street, Boston, MA 02111 (for Vanguard Selected Value Fund, Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund, and Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund), serve as the Funds' custodians. The custodians are responsible for maintaining the Funds' assets, keeping all necessary accounts and records of Fund assets, and appointing any foreign subcustodians or foreign securities depositories.
Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Two Commerce Square, Suite 1800, 2001 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-7042, serves as the Funds' independent registered public accounting firm. The independent registered public accounting firm audits the Funds' annual financial statements and provides other related services.
Transfer and Dividend-Paying Agent. The Funds' transfer agent and dividend-paying agent is Vanguard, P.O. Box 2600, Valley Forge, PA 19482.
Characteristics of the Funds' Shares
Restrictions on Holding or Disposing of Shares. There are no restrictions on the right of shareholders to retain or dispose of a Fund’s shares, other than those described in the Fund’s current prospectus and elsewhere in this Statement of Additional Information. Each Fund or class may be terminated by reorganization into another mutual fund or class or by liquidation and distribution of the assets of the Fund or class. Unless terminated by reorganization or liquidation, each Fund and share class will continue indefinitely.
Shareholder Liability. The Trust is organized under Delaware law, which provides that shareholders of a statutory trust are entitled to the same limitations of personal liability as shareholders of a corporation organized under Delaware law. This means that a shareholder of a Fund generally will not be personally liable for payment of the Fund’s debts. Some state courts, however, may not apply Delaware law on this point. We believe that the possibility of such a situation arising is remote.
Dividend Rights. The shareholders of each class of a Fund are entitled to receive any dividends or other distributions declared by the Fund for each such class. No shares of a Fund have priority or preference over any other shares of the Fund with respect to distributions. Distributions will be made from the assets of the Fund and will be paid ratably to all shareholders of a particular class according to the number of shares of the class held by shareholders on the record date. The amount of dividends per share may vary between separate share classes of the Fund based upon differences in the net asset values of the different classes and differences in the way that expenses are allocated between share classes pursuant to a multiple class plan approved by the Fund's board of trustees.
Voting Rights. Shareholders are entitled to vote on a matter if (1) the matter concerns an amendment to the Declaration of Trust that would adversely affect to a material degree the rights and preferences of the shares of a Fund or any class; (2) the trustees determine that it is necessary or desirable to obtain a shareholder vote; (3) a merger or consolidation, share conversion, share exchange, or sale of assets is proposed and a shareholder vote is required by the 1940 Act to approve the transaction; or (4) a shareholder vote is required under the 1940 Act. The 1940 Act requires a shareholder vote under various circumstances, including to elect or remove trustees upon the written request of shareholders representing 10% or more of a Fund's net assets, to change any fundamental policy of a Fund (please see Fundamental Policies), and to enter into certain merger transactions. Unless otherwise required by applicable law, shareholders of a Fund receive one vote for each dollar of net asset value owned on the record date and a fractional
B-2
vote for each fractional dollar of net asset value owned on the record date. However, only the shares of the Fund or the class affected by a particular matter are entitled to vote on that matter. In addition, each class has exclusive voting rights on any matter submitted to shareholders that relates solely to that class, and each class has separate voting rights on any matter submitted to shareholders in which the interests of one class differ from the interests of another. Voting rights are noncumulative and cannot be modified without a majority vote by the shareholders.
Liquidation Rights. In the event that a Fund is liquidated, shareholders will be entitled to receive a pro rata share of the Fund's net assets. In the event that a class of shares is liquidated, shareholders of that class will be entitled to receive a pro rata share of the Fund’s net assets that are allocated to that class. Shareholders may receive cash, securities, or a combination of the two.
Preemptive Rights. There are no preemptive rights associated with the Funds' shares.
Conversion Rights. Fund shareholders may convert their shares into another class of shares of the same Fund upon satisfaction of any then-applicable eligibility requirements, as described in the Fund’s current prospectus. ETF Shares cannot be converted into conventional shares of a fund by a shareholder. For additional information about the conversion rights applicable to ETF Shares, please see Information About the ETF Share Class. There are no conversion rights associated with Vanguard Selected Value, Vanguard International Explorer, and Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Funds.
Redemption Provisions. Each Fund's redemption provisions are described in its current prospectus and elsewhere in this Statement of Additional Information.
Sinking Fund Provisions. The Funds have no sinking fund provisions.
Calls or Assessment. Each Fund's shares, when issued, are fully paid and non-assessable.
Tax Status of the Funds
Each Fund expects to qualify each year for treatment as a “regulated investment company” under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the IRC). This special tax status means that the Fund will not be liable for federal tax on income and capital gains distributed to shareholders. In order to preserve its tax status, each Fund must comply with certain requirements relating to the source of its income and the diversification of its assets. If a Fund fails to meet these requirements in any taxable year, the Fund will, in some cases, be able to cure such failure, including by paying a fund-level tax, paying interest, making additional distributions, and/or disposing of certain assets. If the Fund is ineligible to or otherwise does not cure such failure for any year, it will be subject to tax on its taxable income at corporate rates, and all distributions from earnings and profits, including any distributions of net tax-exempt income and net long-term capital gains, will be taxable to shareholders as ordinary income. In addition, a Fund could be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay substantial taxes and interest, and make substantial distributions before regaining its tax status as a regulated investment company.
Dividends received and distributed by each Fund on shares of stock of domestic corporations (excluding Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)) and certain foreign corporations generally may be eligible to be reported by the Fund, and treated by individual shareholders, as “qualified dividend income” taxed at long-term capital gain rates instead of at higher ordinary income tax rates. Individuals must satisfy holding period and other requirements in order to be eligible for such treatment. Also, distributions attributable to income earned on a Fund’s securities lending transactions, including substitute dividend payments received by a Fund with respect to a security out on loan, will not be eligible for treatment as qualified dividend income.
Taxable ordinary dividends received and distributed by each Fund on its REIT holdings may be eligible to be reported by a Fund, and treated by individual shareholders, as “qualified REIT dividends” that are eligible for a 20% deduction on their federal income tax returns. Individuals must satisfy holding period and other requirements in order to be eligible for this deduction. Without further legislation, the deduction would sunset after 2025. Shareholders should consult their own tax professionals concerning their eligibility for this deduction.
Dividends received and distributed by each Fund on shares of stock of domestic corporations (excluding REITs) may be eligible for the dividends-received deduction applicable to corporate shareholders. Corporations must satisfy certain requirements in order to claim the deduction. Also, distributions attributable to income earned on a Fund’s securities lending transactions, including substitute dividend payments received by a Fund with respect to a security out on loan, will not be eligible for the dividends-received deduction.
B-3
Each Fund may declare a capital gain dividend consisting of the excess (if any) of net realized long-term capital gains over net realized short-term capital losses. Net capital gains for a fiscal year are computed by taking into account any capital loss carryforwards of the Fund. For Fund fiscal years beginning on or after December 22, 2010, capital losses may be carried forward indefinitely and retain their character as either short-term or long-term.
Fundamental Policies
Each Fund is subject to the following fundamental investment policies, which cannot be changed in any material way without the approval of the holders of a majority of the Fund’s shares. For these purposes, a “majority” of shares means shares representing the lesser of (1) 67% or more of the Fund's net assets voted, so long as shares representing more than 50% of the Fund’s net assets are present or represented by proxy or (2) more than 50% of the Fund's net assets.
Borrowing. Each Fund may borrow money only as permitted by the 1940 Act or other governing statute, by the Rules thereunder, or by the SEC or other regulatory agency with authority over the Fund.
Commodities. Each Fund may invest in commodities only as permitted by the 1940 Act or other governing statute, by the Rules thereunder, or by the SEC or other regulatory agency with authority over the Fund.
Diversification. For Vanguard International Explorer Fund, Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund, Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, and Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund: Each Fund may not change its classification as a
“management company” or its subclassifications as an “open-end company” and as a “diversified company” as each such term is defined in the 1940 Act.

For Vanguard Selected Value Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund: With respect to 75% of its total assets, each Fund may not (1) purchase more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of any one issuer or (2) purchase securities of any issuer if, as a result, more than 5% of the Fund’s total assets would be invested in that issuer’s securities. This limitation does not apply to obligations of the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities.
Industry Concentration. For Vanguard Selected Value Fund, Vanguard International Explorer Fund, Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, and Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund: Each Fund will not concentrate its investments in the securities of issuers whose principal business activities are in the same industry or group of industries.
For Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund: Each Fund will not concentrate its investments in the securities of issuers whose principal business activities are in the same industry or group of industries, except as may be necessary to approximate the composition of its target index. 
Investment Objective. The investment objective of Vanguard Selected Value Fund may not be materially changed without a shareholder vote.
Loans. Each Fund may make loans to another person only as permitted by the 1940 Act or other governing statute, by the Rules thereunder, or by the SEC or other regulatory agency with authority over the Fund.
Real Estate. Each Fund may not invest directly in real estate unless it is acquired as a result of ownership of securities or other instruments. This restriction shall not prevent a Fund from investing in securities or other instruments (1) issued by companies that invest, deal, or otherwise engage in transactions in real estate or (2) backed or secured by real estate or interests in real estate.
Senior Securities. Each Fund may not issue senior securities except as permitted by the 1940 Act or other governing statute, by the Rules thereunder, or by the SEC or other regulatory agency with authority over the Fund.
Underwriting. Each Fund may not act as an underwriter of another issuer’s securities, except to the extent that the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriter within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 (the 1933 Act), in connection with the purchase and sale of portfolio securities.
Compliance with the fundamental policies previously described is generally measured at the time the securities are purchased. Unless otherwise required by the 1940 Act (as is the case with borrowing), if a percentage restriction is adhered to at the time the investment is made, a later change in percentage resulting from a change in the market value of assets will not constitute a violation of such restriction. All fundamental policies must comply with applicable regulatory requirements. For more details, see Investment Strategies, Risks, and Nonfundamental Policies.
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None of these policies prevents the Funds from having an ownership interest in Vanguard. As a part owner of Vanguard, each Fund may own securities issued by Vanguard, make loans to Vanguard, and contribute to Vanguard’s costs or other financial requirements. See Management of the Funds for more information.
Investment Strategies, Risks, and Nonfundamental Policies
Some of the investment strategies and policies described on the following pages and in each Fund's prospectus set forth percentage limitations on a Fund's investment in, or holdings of, certain securities or other assets. Unless otherwise required by law, compliance with these strategies and policies will be determined immediately after the acquisition of such securities or assets by the Fund. Subsequent changes in values, net assets, or other circumstances will not be considered when determining whether the investment complies with the Fund's investment strategies and policies.
The following investment strategies, risks, and policies supplement each Fund's investment strategies, risks, and policies set forth in the prospectus. With respect to the different investments discussed as follows, a Fund may acquire such investments to the extent consistent with its investment strategies and policies.
Borrowing. A fund’s ability to borrow money is limited by its investment policies and limitations; by the 1940 Act; and by applicable exemptions, no-action letters, interpretations, and other pronouncements issued from time to time by the SEC and its staff or any other regulatory authority with jurisdiction. Under the 1940 Act, a fund is required to maintain continuous asset coverage (i.e., total assets including borrowings, less liabilities exclusive of borrowings) of 300% of the amount borrowed, with an exception for borrowings not in excess of 5% of the fund’s total assets (at the time of borrowing) made for temporary or emergency purposes. Any borrowings for temporary purposes in excess of 5% of the fund’s total assets must maintain continuous asset coverage. If the 300% asset coverage should decline as a result of market fluctuations or for other reasons, a fund may be required to sell some of its portfolio holdings within three days (excluding Sundays and holidays) to reduce the debt and restore the 300% asset coverage, even though it may be disadvantageous from an investment standpoint to sell securities at that time.
Borrowing will tend to exaggerate the effect on net asset value of any increase or decrease in the market value of a fund’s portfolio. Money borrowed will be subject to interest costs that may or may not be recovered by earnings on the securities purchased with the proceeds of such borrowing. A fund also may be required to maintain minimum average balances in connection with a borrowing or to pay a commitment or other fee to maintain a line of credit; either of these requirements would increase the cost of borrowing over the stated interest rate.
The SEC takes the position that transactions that have a leveraging effect on the capital structure of a fund or are economically equivalent to borrowing can be viewed as constituting a form of borrowing by the fund for purposes of the 1940 Act. These transactions can include entering into reverse repurchase agreements; engaging in mortgage-dollar-roll transactions; selling securities short (other than short sales “against-the-box”); buying and selling certain derivatives (such as futures contracts); selling (or writing) put and call options; engaging in sale-buybacks; entering into firm-commitment and standby-commitment agreements; engaging in when-issued, delayed-delivery, or forward-commitment transactions; and participating in other similar trading practices. (Additional discussion about a number of these transactions can be found on the following pages.)
A borrowing transaction will not be considered to constitute the issuance, by a fund, of a “senior security,” as that term is defined in Section 18(g) of the 1940 Act, and therefore such transaction will not be subject to the 300% asset coverage requirement otherwise applicable to borrowings by a fund, if the fund maintains an offsetting financial position; segregates liquid assets (with such liquidity determined by the advisor in accordance with procedures established by the board of trustees) equal (as determined on a daily mark-to-market basis) in value to the fund’s potential economic exposure under the borrowing transaction; or otherwise “covers” the transaction in accordance with applicable SEC guidance (collectively, “covers” the transaction). A fund may have to buy or sell a security at a disadvantageous time or price in order to cover a borrowing transaction. In addition, segregated assets may not be available to satisfy redemptions or to fulfill other obligations.
Common Stock. Common stock represents an equity or ownership interest in an issuer. Common stock typically entitles the owner to vote on the election of directors and other important matters, as well as to receive dividends on such stock. In the event an issuer is liquidated or declares bankruptcy, the claims of owners of bonds, other debt holders, and owners of preferred stock take precedence over the claims of those who own common stock.
Convertible Securities. Convertible securities are hybrid securities that combine the investment characteristics of bonds and common stocks. Convertible securities typically consist of debt securities or preferred stock that may be
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converted (on a voluntary or mandatory basis) within a specified period of time (normally for the entire life of the security) into a certain amount of common stock or other equity security of the same or a different issuer at a predetermined price. Convertible securities also include debt securities with warrants or common stock attached and derivatives combining the features of debt securities and equity securities. Other convertible securities with features and risks not specifically referred to herein may become available in the future. Convertible securities involve risks similar to those of both fixed income and equity securities. In a corporation’s capital structure, convertible securities are senior to common stock but are usually subordinated to senior debt obligations of the issuer.
The market value of a convertible security is a function of its “investment value” and its “conversion value.” A security’s “investment value” represents the value of the security without its conversion feature (i.e., a nonconvertible debt security). The investment value may be determined by reference to its credit quality and the current value of its yield to maturity or probable call date. At any given time, investment value is dependent upon such factors as the general level of interest rates, the yield of similar nonconvertible securities, the financial strength of the issuer, and the seniority of the security in the issuer’s capital structure. A security’s “conversion value” is determined by multiplying the number of shares the holder is entitled to receive upon conversion or exchange by the current price of the underlying security. If the conversion value of a convertible security is significantly below its investment value, the convertible security will trade like nonconvertible debt or preferred stock and its market value will not be influenced greatly by fluctuations in the market price of the underlying security. In that circumstance, the convertible security takes on the characteristics of a bond, and its price moves in the opposite direction from interest rates. Conversely, if the conversion value of a convertible security is near or above its investment value, the market value of the convertible security will be more heavily influenced by fluctuations in the market price of the underlying security. In that case, the convertible security’s price may be as volatile as that of common stock. Because both interest rates and market movements can influence its value, a convertible security generally is not as sensitive to interest rates as a similar debt security, nor is it as sensitive to changes in share price as its underlying equity security. Convertible securities are often rated below investment-grade or are not rated, and they are generally subject to a high degree of credit risk.
Although all markets are prone to change over time, the generally high rate at which convertible securities are retired (through mandatory or scheduled conversions by issuers or through voluntary redemptions by holders) and replaced with newly issued convertible securities may cause the convertible securities market to change more rapidly than other markets. For example, a concentration of available convertible securities in a few economic sectors could elevate the sensitivity of the convertible securities market to the volatility of the equity markets and to the specific risks of those sectors. Moreover, convertible securities with innovative structures, such as mandatory-conversion securities and equity-linked securities, have increased the sensitivity of the convertible securities market to the volatility of the equity markets and to the special risks of those innovations, which may include risks different from, and possibly greater than, those associated with traditional convertible securities. A convertible security may be subject to redemption at the option of the issuer at a price set in the governing instrument of the convertible security. If a convertible security held by a fund is subject to such redemption option and is called for redemption, the fund must allow the issuer to redeem the security, convert it into the underlying common stock, or sell the security to a third party.
Cybersecurity Risks. The increased use of technology to conduct business could subject a fund and its third-party service providers (including, but not limited to, investment advisors, transfer agents, and custodians) to risks associated with cybersecurity. In general, a cybersecurity incident can occur as a result of a deliberate attack designed to gain unauthorized access to digital systems. If the attack is successful, an unauthorized person or persons could misappropriate assets or sensitive information, corrupt data, or cause operational disruption. A cybersecurity incident could also occur unintentionally if, for example, an authorized person inadvertently released proprietary or confidential information. Vanguard has developed robust technological safeguards and business continuity plans to prevent, or reduce the impact of, potential cybersecurity incidents. Additionally, Vanguard has a process for assessing the information security and/or cybersecurity programs implemented by a fund’s third-party service providers, which helps minimize the risk of potential incidents that could impact a Vanguard fund or its shareholders. Despite these measures, a cybersecurity incident still has the potential to disrupt business operations, which could negatively impact a fund and/or its shareholders. Some examples of negative impacts that could occur as a result of a cybersecurity incident include, but are not limited to, the following: a fund may be unable to calculate its net asset value (NAV), a fund’s shareholders may be unable to transact business, a fund may be unable to process transactions, or a fund may be unable to safeguard its data or the personal information of its shareholders.
Debt Securities. A debt security, sometimes called a fixed income security, consists of a certificate or other evidence of a debt (secured or unsecured) upon which the issuer of the debt security promises to pay the holder a fixed, variable, or floating rate of interest for a specified length of time and to repay the debt on the specified maturity date. Some debt securities, such as zero-coupon bonds, do not make regular interest payments but are issued at a discount to their
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principal or maturity value. Debt securities include a variety of fixed income obligations, including, but not limited to, corporate bonds, government securities, municipal securities, convertible securities, mortgage-backed securities, and asset-backed securities. Debt securities include investment-grade securities, non-investment-grade securities, and unrated securities. Debt securities are subject to a variety of risks, such as interest rate risk, income risk, call risk, prepayment risk, extension risk, inflation risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, coupon deferral risk, lower recovery value risk, and (in the case of foreign securities) country risk and currency risk. The reorganization of an issuer under the federal bankruptcy laws or an out-of-court restructuring of an issuer’s capital structure may result in the issuer’s debt securities being cancelled without repayment, repaid only in part, or repaid in part or in whole through an exchange thereof for any combination of cash, debt securities, convertible securities, equity securities, or other instruments or rights in respect to the same issuer or a related entity.
Depositary Receipts. Depositary receipts (also sold as participatory notes) are securities that evidence ownership interests in a security or a pool of securities that have been deposited with a “depository.” Depositary receipts may be sponsored or unsponsored and include American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), European Depositary Receipts (EDRs), and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs). For ADRs, the depository is typically a U.S. financial institution, and the underlying securities are issued by a foreign issuer. For other depositary receipts, the depository may be a foreign or a U.S. entity, and the underlying securities may have a foreign or a U.S. issuer. Depositary receipts will not necessarily be denominated in the same currency as their underlying securities. Generally, ADRs are issued in registered form, denominated in U.S. dollars, and designed for use in the U.S. securities markets. Other depositary receipts, such as GDRs and EDRs, may be issued in bearer form and denominated in other currencies, and they are generally designed for use in securities markets outside the United States. Although the two types of depositary receipt facilities (sponsored and unsponsored) are similar, there are differences regarding a holder’s rights and obligations and the practices of market participants.
A depository may establish an unsponsored facility without participation by (or acquiescence of) the underlying issuer; typically, however, the depository requests a letter of nonobjection from the underlying issuer prior to establishing the facility. Holders of unsponsored depositary receipts generally bear all the costs of the facility. The depository usually charges fees upon the deposit and withdrawal of the underlying securities, the conversion of dividends into U.S. dollars or other currency, the disposition of noncash distributions, and the performance of other services. The depository of an unsponsored facility frequently is under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications received from the underlying issuer or to pass through voting rights to depositary receipt holders with respect to the underlying securities.
Sponsored depositary receipt facilities are created in generally the same manner as unsponsored facilities, except that sponsored depositary receipts are established jointly by a depository and the underlying issuer through a deposit agreement. The deposit agreement sets out the rights and responsibilities of the underlying issuer, the depository, and the depositary receipt holders. With sponsored facilities, the underlying issuer typically bears some of the costs of the depositary receipts (such as dividend payment fees of the depository), although most sponsored depositary receipt holders may bear costs such as deposit and withdrawal fees. Depositories of most sponsored depositary receipts agree to distribute notices of shareholder meetings, voting instructions, and other shareholder communications and information to the depositary receipt holders at the underlying issuer’s request.
For purposes of a fund’s investment policies, investments in depositary receipts will be deemed to be investments in the underlying securities. Thus, a depositary receipt representing ownership of common stock will be treated as common stock. Depositary receipts do not eliminate all of the risks associated with directly investing in the securities of foreign issuers.
Derivatives. A derivative is a financial instrument that has a value based on—or “derived from”—the values of other assets, reference rates, or indexes. Derivatives may relate to a wide variety of underlying references, such as commodities, stocks, bonds, interest rates, currency exchange rates, and related indexes. Derivatives include futures contracts and options on futures contracts, certain forward-commitment transactions, options on securities, caps, floors, collars, swap agreements, and certain other financial instruments. Some derivatives, such as futures contracts and certain options, are traded on U.S. commodity and securities exchanges, while other derivatives, such as swap agreements, may be privately negotiated and entered into in the over-the-counter market (OTC Derivatives) or may be cleared through a clearinghouse (Cleared Derivatives) and traded on an exchange or swap execution facility. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act), certain swap agreements, such as certain standardized credit default and interest rate swap agreements, must be cleared through a clearinghouse and traded on an exchange or swap execution facility. This could result in an increase in the overall costs of such transactions. While the intent of derivatives regulatory reform is to mitigate risks associated with derivatives markets,
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the regulations could, among other things, increase liquidity and decrease pricing for more standardized products while decreasing liquidity and increasing pricing for less standardized products. The risks associated with the use of derivatives are different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in the securities or assets on which the derivatives are based.
Derivatives may be used for a variety of purposes, including—but not limited to—hedging, managing risk, seeking to stay fully invested, seeking to reduce transaction costs, seeking to simulate an investment in equity or debt securities or other investments, and seeking to add value by using derivatives to more efficiently implement portfolio positions when derivatives are favorably priced relative to equity or debt securities or other investments. Some investors may use derivatives primarily for speculative purposes while other uses of derivatives may not constitute speculation. There is no assurance that any derivatives strategy used by a fund’s advisor will succeed. The other parties to a fund’s OTC Derivatives contracts (usually referred to as “counterparties”) will not be considered the issuers thereof for purposes of certain provisions of the 1940 Act and the IRC, although such OTC Derivatives may qualify as securities or investments under such laws. A fund’s advisor(s), however, will monitor and adjust, as appropriate, the fund’s credit risk exposure to OTC Derivative counterparties.
Derivative products are highly specialized instruments that require investment techniques and risk analyses different from those associated with stocks, bonds, and other traditional investments. The use of a derivative requires an understanding not only of the underlying instrument but also of the derivative itself, without the benefit of observing the performance of the derivative under all possible market conditions.
When a fund enters into a Cleared Derivative, an initial margin deposit with a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) is required. Initial margin deposits are typically calculated as an amount equal to the volatility in market value of a Cleared Derivative over a fixed period. If the value of the fund’s Cleared Derivatives declines, the fund will be required to make additional “variation margin” payments to the FCM to settle the change in value. If the value of the fund’s Cleared Derivatives increases, the FCM will be required to make additional “variation margin” payments to the fund to settle the change in value. This process is known as “marking-to-market” and is calculated on a daily basis.
For OTC Derivatives, a fund is subject to the risk that a loss may be sustained as a result of the insolvency or bankruptcy of the counterparty or the failure of the counterparty to make required payments or otherwise comply with the terms of the contract. Additionally, the use of credit derivatives can result in losses if a fund’s advisor does not correctly evaluate the creditworthiness of the issuer on which the credit derivative is based.
Derivatives may be subject to liquidity risk, which exists when a particular derivative is difficult to purchase or sell. If a derivative transaction is particularly large or if the relevant market is illiquid (as is the case with certain OTC Derivatives), it may not be possible to initiate a transaction or liquidate a position at an advantageous time or price.
Derivatives may be subject to pricing or “basis” risk, which exists when a particular derivative becomes extraordinarily expensive relative to historical prices or the prices of corresponding cash market instruments. Under certain market conditions, it may not be economically feasible to initiate a transaction or liquidate a position in time to avoid a loss or take advantage of an opportunity.
Because certain derivatives have a leverage component, adverse changes in the value or level of the underlying asset, reference rate, or index can result in a loss substantially greater than the amount invested in the derivative itself. Certain derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, regardless of the size of the initial investment. A derivative transaction will not be considered to constitute the issuance, by a fund, of a “senior security,” as that term is defined in Section 18(g) of the 1940 Act, and therefore such transaction will not be subject to the 300% asset coverage requirement otherwise applicable to borrowings by a fund, if the fund covers the transaction in accordance with the requirements described under the heading “Borrowing.”
Like most other investments, derivative instruments are subject to the risk that the market value of the instrument will change in a way detrimental to a fund’s interest. A fund bears the risk that its advisor will incorrectly forecast future market trends or the values of assets, reference rates, indexes, or other financial or economic factors in establishing derivative positions for the fund. If the advisor attempts to use a derivative as a hedge against, or as a substitute for, a portfolio investment, the fund will be exposed to the risk that the derivative will have or will develop imperfect or no correlation with the portfolio investment. This could cause substantial losses for the fund. Although hedging strategies involving derivative instruments can reduce the risk of loss, they can also reduce the opportunity for gain or even result in losses by offsetting favorable price movements in other fund investments. Many derivatives (in particular, OTC Derivatives) are complex and often valued subjectively. Improper valuations can result in increased cash payment requirements to counterparties or a loss of value to a fund.
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Each Fund intends to comply with Rule 4.5 under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), under which a mutual fund may be excluded from the definition of the term Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) if the fund meets certain conditions such as limiting its investments in certain CEA-regulated instruments (e.g., futures, options, or swaps) and complying with certain marketing restrictions. Accordingly, Vanguard is not subject to registration or regulation as a CPO with respect to each Fund under the CEA. A Fund will only enter into futures contracts and futures options that are traded on a U.S. or foreign exchange, board of trade, or similar entity or that are quoted on an automated quotation system.
Exchange-Traded Funds. A fund may purchase shares of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Typically, a fund would purchase ETF shares for the same reason it would purchase (and as an alternative to purchasing) futures contracts: to obtain exposure to all or a portion of the stock or bond market. ETF shares enjoy several advantages over futures. Depending on the market, the holding period, and other factors, ETF shares can be less costly and more tax-efficient than futures. In addition, ETF shares can be purchased for smaller sums, offer exposure to market sectors and styles for which there is no suitable or liquid futures contract, and do not involve leverage.
An investment in an ETF generally presents the same principal risks as an investment in a conventional fund (i.e., one that is not exchange-traded) that has the same investment objective, strategies, and policies. The price of an ETF can fluctuate within a wide range, and a fund could lose money investing in an ETF if the prices of the securities owned by the ETF go down. In addition, ETFs are subject to the following risks that do not apply to conventional funds: (1) the market price of an ETF’s shares may trade at a discount or a premium to their net asset value; (2) an active trading market for an ETF’s shares may not develop or be maintained; and (3) trading of an ETF’s shares may be halted by the activation of individual or marketwide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). Trading of an ETF’s shares may also be halted if the shares are delisted from the exchange without first being listed on another exchange or if the listing exchange’s officials determine that such action is appropriate in the interest of a fair and orderly market or for the protection of investors.
Most ETFs are investment companies. Therefore, a fund’s purchases of ETF shares generally are subject to the limitations on, and the risks of, a fund’s investments in other investment companies, which are described under the heading “Other Investment Companies.”
Vanguard ETF® * Shares are exchange-traded shares that represent an interest in an investment portfolio held by Vanguard funds. A fund’s investments in Vanguard ETF Shares are also generally subject to the descriptions, limitations, and risks described under the heading “Other Investment Companies,” except as provided by an exemption granted by the SEC that permits registered investment companies to invest in a Vanguard fund that issues ETF Shares beyond the limits of Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act, subject to certain terms and conditions.
* U.S. Patent Nos. 6,879,964; 7,337,138; 7,720,749; 7,925,573; 8,090,646; and 8,417,623.
Foreign Securities. Typically, foreign securities are considered to be equity or debt securities issued by entities organized, domiciled, or with a principal executive office outside the United States, such as foreign corporations and governments. Securities issued by certain companies organized outside the United States may not be deemed to be foreign securities if the company’s principal operations are conducted from the United States or when the company’s equity securities trade principally on a U.S. stock exchange. Foreign securities may trade in U.S. or foreign securities markets. A fund may make foreign investments either directly by purchasing foreign securities or indirectly by purchasing depositary receipts or depositary shares of similar instruments (depositary receipts) for foreign securities. Direct investments in foreign securities may be made either on foreign securities exchanges or in the over-the-counter (OTC) markets. Investing in foreign securities involves certain special risk considerations that are not typically associated with investing in securities of U.S. companies or governments.
Because foreign issuers are not generally subject to uniform accounting, auditing, and financial reporting standards and practices comparable to those applicable to U.S. issuers, there may be less publicly available information about certain foreign issuers than about U.S. issuers. Evidence of securities ownership may be uncertain in many foreign countries. As a result, there are risks that could result in a loss to the fund, including, but not limited to, the risk that a fund’s trade details could be incorrectly or fraudulently entered at the time of a transaction. Securities of foreign issuers are generally more volatile and less liquid than securities of comparable U.S. issuers, and foreign investments may be effected through structures that may be complex or confusing. In certain countries, there is less government supervision and regulation of stock exchanges, brokers, and listed companies than in the United States. The risk that securities traded on foreign exchanges may be suspended, either by the issuers themselves, by an exchange, or by government authorities, is also heightened. In addition, with respect to certain foreign countries, there is the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, political or social instability, war, terrorism, nationalization, limitations on the
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removal of funds or other assets, or diplomatic developments that could affect U.S. investments in those countries. Additionally, economic or other sanctions imposed on the United States by a foreign country, or imposed on a foreign country or issuer by the United States, could impair a fund’s ability to buy, sell, hold, receive, deliver, or otherwise transact in certain investment securities. Sanctions could also affect the value and/or liquidity of a foreign security.
Although an advisor will endeavor to achieve the most favorable execution costs for a fund’s portfolio transactions in foreign securities under the circumstances, commissions and other transaction costs are generally higher than those on U.S. securities. In addition, it is expected that the custodian arrangement expenses for a fund that invests primarily in foreign securities will be somewhat greater than the expenses for a fund that invests primarily in domestic securities. Additionally, bankruptcy laws vary by jurisdiction and cash deposits may be subject to a custodian’s creditors. Certain foreign governments levy withholding or other taxes against dividend and interest income from, capital gains on the sale of, or transactions in foreign securities. Although in some countries a portion of these taxes is recoverable by the fund, the nonrecovered portion of foreign withholding taxes will reduce the income received from such securities.
The value of the foreign securities held by a fund that are not U.S. dollar-denominated may be significantly affected by changes in currency exchange rates. The U.S. dollar value of a foreign security generally decreases when the value of the U.S. dollar rises against the foreign currency in which the security is denominated, and it tends to increase when the value of the U.S. dollar falls against such currency (as discussed under the heading “Foreign Securities—Foreign Currency Transactions,” a fund may attempt to hedge its currency risks). In addition, the value of fund assets may be affected by losses and other expenses incurred from converting between various currencies in order to purchase and sell foreign securities, as well as by currency restrictions, exchange control regulations, currency devaluations, and political and economic developments.
Foreign Securities—China A-shares Risk. China A-shares (A-shares) are shares of mainland Chinese companies that are traded locally on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. A-shares investment by foreign investors are currently only available through the QFII/RQFII license or the China Stock Connect program. The developing state of the investment and banking systems of the People’s Republic of China (China, or the PRC) subjects the settlement, clearing, and registration of securities transactions to heightened risks. Additionally, there are foreign ownership limitations that may result in limitations on investment or the return of profits if a fund purchases and sells shares of an issuer in which it owns 5% or more of the shares issued within a six-month period. It is unclear if the 5% ownership will be determined by aggregating the holdings of a fund with affiliated funds.
Due to these restrictions, it is possible that the A-shares available to a fund as a foreign investor may not be sufficient to meet the fund’s investment needs. In this situation, a fund may seek an alternative method of economic exposure, such as by purchasing other classes of securities or depositary receipts or by utilizing derivatives. Any of these options could increase a fund’s index sampling risk (for index funds) or investment cost. Additionally, investing in A-shares generally increases emerging markets risk due in part to government and issuer market controls and the developing settlement and legal systems.
Investing in China A-shares through Stock Connect. The China Stock Connect program (Stock Connect) is a mutual market access program designed to, among other things, enable foreign investment in the PRC via brokers in Hong Kong. A QFII/RQFII license is not required to trade via Stock Connect. There are significant risks inherent in investing in A-shares through Stock Connect. Specifically, trading can be affected by a number of issues. Stock Connect can only operate when both PRC and Hong Kong markets are open for trading and when banking services are available in both markets on the corresponding settlement days. As such, if one or both markets are closed on a U.S. trading day, a fund may not be able to dispose of its shares in a timely manner, which could adversely affect the fund’s performance. Trading through Stock Connect may require pre-delivery or pre-validation of cash or securities to or by a broker. If the cash or securities are not in the broker’s possession before the market opens on the day of selling, the sell order will be rejected. This requirement may limit a fund’s ability to dispose of its A-shares purchased through Stock Connect in a timely manner.
Additionally, Stock Connect is subject to daily quota limitations on purchases into the PRC. Once the daily quota is reached, orders to purchase additional A-shares through Stock Connect will be rejected. In addition, a fund’s purchase of A-shares through Stock Connect may only be subsequently sold through Stock Connect and is not otherwise transferable. Stock Connect utilizes an omnibus clearing structure, and the fund’s shares will be registered in its custodian’s name on the Hong Kong Central Clearing and Settlement System. This may limit an advisor’s ability to effectively manage a fund’s holdings, including the potential enforcement of equity owner rights.
Foreign Securities—Emerging Market Risk. Investing in emerging market countries involves certain risks not typically associated with investing in the United States, and it imposes risks greater than, or in addition to, risks of investing in
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more developed foreign countries. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following: nationalization or expropriation of assets or confiscatory taxation; currency devaluations and other currency exchange rate fluctuations; greater social, economic, and political uncertainty and instability (including amplified risk of war and terrorism); more substantial government involvement in the economy; less government supervision and regulation of the securities markets and participants in those markets and possible arbitrary and unpredictable enforcement of securities regulations and other laws; controls on foreign investment and limitations on repatriation of invested capital and on the fund’s ability to exchange local currencies for U.S. dollars; unavailability of currency-hedging techniques in certain emerging market countries; generally smaller, less seasoned, or newly organized companies; differences in, or lack of, auditing and financial reporting standards, which may result in unavailability of material information about issuers; difficulty in obtaining and/or enforcing a judgment in a court outside the United States; and greater price volatility, substantially less liquidity, and significantly smaller market capitalization of securities markets. Also, any change in the leadership or politics of emerging market countries, or the countries that exercise a significant influence over those countries, may halt the expansion of or reverse the liberalization of foreign investment policies now occurring and adversely affect existing investment opportunities. Furthermore, high rates of inflation and rapid fluctuations in inflation rates have had, and may continue to have, negative effects on the economies and securities markets of certain emerging market countries. Custodial expenses and other investment-related costs are often more expensive in emerging market countries, which can reduce a fund’s income from investments in securities or debt instruments of emerging market country issuers.
Foreign Securities—Foreign Currency Transactions. The value in U.S. dollars of a fund’s non-dollar-denominated foreign securities may be affected favorably or unfavorably by changes in foreign currency exchange rates and exchange control regulations, and the fund may incur costs in connection with conversions between various currencies. To seek to minimize the impact of such factors on net asset values, a fund may engage in foreign currency transactions in connection with its investments in foreign securities. A fund will enter into foreign currency transactions only to attempt to “hedge” the currency risk associated with investing in foreign securities. Although such transactions tend to minimize the risk of loss that would result from a decline in the value of the hedged currency, they also may limit any potential gain that might result should the value of such currency increase.
Currency exchange transactions may be conducted either on a spot (i.e., cash) basis at the rate prevailing in the currency exchange market or through forward contracts to purchase or sell foreign currencies. A forward currency contract involves an obligation to purchase or sell a specific currency at a future date, which may be any fixed number of days from the date of the contract agreed upon by the parties, at a price set at the time of the contract. These contracts are entered into with large commercial banks or other currency traders who are participants in the interbank market. Currency exchange transactions also may be effected through the use of swap agreements or other derivatives.
Currency exchange transactions may be considered borrowings. A currency exchange transaction will not be considered to constitute the issuance, by a fund, of a “senior security,” as that term is defined in Section 18(g) of the 1940 Act, and therefore such transaction will not be subject to the 300% asset coverage requirement otherwise applicable to borrowings by a fund, if the fund covers the transaction in accordance with the requirements described under the heading “Borrowing.”
By entering into a forward contract for the purchase or sale of foreign currency involved in underlying security transactions, a fund may be able to protect itself against part or all of the possible loss between trade and settlement dates for that purchase or sale resulting from an adverse change in the relationship between the U.S. dollar and such foreign currency. This practice is sometimes referred to as “transaction hedging.” In addition, when the advisor reasonably believes that a particular foreign currency may suffer a substantial decline against the U.S. dollar, a fund may enter into a forward contract to sell an amount of foreign currency approximating the value of some or all of its portfolio securities denominated in such foreign currency. This practice is sometimes referred to as “portfolio hedging.” Similarly, when the advisor reasonably believes that the U.S. dollar may suffer a substantial decline against a foreign currency, a fund may enter into a forward contract to buy that foreign currency for a fixed dollar amount.
A fund may also attempt to hedge its foreign currency exchange rate risk by engaging in currency futures, options, and “cross-hedge” transactions. In cross-hedge transactions, a fund holding securities denominated in one foreign currency will enter into a forward currency contract to buy or sell a different foreign currency (one that the advisor reasonably believes generally tracks the currency being hedged with regard to price movements). The advisor may select the
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tracking (or substitute) currency rather than the currency in which the security is denominated for various reasons, including in order to take advantage of pricing or other opportunities presented by the tracking currency or to take advantage of a more liquid or more efficient market for the tracking currency. Such cross-hedges are expected to help protect a fund against an increase or decrease in the value of the U.S. dollar against certain foreign currencies.
A fund may hold a portion of its assets in bank deposits denominated in foreign currencies so as to facilitate investment in foreign securities as well as protect against currency fluctuations and the need to convert such assets into U.S. dollars (thereby also reducing transaction costs). To the extent these assets are converted back into U.S. dollars, the value of the assets so maintained will be affected favorably or unfavorably by changes in foreign currency exchange rates and exchange control regulations.
Forecasting the movement of the currency market is extremely difficult. Whether any hedging strategy will be successful is highly uncertain. Moreover, it is impossible to forecast with precision the market value of portfolio securities at the expiration of a forward currency contract. Accordingly, a fund may be required to buy or sell additional currency on the spot market (and bear the expense of such transaction) if its advisor’s predictions regarding the movement of foreign currency or securities markets prove inaccurate. In addition, the use of cross-hedging transactions may involve special risks and may leave a fund in a less advantageous position than if such a hedge had not been established. Because forward currency contracts are privately negotiated transactions, there can be no assurance that a fund will have flexibility to roll over a forward currency contract upon its expiration if it desires to do so. Additionally, there can be no assurance that the other party to the contract will perform its services thereunder.
Foreign Securities—Foreign Investment Companies. Some of the countries in which a fund may invest may not permit, or may place economic restrictions on, direct investment by outside investors. Fund investments in such countries may be permitted only through foreign government-approved or authorized investment vehicles, which may include other investment companies. Such investments may be made through registered or unregistered closed-end investment companies that invest in foreign securities. Investing through such vehicles may involve layered fees or expenses and may also be subject to the limitations on, and the risks of, a fund’s investments in other investment companies, which are described under the heading “Other Investment Companies.”
Foreign Securities—Russian Market Risk. There are significant risks inherent in investing in Russian securities. The underdeveloped state of Russia’s banking system subjects the settlement, clearing, and registration of securities transactions to significant risks. In March of 2013, the National Settlement Depository (NSD) began acting as a central depository for the majority of Russian equity securities; the NSD is now recognized as the Central Securities Depository in Russia.
For Russian issuers with fewer than 50 shareholders, ownership records are maintained only by registrars who are under contract with the issuers and are currently not settled with the NSD. Although a Russian subcustodian will maintain copies of the registrar’s records (Share Extracts) on its premises, such Share Extracts are not recorded with the NSD and may not be legally sufficient to establish ownership of securities. The registrars may not be independent from the issuer, are not necessarily subject to effective state supervision, and may not be licensed with any governmental entity. A fund will endeavor to ensure by itself or through a custodian or other agent that the fund’s interest continues to be appropriately recorded for Russian issuers with fewer than 50 shareholders by inspecting the share register and by obtaining extracts of share registers through regular confirmations. However, these extracts have no legal enforceability, and the possibility exists that a subsequent illegal amendment or other fraudulent act may deprive the fund of its ownership rights or may improperly dilute its interest. In addition, although applicable Russian regulations impose liability on registrars for losses resulting from their errors, a fund may find it difficult to enforce any rights it may have against the registrar or issuer of the securities in the event of loss of share registration.
Futures Contracts and Options on Futures Contracts. Futures contracts and options on futures contracts are derivatives. A futures contract is a standardized agreement between two parties to buy or sell at a specific time in the future a specific quantity of a commodity at a specific price. The commodity may consist of an asset, a reference rate, or an index. A security futures contract relates to the sale of a specific quantity of shares of a single equity security or a narrow-based securities index. The value of a futures contract tends to increase and decrease in tandem with the value of the underlying commodity. The buyer of a futures contract enters into an agreement to purchase the underlying commodity on the settlement date and is said to be “long” the contract. The seller of a futures contract enters into an agreement to sell the underlying commodity on the settlement date and is said to be “short” the contract. The price at which a futures contract is entered into is established either in the electronic marketplace or by open outcry on the floor of an exchange between exchange members acting as traders or brokers. Open futures contracts can be liquidated or closed out by physical delivery of the underlying commodity or payment of the cash settlement amount on the settlement date, depending on the terms of the particular contract. Some financial futures contracts (such as security
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futures) provide for physical settlement at maturity. Other financial futures contracts (such as those relating to interest rates, foreign currencies, and broad-based securities indexes) generally provide for cash settlement at maturity. In the case of cash-settled futures contracts, the cash settlement amount is equal to the difference between the final settlement or market price for the relevant commodity on the last trading day of the contract and the price for the relevant commodity agreed upon at the outset of the contract. Most futures contracts, however, are not held until maturity but instead are “offset” before the settlement date through the establishment of an opposite and equal futures position.
The purchaser or seller of a futures contract is not required to deliver or pay for the underlying commodity unless the contract is held until the settlement date. However, both the purchaser and seller are required to deposit “initial margin” with a futures commission merchant (FCM) when the futures contract is entered into. Initial margin deposits are typically calculated as an amount equal to the volatility in market value of a contract over a fixed period. If the value of the fund’s position declines, the fund will be required to make additional “variation margin” payments to the FCM to settle the change in value. If the value of the fund’s position increases, the FCM will be required to make additional “variation margin” payments to the fund to settle the change in value. This process is known as “marking-to-market” and is calculated on a daily basis. A futures transaction will not be considered to constitute the issuance, by a fund, of a “senior security,” as that term is defined in Section 18(g) of the 1940 Act, and therefore such transaction will not be subject to the 300% asset coverage requirement otherwise applicable to borrowings by a fund, if the fund covers the transaction in accordance with the requirements described under the heading “Borrowing.”
An option on a futures contract (or futures option) conveys the right, but not the obligation, to purchase (in the case of a call option) or sell (in the case of a put option) a specific futures contract at a specific price (called the “exercise” or “strike” price) any time before the option expires. The seller of an option is called an option writer. The purchase price of an option is called the premium. The potential loss to an option buyer is limited to the amount of the premium plus transaction costs. This will be the case, for example, if the option is held and not exercised prior to its expiration date. Generally, an option writer sells options with the goal of obtaining the premium paid by the option buyer. If an option sold by an option writer expires without being exercised, the writer retains the full amount of the premium. The option writer, however, has unlimited economic risk because its potential loss, except to the extent offset by the premium received when the option was written, is equal to the amount the option is “in-the-money” at the expiration date. A call option is in-the-money if the value of the underlying futures contract exceeds the exercise price of the option. A put option is in-the-money if the exercise price of the option exceeds the value of the underlying futures contract. Generally, any profit realized by an option buyer represents a loss for the option writer.
A fund that takes the position of a writer of a futures option is required to deposit and maintain initial and variation margin with respect to the option, as previously described in the case of futures contracts. A futures option transaction will not be considered to constitute the issuance, by a fund, of a “senior security,” as that term is defined in Section 18(g) of the 1940 Act, and therefore such transaction will not be subject to the 300% asset coverage requirement otherwise applicable to borrowings by a fund, if the fund covers the transaction in accordance with the requirements described under the heading “Borrowing.”
Futures Contracts and Options on Futures Contracts—Risks. The risk of loss in trading futures contracts and in writing futures options can be substantial because of the low margin deposits required, the extremely high degree of leverage involved in futures and options pricing, and the potential high volatility of the futures markets. As a result, a relatively small price movement in a futures position may result in immediate and substantial loss (or gain) for the investor. For example, if at the time of purchase, 10% of the value of the futures contract is deposited as margin, a subsequent 10% decrease in the value of the futures contract would result in a total loss of the margin deposit, before any deduction for the transaction costs, if the account were then closed out. A 15% decrease would result in a loss equal to 150% of the original margin deposit if the contract were closed out. Thus, a purchase or sale of a futures contract, and the writing of a futures option, may result in losses in excess of the amount invested in the position. In the event of adverse price movements, a fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments to maintain its required margin. In such situations, if the fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell portfolio securities to meet daily margin requirements (and segregation requirements, if applicable) at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. In addition, on the settlement date, a fund may be required to make delivery of the instruments underlying the futures positions it holds.
A fund could suffer losses if it is unable to close out a futures contract or a futures option because of an illiquid secondary market. Futures contracts and futures options may be closed out only on an exchange that provides a secondary market for such products. However, there can be no assurance that a liquid secondary market will exist for any particular futures product at any specific time. Thus, it may not be possible to close a futures or option position.
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Moreover, most futures exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation permitted in futures contract prices during a single trading day. The daily limit establishes the maximum amount that the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the previous day’s settlement price at the end of a trading session. Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular type of contract, no trades may be made on that day at a price beyond that limit. The daily limit governs only price movement during a particular trading day, and therefore does not limit potential losses because the limit may prevent the liquidation of unfavorable positions. Futures contract prices have occasionally moved to the daily limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading, thereby preventing prompt liquidation of future positions and subjecting some futures traders to substantial losses. The inability to close futures and options positions also could have an adverse impact on the ability to hedge a portfolio investment or to establish a substitute for a portfolio investment. U.S. Treasury futures are generally not subject to such daily limits.
A fund bears the risk that its advisor will incorrectly predict future market trends. If the advisor attempts to use a futures contract or a futures option as a hedge against, or as a substitute for, a portfolio investment, the fund will be exposed to the risk that the futures position will have or will develop imperfect or no correlation with the portfolio investment. This could cause substantial losses for the fund. Although hedging strategies involving futures products can reduce the risk of loss, they can also reduce the opportunity for gain or even result in losses by offsetting favorable price movements in other fund investments.
A fund could lose margin payments it has deposited with its FCM if, for example, the FCM breaches its agreement with the fund or becomes insolvent or goes into bankruptcy. In that event, the fund may be entitled to return of margin owed to it only in proportion to the amount received by the FCM’s other customers, potentially resulting in losses to the fund.
Interfund Borrowing and Lending. The SEC has granted an exemption permitting registered open-end Vanguard funds to participate in Vanguard’s interfund lending program. This program allows the Vanguard funds to borrow money from and lend money to each other for temporary or emergency purposes. The program is subject to a number of conditions, including, among other things, the requirements that (1) no fund may borrow or lend money through the program unless it receives a more favorable interest rate than is typically available from a bank for a comparable transaction, (2) no fund may lend money if the loan would cause its aggregate outstanding loans through the program to exceed 15% of its net assets at the time of the loan, and (3) a fund’s interfund loans to any one fund shall not exceed 5% of the lending fund’s net assets. In addition, a Vanguard fund may participate in the program only if and to the extent that such participation is consistent with the fund’s investment objective and investment policies. The boards of trustees of the Vanguard funds are responsible for overseeing the interfund lending program. Any delay in repayment to a lending fund could result in a lost investment opportunity or additional borrowing costs.
Investing for Control. Each Vanguard fund invests in securities and other instruments for the sole purpose of achieving a specific investment objective. As such, a Vanguard fund does not seek to acquire, individually or collectively with any other Vanguard fund, enough of a company’s outstanding voting stock to have control over management decisions. A Vanguard fund does not invest for the purpose of controlling a company’s management.
Market Disruption. Significant market disruptions, such as those caused by pandemics, natural or environmental disasters, war, acts of terrorism, or other events, can adversely affect local and global markets and normal market operations. Market disruptions may exacerbate political, social, and economic risks discussed above and in a fund’s prospectus. Additionally, market disruptions may result in increased market volatility; regulatory trading halts; closure of domestic or foreign exchanges, markets, or governments; or market participants operating pursuant to business continuity plans for indeterminate periods of time. Such events can be highly disruptive to economies and markets and significantly impact individual companies, sectors, industries, markets, currencies, interest and inflation rates, credit ratings, investor sentiment, and other factors affecting the value of a fund’s investments and operation of a fund. These events could also result in the closure of businesses that are integral to a fund’s operations or otherwise disrupt the ability of employees of fund service providers to perform essential tasks on behalf of a fund.
Options. An option is a derivative. An option on a security (or index) is a contract that gives the holder of the option, in return for the payment of a “premium,” the right, but not the obligation, to buy from (in the case of a call option) or sell to (in the case of a put option) the writer of the option the security underlying the option (or the cash value of the index) at a specified exercise price prior to the expiration date of the option. The writer of an option on a security has the obligation upon exercise of the option to deliver the underlying security upon payment of the exercise price (in the case of a call option) or to pay the exercise price upon delivery of the underlying security (in the case of a put option). The writer of an option on an index has the obligation upon exercise of the option to pay an amount equal to the cash value of the index minus the exercise price, multiplied by the specified multiplier for the index option. The multiplier for an index option determines the size of the investment position the option represents. Unlike exchange-traded options,
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which are standardized with respect to the underlying instrument, expiration date, contract size, and strike price, the terms of over-the-counter (OTC) options (options not traded on exchanges) generally are established through negotiation with the other party to the option contract. Although this type of arrangement allows the purchaser or writer greater flexibility to tailor an option to its needs, OTC options generally involve credit risk to the counterparty, whereas for exchange-traded, centrally cleared options, credit risk is mutualized through the involvement of the applicable clearing house.
The buyer (or holder) of an option is said to be “long” the option, while the seller (or writer) of an option is said to be “short” the option. A call option grants to the holder the right to buy (and obligates the writer to sell) the underlying security at the strike price, which is the predetermined price at which the option may be exercised. A put option grants to the holder the right to sell (and obligates the writer to buy) the underlying security at the strike price. The purchase price of an option is called the “premium.” The potential loss to an option buyer is limited to the amount of the premium plus transaction costs. This will be the case if the option is held and not exercised prior to its expiration date. Generally, an option writer sells options with the goal of obtaining the premium paid by the option buyer, but that person could also seek to profit from an anticipated rise or decline in option prices. If an option sold by an option writer expires without being exercised, the writer retains the full amount of the premium. The option writer, however, has unlimited economic risk because its potential loss, except to the extent offset by the premium received when the option was written, is equal to the amount the option is “in-the-money” at the expiration date. A call option is in-the-money if the value of the underlying position exceeds the exercise price of the option. A put option is in-the-money if the exercise price of the option exceeds the value of the underlying position. Generally, any profit realized by an option buyer represents a loss for the option writer. The writing of an option will not be considered to constitute the issuance, by a fund, of a “senior security,” as that term is defined in Section 18(g) of the 1940 Act, and therefore such transaction will not be subject to the 300% asset coverage requirement otherwise applicable to borrowings by a fund, if the fund covers the transaction in accordance with the requirements described under the heading “Borrowing.”
If a trading market, in particular options, were to become unavailable, investors in those options (such as the funds) would be unable to close out their positions until trading resumes, and they may be faced with substantial losses if the value of the underlying instrument moves adversely during that time. Even if the market were to remain available, there may be times when options prices will not maintain their customary or anticipated relationships to the prices of the underlying instruments and related instruments. Lack of investor interest, changes in volatility, or other factors or conditions might adversely affect the liquidity, efficiency, continuity, or even the orderliness of the market for particular options.
A fund bears the risk that its advisor will not accurately predict future market trends. If the advisor attempts to use an option as a hedge against, or as a substitute for, a portfolio investment, the fund will be exposed to the risk that the option will have or will develop imperfect or no correlation with the portfolio investment, which could cause substantial losses for the fund. Although hedging strategies involving options can reduce the risk of loss, they can also reduce the opportunity for gain or even result in losses by offsetting favorable price movements in other fund investments. Many options, in particular OTC options, are complex and often valued based on subjective factors. Improper valuations can result in increased cash payment requirements to counterparties or a loss of value to a fund.
OTC Swap Agreements. An over-the-counter (OTC) swap agreement, which is a type of derivative, is an agreement between two parties (counterparties) to exchange payments at specified dates (periodic payment dates) on the basis of a specified amount (notional amount) with the payments calculated with reference to a specified asset, reference rate, or index.
Examples of OTC swap agreements include, but are not limited to, interest rate swaps, credit default swaps, equity swaps, commodity swaps, foreign currency swaps, index swaps, excess return swaps, and total return swaps. Most OTC swap agreements provide that when the periodic payment dates for both parties are the same, payments are netted and only the net amount is paid to the counterparty entitled to receive the net payment. Consequently, a fund’s current obligations (or rights) under an OTC swap agreement will generally be equal only to the net amount to be paid or received under the agreement, based on the relative values of the positions held by each counterparty. OTC swap agreements allow for a wide variety of transactions. For example, fixed rate payments may be exchanged for floating rate payments; U.S. dollar-denominated payments may be exchanged for payments denominated in a different currency; and payments tied to the price of one asset, reference rate, or index may be exchanged for payments tied to the price of another asset, reference rate, or index.
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An OTC option on an OTC swap agreement, also called a “swaption,” is an option that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to enter into a swap on a future date in exchange for paying a market-based “premium.” A receiver swaption gives the owner the right to receive the total return of a specified asset, reference rate, or index. A payer swaption gives the owner the right to pay the total return of a specified asset, reference rate, or index. Swaptions also include options that allow an existing swap to be terminated or extended by one of the counterparties.
The use of OTC swap agreements by a fund entails certain risks, which may be different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in the securities and other investments that are the referenced asset for the swap agreement. OTC swaps are highly specialized instruments that require investment techniques, risk analyses, and tax planning different from those associated with stocks, bonds, and other traditional investments. The use of an OTC swap requires an understanding not only of the referenced asset, reference rate, or index but also of the swap itself, without the benefit of observing the performance of the swap under all possible market conditions.
OTC swap agreements may be subject to liquidity risk, which exists when a particular swap is difficult to purchase or sell. If an OTC swap transaction is particularly large or if the relevant market is illiquid (as is the case with many OTC swaps), it may not be possible to initiate a transaction or liquidate a position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. In addition, OTC swap transactions may be subject to a fund’s limitation on investments in illiquid securities.
OTC swap agreements may be subject to pricing risk, which exists when a particular swap becomes extraordinarily expensive or inexpensive relative to historical prices or the prices of corresponding cash market instruments. Under certain market conditions, it may not be economically feasible to initiate a transaction or liquidate a position in time to avoid a loss or take advantage of an opportunity or to realize the intrinsic value of the OTC swap agreement.
Because certain OTC swap agreements have a leverage component, adverse changes in the value or level of the underlying asset, reference rate, or index can result in a loss substantially greater than the amount invested in the swap itself. Certain OTC swaps have the potential for unlimited loss, regardless of the size of the initial investment. A leveraged OTC swap transaction will not be considered to constitute the issuance, by a fund, of a “senior security,” as that term is defined in Section 18(g) of the 1940 Act, and therefore such transaction will not be subject to the 300% asset coverage requirement otherwise applicable to borrowings by a fund, if the fund covers the transaction in accordance with the requirements described under the heading “Borrowing.”
Like most other investments, OTC swap agreements are subject to the risk that the market value of the instrument will change in a way detrimental to a fund’s interest. A fund bears the risk that its advisor will not accurately forecast future market trends or the values of assets, reference rates, indexes, or other economic factors in establishing OTC swap positions for the fund. If the advisor attempts to use an OTC swap as a hedge against, or as a substitute for, a portfolio investment, the fund will be exposed to the risk that the OTC swap will have or will develop imperfect or no correlation with the portfolio investment. This could cause substantial losses for the fund. Although hedging strategies involving OTC swap instruments can reduce the risk of loss, they can also reduce the opportunity for gain or even result in losses by offsetting favorable price movements in other fund investments. Many OTC swaps are complex and often valued subjectively. Improper valuations can result in increased cash payment requirements to counterparties or a loss of value to a fund.
The use of an OTC swap agreement also involves the risk that a loss may be sustained as a result of the insolvency or bankruptcy of the counterparty or the failure of the counterparty to make required payments or otherwise comply with the terms of the agreement. Additionally, the use of credit default swaps can result in losses if a fund’s advisor does not correctly evaluate the creditworthiness of the issuer on which the credit swap is based.
Other Investment Companies. A fund may invest in other investment companies to the extent permitted by applicable law or SEC exemption. Under Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act, a fund may invest up to 10% of its assets in shares of investment companies generally and up to 5% of its assets in any one investment company, as long as no investment represents more than 3% of the voting stock of an acquired investment company. In addition, no funds for which Vanguard acts as an advisor may, in the aggregate, own more than 10% of the voting stock of a closed-end investment company. The 1940 Act and related rules provide certain exemptions from these restrictions, for example, for funds that invest in other funds within the same group of investment companies. If a fund invests in other investment companies, shareholders will bear not only their proportionate share of the fund’s expenses (including operating expenses and the fees of the advisor), but they also may indirectly bear similar expenses of the underlying investment companies. Certain investment companies, such as business development companies (BDCs), are more akin to operating companies and, as such, their expenses are not direct expenses paid by fund shareholders and are not used to calculate the fund’s net asset value. SEC rules nevertheless require that any expenses incurred by a BDC
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be included in a fund’s expense ratio as “Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses.” The expense ratio of a fund that holds a BDC will thus overstate what the fund actually spends on portfolio management, administrative services, and other shareholder services by an amount equal to these Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses. The Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in a fund’s financial statements, which provide a clearer picture of a fund’s actual operating expenses. Shareholders would also be exposed to the risks associated not only with the investments of the fund but also with the portfolio investments of the underlying investment companies. Certain types of investment companies, such as closed-end investment companies, issue a fixed number of shares that typically trade on a stock exchange or over-the-counter at a premium or discount to their net asset value. Others are continuously offered at net asset value but also may be traded on the secondary market.
A fund may be limited to purchasing a particular share class of other investment companies (underlying funds). In certain cases, an investor may be able to purchase lower-cost shares of such underlying funds separately, and therefore be able to construct, and maintain over time, a similar portfolio of investments while incurring lower overall expenses.
Preferred Stock. Preferred stock represents an equity or ownership interest in an issuer. Preferred stock normally pays dividends at a specified rate and has precedence over common stock in the event the issuer is liquidated or declares bankruptcy. However, in the event an issuer is liquidated or declares bankruptcy, the claims of owners of bonds take precedence over the claims of those who own preferred and common stock. Preferred stock, unlike common stock, often has a stated dividend rate payable from the corporation’s earnings. Preferred stock dividends may be cumulative or noncumulative, participating, or auction rate. “Cumulative” dividend provisions require all or a portion of prior unpaid dividends to be paid before dividends can be paid to the issuer’s common stock. “Participating” preferred stock may be entitled to a dividend exceeding the stated dividend in certain cases. If interest rates rise, the fixed dividend on preferred stocks may be less attractive, causing the price of such stocks to decline. Preferred stock may have mandatory sinking fund provisions, as well as provisions allowing the stock to be called or redeemed, which can limit the benefit of a decline in interest rates. Preferred stock is subject to many of the risks to which common stock and debt securities are subject. In addition, preferred stock may be subject to more abrupt or erratic price movements than common stock or debt securities because preferred stock may trade with less frequency and in more limited volume.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). An equity REIT owns real estate properties directly and generates income from rental and lease payments. Equity REITs also have the potential to generate capital gains as properties are sold at a profit. A mortgage REIT makes construction, development, and long-term mortgage loans to commercial real estate developers and earns interest income on these loans. A hybrid REIT holds both properties and mortgages. To avoid taxation at the corporate level, REITs must distribute most of their earnings to shareholders.
Investments in REITs are subject to many of the same risks as direct investments in real estate. In general, real estate values can be affected by a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, supply and demand for properties, general or local economic conditions, and the strength of specific industries that rent properties. Ultimately, a REIT’s performance depends on the types and locations of the properties it owns and on how well the REIT manages its properties. For example, rental income could decline because of extended vacancies, increased competition from nearby properties, tenants’ failure to pay rent, regulatory limitations on rents, fluctuations in rental income, variations in market rental rates, or incompetent management. Property values could decrease because of overbuilding in the area, environmental liabilities, uninsured damages caused by natural disasters, a general decline in the neighborhood, losses because of casualty or condemnation, increases in property taxes, or changes in zoning laws.
The value of a REIT may also be affected by changes in interest rates. Rising interest rates generally increase the cost of financing for real estate projects, which could cause the value of an equity REIT to decline. During periods of declining interest rates, mortgagors may elect to prepay mortgages held by mortgage REITs, which could lower or diminish the yield on the REIT. REITs are also subject to heavy cash-flow dependency, default by borrowers, and changes in tax and regulatory requirements. In addition, a REIT may fail to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the IRC and/or fail to maintain exemption from the 1940 Act.
Reliance on Service Providers, Data Providers, and Other Technology. Vanguard funds rely upon the performance of service providers to execute several key functions, which may include functions integral to a fund’s operations. Failure by any service provider to carry out its obligations to a fund could disrupt the business of the fund and could have an adverse effect on the fund’s performance. A fund’s service providers’ reliance on certain technology or information vendors (e.g., trading systems, investment analysis tools, benchmark analytics, and tax and accounting tools) could also adversely affect a fund and its shareholders. For example, a fund’s investment advisor may use models and/or data with respect to potential investments for the fund. When models or data prove to be incorrect or incomplete, any decisions made in reliance upon such models or data expose a fund to potential risks.
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Repurchase Agreements. A repurchase agreement is an agreement under which a fund acquires a debt security (generally a security issued by the U.S. government or an agency thereof, a banker’s acceptance, or a certificate of deposit) from a bank, a broker, or a dealer and simultaneously agrees to resell such security to the seller at an agreed-upon price and date (normally, the next business day). Because the security purchased constitutes collateral for the repurchase obligation, a repurchase agreement may be considered a loan that is collateralized by the security purchased. The resale price reflects an agreed-upon interest rate effective for the period the instrument is held by a fund and is unrelated to the interest rate on the underlying instrument. In these transactions, the securities acquired by a fund (including accrued interest earned thereon) must have a total value in excess of the value of the repurchase agreement and be held by a custodian bank until repurchased. In addition, the investment advisor will monitor a fund’s repurchase agreement transactions generally and will evaluate the creditworthiness of any bank, broker, or dealer party to a repurchase agreement relating to a fund. The aggregate amount of any such agreements is not limited, except to the extent required by law.
The use of repurchase agreements involves certain risks. One risk is the seller’s ability to pay the agreed-upon repurchase price on the repurchase date. If the seller defaults, the fund may incur costs in disposing of the collateral, which would reduce the amount realized thereon. If the seller seeks relief under bankruptcy laws, the disposition of the collateral may be delayed or limited. For example, if the other party to the agreement becomes insolvent and subject to liquidation or reorganization under bankruptcy or other laws, a court may determine that the underlying security is collateral for a loan by the fund not within its control, and therefore the realization by the fund on such collateral may be automatically stayed. Finally, it is possible that the fund may not be able to substantiate its interest in the underlying security and may be deemed an unsecured creditor of the other party to the agreement.
Restricted and Illiquid Securities/Investments. Illiquid securities/investments are investments that a fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment. The SEC generally limits aggregate holdings of illiquid securities/investments by a mutual fund to 15% of its net assets (5% for money market funds). A fund may experience difficulty valuing and selling illiquid securities/investments and, in some cases, may be unable to value or sell certain illiquid securities for an indefinite period of time. Illiquid securities may include a wide variety of investments, such as (1) repurchase agreements maturing in more than seven days (unless the agreements have demand/redemption features), (2) OTC options contracts and certain other derivatives (including certain swap agreements), (3) fixed time deposits that are not subject to prepayment or do not provide for withdrawal penalties upon prepayment (other than overnight deposits), (4) certain loan interests and other direct debt instruments, (5) certain municipal lease obligations, (6) private equity investments, (7) commercial paper issued pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the 1933 Act, and (8) securities whose disposition is restricted under the federal securities laws. Illiquid securities/investments may include restricted, privately placed securities that, under the federal securities laws, generally may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers. If a market develops for a restricted security held by a fund, it may be treated as a liquid security in accordance with guidelines approved by the board of trustees.
Reverse Repurchase Agreements. In a reverse repurchase agreement, a fund sells a security to another party, such as a bank or broker-dealer, in return for cash and agrees to repurchase that security at an agreed-upon price and time. Under a reverse repurchase agreement, the fund continues to receive any principal and interest payments on the underlying security during the term of the agreement. Reverse repurchase agreements involve the risk that the market value of securities retained by the fund may decline below the repurchase price of the securities sold by the fund that it is obligated to repurchase. In addition to the risk of such a loss, fees charged to the fund may exceed the return the fund earns from investing the proceeds received from the reverse repurchase agreement transaction. A reverse repurchase agreement may be considered a borrowing transaction for purposes of the 1940 Act. A reverse repurchase agreement transaction will not be considered to constitute the issuance, by a fund, of a “senior security,” as that term is defined in Section 18(g) of the 1940 Act, and therefore such transaction will not be subject to the 300% asset coverage requirement otherwise applicable to borrowings by a fund, if the fund covers the transaction in accordance with the requirements described under the heading “Borrowing.” A fund will enter into reverse repurchase agreements only with parties whose creditworthiness has been reviewed and found satisfactory by the advisor. If the buyer in a reverse repurchase agreement becomes insolvent or files for bankruptcy, a fund’s use of proceeds from the sale may be restricted while the other party or its trustee or receiver determines if it will honor the fund’s right to repurchase the securities. If the fund is unable to recover the securities it sold in a reverse repurchase agreement, it would realize a loss equal to the difference between the value of the securities and the payment it received for them.
Securities Lending. A fund may lend its securities to financial institutions (typically brokers, dealers, and banks) to generate income for the fund. There are certain risks associated with lending securities, including counterparty, credit, market, regulatory, and operational risks. The advisor considers the creditworthiness of the borrower, among other
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factors, in making decisions with respect to the lending of securities, subject to oversight by the board of trustees. If the borrower defaults on its obligation to return the securities lent because of insolvency or other reasons, a fund could experience delays and costs in recovering the securities lent or in gaining access to the collateral. These delays and costs could be greater for certain types of foreign securities, as well as certain types of borrowers that are subject to global regulatory regimes. If a fund is not able to recover the securities lent, the fund may sell the collateral and purchase a replacement security in the market. Collateral investments are subject to market appreciation or depreciation. The value of the collateral could decrease below the value of the replacement investment by the time the replacement investment is purchased. Currently, a fund invests cash collateral into Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund, an affiliated money market fund that invests in high-quality, short-term money market instruments.
The terms and the structure of the loan arrangements, as well as the aggregate amount of securities loans, must be consistent with the 1940 Act and the rules or interpretations of the SEC thereunder. These provisions limit the amount of securities a fund may lend to 33⅓% of the fund’s total assets and require that (1) the borrower pledge and maintain with the fund collateral consisting of cash, an irrevocable letter of credit, or securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government having at all times not less than 100% of the value of the securities lent; (2) the borrower add to such collateral whenever the price of the securities lent rises (i.e., the borrower “marks to market” on a daily basis); (3) the loan be made subject to termination by the fund at any time; and (4) the fund receives reasonable interest on the loan (which may include the fund investing any cash collateral in interest-bearing short-term investments), any distribution on the lent securities, and any increase in their market value. Loan arrangements made by a fund will comply with any other applicable regulatory requirements. At the present time, the SEC does not object if an investment company pays reasonable negotiated fees in connection with lent securities, so long as such fees are set forth in a written contract and approved by the investment company’s trustees. In addition, voting rights pass with the lent securities, but if a fund has knowledge that a material event will occur affecting securities on loan, and in respect to which the holder of the securities will be entitled to vote or consent, the lender must be entitled to call the loaned securities in time to vote or consent. A fund bears the risk that there may be a delay in the return of the securities, which may impair the fund’s ability to vote on such a matter. See Tax Status of the Funds for information about certain tax consequences related to a fund’s securities lending activities.
Pursuant to Vanguard’s securities lending policy, Vanguard’s fixed income and money market funds are not permitted to, and do not, lend their investment securities.
Tax Matters—Federal Tax Discussion. Discussion herein of U.S. federal income tax matters summarizes some of the important, generally applicable U.S. federal tax considerations relevant to investment in a fund based on the IRC, U.S. Treasury regulations, and other applicable authorities. These authorities are subject to change by legislative, administrative, or judicial action, possibly with retroactive effect. Each Fund has not requested and will not request an advance ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as to the U.S. federal income tax matters discussed in this Statement of Additional Information. In some cases, a fund’s tax position may be uncertain under current tax law and an adverse determination or future guidance by the IRS with respect to such a position could adversely affect the fund and its shareholders, including the fund’s ability to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company or to continue to pursue its current investment strategy. A shareholder should consult his or her tax professional for information regarding the particular situation and the possible application of U.S. federal, state, local, foreign, and other taxes.
Tax Matters—Federal Tax Treatment of Derivatives, Hedging, and Related Transactions. A fund’s transactions in derivative instruments (including, but not limited to, options, futures, forward contracts, and swap agreements), as well as any of the fund’s hedging, short sale, securities loan, or similar transactions, may be subject to one or more special tax rules that accelerate income to the fund, defer losses to the fund, cause adjustments in the holding periods of the fund’s securities, convert long-term capital gains into short-term capital gains, or convert short-term capital losses into long-term capital losses. These rules could therefore affect the amount, timing, and character of distributions to shareholders.
Because these and other tax rules applicable to these types of transactions are in some cases uncertain under current law, an adverse determination or future guidance by the IRS with respect to these rules (which determination or guidance could be retroactive) may affect whether a fund has made sufficient distributions, and otherwise satisfied the relevant requirements, to maintain its qualification as a regulated investment company and avoid a fund-level tax.
Tax Matters—Federal Tax Treatment of Futures Contracts. For federal income tax purposes, a fund generally must recognize, as of the end of each taxable year, any net unrealized gains and losses on certain futures contracts, as well as any gains and losses actually realized during the year. In these cases, any gain or loss recognized with respect to a futures contract is considered to be 60% long-term capital gain or loss and 40% short-term capital gain or loss, without
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regard to the holding period of the contract. Gains and losses on certain other futures contracts (primarily non-U.S. futures contracts) are not recognized until the contracts are closed and are treated as long-term or short-term, depending on the holding period of the contract. Sales of futures contracts that are intended to hedge against a change in the value of securities held by a fund may affect the holding period of such securities and, consequently, the nature of the gain or loss on such securities upon disposition. A fund may be required to defer the recognition of losses on one position, such as futures contracts, to the extent of any unrecognized gains on a related offsetting position held by the fund.
A fund will distribute to shareholders annually any net capital gains that have been recognized for federal income tax purposes on futures transactions. Such distributions will be combined with distributions of capital gains realized on the fund’s other investments, and shareholders will be advised on the nature of the distributions.
Tax Matters—Federal Tax Treatment of Non-U.S. Currency Transactions. Special rules generally govern the federal income tax treatment of a fund’s transactions in the following: non-U.S. currencies; non-U.S. currency-denominated debt obligations; and certain non-U.S. currency options, futures contracts, forward contracts, and similar instruments. Accordingly, if a fund engages in these types of transactions it may have ordinary income or loss to the extent that such income or loss results from fluctuations in the value of the non-U.S. currency concerned. Such ordinary income could accelerate fund distributions to shareholders and increase the distributions taxed to shareholders as ordinary income. Any ordinary loss so created will generally reduce ordinary income distributions and, in some cases, could require the recharacterization of prior ordinary income distributions. Net ordinary losses cannot be carried forward by the fund to offset income or gains realized in subsequent taxable years.
Any gain or loss attributable to the non-U.S. currency component of a transaction engaged in by a fund that is not subject to these special currency rules (such as foreign equity investments other than certain preferred stocks) will generally be treated as a capital gain or loss and will not be segregated from the gain or loss on the underlying transaction.
To the extent a fund engages in non-U.S. currency hedging, the fund may elect or be required to apply other rules that could affect the character, timing, or amount of the fund’s gains and losses. For more information, see “Tax Matters—Federal Tax Treatment of Derivatives, Hedging, and Related Transactions.”
Tax Matters—Foreign Tax Credit. Foreign governments may withhold taxes on dividends and interest paid with respect to foreign securities held by a fund. Foreign governments may also impose taxes on other payments or gains with respect to foreign securities. If, at the close of its fiscal year, more than 50% of a fund’s total assets are invested in securities of foreign issuers, the fund may elect to pass through to shareholders the ability to deduct or, if they meet certain holding period requirements, take a credit for foreign taxes paid by the fund. Similarly, if at the close of each quarter of a fund’s taxable year, at least 50% of its total assets consist of interests in other regulated investment companies, the fund is permitted to elect to pass through to its shareholders the foreign income taxes paid by the fund in connection with foreign securities held directly by the fund or held by a regulated investment company in which the fund invests that has elected to pass through such taxes to shareholders.
Tax Matters—Passive Foreign Investment Companies. To the extent that a fund invests in stock in a foreign company, such stock may constitute an equity investment in a passive foreign investment company (PFIC). A foreign company is generally a PFIC if 75% or more of its gross income is passive or if 50% or more of its assets produce passive income. Capital gains on the sale of an interest in a PFIC will be deemed ordinary income regardless of how long a fund held it. Also, a fund may be subject to corporate income tax and an interest charge on certain dividends and capital gains earned in respect to PFIC interests, whether or not such amounts are distributed to shareholders. To avoid such tax and interest, a fund may elect to “mark to market” its PFIC interests, that is, to treat such interests as sold on the last day of a fund’s fiscal year, and to recognize any unrealized gains (or losses, to the extent of previously recognized gains) as ordinary income (or loss) each year. Distributions from a fund that are attributable to income or gains earned in respect to PFIC interests are characterized as ordinary income.
Tax Matters—Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits. If a fund invests directly or indirectly, including through a REIT or other pass-through entity, in residual interests in real estate mortgage investment conduits (REMICs) or equity interests in taxable mortgage pools (TMPs), a portion of the fund’s income that is attributable to a residual interest in a REMIC or an equity interest in a TMP (such portion referred to in the IRC as an “excess inclusion”) will be subject to U.S. federal income tax in all events—including potentially at the fund level—under a notice issued by the IRS in October 2006 and U.S. Treasury regulations that have yet to be issued but may apply retroactively. This notice also provides, and the regulations are expected to provide, that excess inclusion income of a regulated investment company will be allocated to shareholders of the regulated investment company in proportion to the dividends received by such
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shareholders, with the same consequences as if the shareholders held the related interest directly. In general, excess inclusion income allocated to shareholders (1) cannot be offset by net operating losses (subject to a limited exception for certain thrift institutions); (2) will constitute unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) to entities (including a qualified pension plan, an individual retirement account, a 401(k) plan, a Keogh plan, or other tax-exempt entity) subject to tax on UBTI, thereby potentially requiring such an entity, which otherwise might not be required, to file a tax return and pay tax on such income; and (3) in the case of a non-U.S. investor, will not qualify for any reduction in U.S. federal withholding tax. A shareholder will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on such inclusions notwithstanding any exemption from such income tax otherwise available under the IRC. As a result, a fund investing in such interests may not be suitable for charitable remainder trusts. See “Tax Matters—Tax-Exempt Investors.”
Tax Matters—Tax Considerations for Non-U.S. Investors. U.S. withholding and estate taxes and certain U.S. tax reporting requirements may apply to any investments made by non-U.S. investors in Vanguard funds. Certain properly reported distributions of qualifying interest income or short-term capital gain made by a fund to its non-U.S. investors are exempt from U.S. withholding taxes, provided the investors furnish valid tax documentation (i.e., IRS Form W-8) certifying as to their non-U.S. status.
A fund is permitted, but is not required, to report any of its distributions as eligible for such relief, and some distributions (e.g., distributions of interest a fund receives from non-U.S. issuers) are not eligible for this relief. For some funds, Vanguard has chosen to report qualifying distributions and apply the withholding exemption to those distributions when made to non-U.S. shareholders who invest directly with Vanguard. For other funds, Vanguard may choose not to apply the withholding exemption to qualifying fund distributions made to direct shareholders, but may provide the reporting to such shareholders. In these cases, a shareholder may be able to reclaim such withholding tax directly from the IRS.
If shareholders hold fund shares (including ETF shares) through a broker or intermediary, their broker or intermediary may apply this relief to properly reported qualifying distributions made to shareholders with respect to those shares. If a shareholder’s broker or intermediary instead collects withholding tax where the fund has provided the proper reporting, the shareholder may be able to reclaim such withholding tax from the IRS. Please consult your broker or intermediary regarding the application of these rules.
This relief does not apply to any withholding required under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which generally requires a fund to obtain information sufficient to identify the status of each of its shareholders. If a shareholder fails to provide this information or otherwise fails to comply with FATCA, a fund may be required to withhold under FATCA at a rate of 30% with respect to that shareholder on fund distributions. Please consult your tax advisor for more information about these rules.
Tax Matters—Tax-Exempt Investors. Income of a fund that would be UBTI if earned directly by a tax-exempt entity will not generally be attributed as UBTI to a tax-exempt shareholder of the fund. Notwithstanding this “blocking” effect, a tax-exempt shareholder could realize UBTI by virtue of its investment in a fund if shares in the fund constitute debt-financed property in the hands of the tax-exempt shareholder within the meaning of IRC Section 514(b).
A tax-exempt shareholder may also recognize UBTI if a fund recognizes “excess inclusion income” derived from direct or indirect investments in residual interests in REMICs or equity interests in TMPs. See “Tax Matters—Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits.”
In addition, special tax consequences apply to charitable remainder trusts that invest in a fund that invests directly or indirectly in residual interests in REMICs or equity interests in TMPs. Charitable remainder trusts and other tax-exempt investors are urged to consult their tax advisors concerning the consequences of investing in a fund.
Time Deposits. Time deposits are subject to the same risks that pertain to domestic issuers of money market instruments, most notably credit risk (and, to a lesser extent, income risk, market risk, and liquidity risk). Additionally, time deposits of foreign branches of U.S. banks and foreign branches of foreign banks may be subject to certain sovereign risks. One such risk is the possibility that a sovereign country might prevent capital, in the form of U.S. dollars, from flowing across its borders. Other risks include adverse political and economic developments, the extent and quality of government regulation of financial markets and institutions, the imposition of foreign withholding taxes, and expropriation or nationalization of foreign issuers. However, time deposits of such issuers will undergo the same type of credit analysis as domestic issuers in which a Vanguard fund invests and will have at least the same financial strength as the domestic issuers approved for the fund.
Warrants. Warrants are instruments that give the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy an equity security at a specific price for a specific period of time. Changes in the value of a warrant do not necessarily correspond to changes
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in the value of its underlying security. The price of a warrant may be more volatile than the price of its underlying security, and a warrant may offer greater potential for capital appreciation as well as capital loss. Warrants do not entitle a holder to dividends or voting rights with respect to the underlying security and do not represent any rights in the assets of the issuing company. A warrant ceases to have value if it is not exercised prior to its expiration date. These factors can make warrants more speculative than other types of investments.
When-Issued, Delayed-Delivery, and Forward-Commitment Transactions. When-issued, delayed-delivery, and forward-commitment transactions involve a commitment to purchase or sell specific securities at a predetermined price or yield in which payment and delivery take place after the customary settlement period for that type of security. Typically, no interest accrues to the purchaser until the security is delivered. When purchasing securities pursuant to one of these transactions, payment for the securities is not required until the delivery date. However, the purchaser assumes the rights and risks of ownership, including the risks of price and yield fluctuations and the risk that the security will not be issued as anticipated. When a fund has sold a security pursuant to one of these transactions, the fund does not participate in further gains or losses with respect to the security. If the other party to a delayed-delivery transaction fails to deliver or pay for the securities, the fund could miss a favorable price or yield opportunity or suffer a loss. A fund may renegotiate a when-issued or forward-commitment transaction and may sell the underlying securities before delivery, which may result in capital gains or losses for the fund. When-issued, delayed-delivery, and forward-commitment transactions will not be considered to constitute the issuance, by a fund, of a “senior security,” as that term is defined in Section 18(g) of the 1940 Act, and therefore such transaction will not be subject to the 300% asset coverage requirement otherwise applicable to borrowings by the fund, if the fund covers the transaction in accordance with the requirements described under the heading “Borrowing.”
Regulatory restrictions in India. Shares of Vanguard International Explorer Fund, Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund have not been, and will not be, registered under the laws of India and are not intended to benefit from any laws in India promulgated for the protection of shareholders. As a result of regulatory requirements in India, shares of each Fund shall not be knowingly offered to (directly or indirectly) or sold or delivered to (within India); transferred to or purchased by; or held by, for, on the account of, or for the benefit of (i) a “person resident in India” (as defined under applicable Indian law), (ii) an “overseas corporate body” or a “person of Indian origin” (as defined under applicable Indian law), or (iii) any other entity or person disqualified or otherwise prohibited from accessing the Indian securities market under applicable laws, as may be amended from time to time. Investors, prior to purchasing shares of each Fund, must satisfy themselves regarding compliance with these requirements.
Share Price
Multiple-class funds do not have a single share price. Rather, each class has a share price, called its net asset value, or NAV, that is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each day that the NYSE is open for business (a business day). In the rare event the NYSE experiences unanticipated disruptions and is unavailable at the close of the trading day, each Fund reserves the right to treat such day as a business day and calculate NAVs as of the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq (or another alternate exchange if the Nasdaq is unavailable, as determined at Vanguard’s discretion), generally 4 p.m., Eastern time. The NAV per share for Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, allocated to the share class by the number of Fund shares outstanding for that class. NAV per share for Vanguard Selected Value Fund, Vanguard International Explorer Fund, and Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund is computed by dividing the total assets, minus liabilities, of the Fund by the number of Fund shares outstanding. On U.S. holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated, and the Funds do not sell or redeem shares. However, on those days the value of a Fund’s assets may be affected to the extent that the Fund holds securities that change in value on those days (such as foreign securities that trade on foreign markets that are open).
The NYSE typically observes the following holidays: New Year’s Day; Martin Luther King, Jr., Day; Presidents’ Day (Washington’s Birthday); Good Friday; Memorial Day; Independence Day; Labor Day; Thanksgiving Day; and Christmas Day. Although each Fund expects the same holidays to be observed in the future, the NYSE may modify its holiday schedule or hours of operation at any time.
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Purchase and Redemption of Shares
Purchase of Shares  (other than ETF Shares)
The purchase price of shares of each Fund is the NAV per share next determined after the purchase request is received in good order, as defined in the Fund's prospectus.


 

The Funds (other than Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund) do not charge purchase fees. Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund charges a 0.75% purchase fee, and Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund each charge a 0.25% purchase fee. The purchase fee is paid to each Fund to reimburse it for the transaction costs incurred from purchasing securities. The fee is deducted from all purchases, including shares purchased by exchange from other Vanguard funds. Information regarding the application of purchase fees is described more fully in each Fund's prospectus.
Exchange of Securities for Shares of a Fund. Shares of a Fund may be purchased “in kind” (i.e., in exchange for securities, rather than for cash) at the discretion of the Fund’s portfolio manager. Such securities must not be restricted as to transfer and must have a value that is readily ascertainable. Securities accepted by the Fund will be valued, as set forth in the Fund’s prospectus, as of the time of the next determination of NAV after such acceptance. All dividend, subscription, or other rights that are reflected in the market price of accepted securities at the time of valuation become the property of the Fund and must be delivered to the Fund by the investor upon receipt from the issuer. A gain or loss for federal income tax purposes, depending upon the cost of the securities tendered, would be realized by the investor upon the exchange. Investors interested in purchasing fund shares in kind should contact Vanguard.
Redemption of Shares  (other than ETF Shares)
The redemption price of shares of each Fund is the NAV per share next determined after the redemption request is received in good order, as defined in the Fund’s prospectus.
Each Fund can postpone payment of redemption proceeds for up to seven calendar days. In addition, each Fund can suspend redemptions and/or postpone payments of redemption proceeds beyond seven calendar days (1) during any period that the NYSE is closed or trading on the NYSE is restricted as determined by the SEC; (2) during any period when an emergency exists, as defined by the SEC, as a result of which it is not reasonably practicable for the Fund to dispose of securities it owns or to fairly determine the value of its assets; or (3) for such other periods as the SEC may permit.
The Trust has filed a notice of election with the SEC to pay in cash all redemptions requested by any shareholder of record limited in amount during any 90-day period to the lesser of $250,000 or 1% of the net assets of a Fund at the beginning of such period.
If Vanguard determines that it would be detrimental to the best interests of the remaining shareholders of a Fund to make payment wholly or partly in cash, the Fund may pay the redemption price in whole or in part by a distribution in kind of readily marketable securities held by the Fund in lieu of cash in conformity with applicable rules of the SEC and in accordance with procedures adopted by the Fund's board of trustees. Investors may incur brokerage charges on the sale of such securities received in payment of redemptions.
The Funds (other than Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund) do not charge redemption fees. Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund each charge a 0.25% redemption fee. The redemption fee is paid to each Fund to reimburse it for the transaction costs incurred from liquidating securities in order to meet fund redemptions. Information regarding the application of redemption fees is described more fully in each Fund’s prospectus. Shares redeemed may be worth more or less than what was paid for them, depending on the market value of the securities held by the Funds.
Vanguard processes purchase and redemption requests through a pooled account. Pending investment direction or distribution of redemption proceeds, the assets in the pooled account are invested and any earnings (the “float”) are allocated proportionately among the Vanguard funds in order to offset fund expenses. Other than the float, Vanguard treats assets held in the pooled account as the assets of each shareholder making such purchase or redemption request.
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Right to Change Policies
Vanguard reserves the right, without notice, to (1) alter, add, or discontinue any conditions of purchase (including eligibility requirements), redemption, exchange, conversion, service, or privilege at any time and (2) alter, impose, discontinue, or waive any purchase fee, redemption fee, account service fee, or other fee charged to a shareholder or a group of shareholders. Changes may affect any or all investors. These actions will be taken when, at the sole discretion of Vanguard management, Vanguard believes they are in the best interest of a fund.
Account Restrictions
Vanguard reserves the right to: (1) redeem all or a portion of a fund/account to meet a legal obligation, including tax withholding, tax lien, garnishment order, or other obligation imposed on your account by a court or government agency; (2) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options in the case of threatening conduct or activity; (3) redeem shares, close an account, or suspend account privileges, features, or options if Vanguard believes or suspects that not doing so could result in a suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal transaction; (4) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if it is required to do so by a court or government agency; (5) place restrictions on the ability to redeem any or all shares in an account if Vanguard believes that doing so will prevent fraud, financial exploitation or abuse, or to protect vulnerable investors; (6) freeze any account and/or suspend account services if Vanguard has received reasonable notice of a dispute regarding the assets in an account, including notice of a dispute between the registered or beneficial account owners; and (7) freeze any account and/or suspend account services upon initial notification to Vanguard of the death of an account owner.
Investing With Vanguard Through Other Firms
Each Fund has authorized certain agents to accept on its behalf purchase and redemption orders, and those agents are authorized to designate other intermediaries to accept purchase and redemption orders on the Fund’s behalf (collectively, Authorized Agents). The Fund will be deemed to have received a purchase or redemption order when an Authorized Agent accepts the order in accordance with the Fund’s instructions. In most instances, a customer order that is properly transmitted to an Authorized Agent will be priced at the NAV per share next determined after the order is received by the Authorized Agent.
Management of the Funds
Each Fund is part of the Vanguard group of investment companies, which consists of over 200 funds. Each fund is a series of a Delaware statutory trust. The funds obtain virtually all of their corporate management, administrative, and distribution services through the trusts’ jointly owned subsidiary, Vanguard. Vanguard may contract with certain third-party service providers to assist Vanguard in providing certain administrative and/or accounting services with respect to the funds, subject to Vanguard’s oversight.  Vanguard also provides investment advisory services to certain Vanguard funds. All of these services are provided at Vanguard’s total cost of operations pursuant to the Fifth Amended and Restated Funds’ Service Agreement (the Agreement).
Vanguard employs a supporting staff of management and administrative personnel needed to provide the requisite services to the funds and also furnishes the funds with necessary office space, furnishings, and equipment. Each fund (other than a fund of funds) pays its share of Vanguard’s total expenses, which are allocated among the funds under methods approved by the board of trustees of each fund. In addition, each fund bears its own direct expenses, such as legal, auditing, and custodial fees.

 

Pursuant to an agreement between Vanguard and JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. (JP Morgan), JP Morgan provides services for Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, and Vanguard International Explorer Fund. These services include, but are not limited to: (i) the calculation of such funds’ daily NAVs and (ii) the furnishing of financial reports. The fees paid to JP Morgan under this agreement are based on a combination of flat and asset based fees. As of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, JP Morgan had received fees from the Funds for administrative services rendered as follows: for Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, $11,333.27.  For Vanguard International Explorer Fund JP Morgan had not received any fees for services rendered as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.

 

Pursuant to an agreement between Vanguard and State Street Bank and Trust Company (State Street), State Street provides services for Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund, Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund, and Vanguard Selected Value Fund. These services include, but are not limited to: (i) the calculation of such funds’ daily NAVs and (ii) the
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furnishing of financial reports. The fees paid to State Street under this agreement are based on a combination of flat and asset based fees. As of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, State Street had received fees from the Funds for administrative services rendered as follows: for Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund, $3,000; and for Vanguard Selected Value Fund, $3,000. For Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund, State Street had not received any fees for services rendered as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
The funds’ officers are also employees of Vanguard.
Vanguard, Vanguard Marketing Corporation (VMC), the funds, and the funds’ advisors have adopted codes of ethics designed to prevent employees who may have access to nonpublic information about the trading activities of the funds (access persons) from profiting from that information. The codes of ethics permit access persons to invest in securities for their own accounts, including securities that may be held by a fund, but place substantive and procedural restrictions on the trading activities of access persons. For example, the codes of ethics require that access persons receive advance approval for most securities trades to ensure that there is no conflict with the trading activities of the funds.
Vanguard was established and operates under the Agreement. The Agreement provides that each Vanguard fund may be called upon to invest up to 0.40% of its net assets in Vanguard. The amounts that each fund has invested are adjusted from time to time in order to maintain the proportionate relationship between each fund’s relative net assets and its contribution to Vanguard’s capital.
As of October 31, 2020, each Fund contributed capital to Vanguard as follows:  
Vanguard Fund
Capital
Contribution
to Vanguard
Percentage of
Fund’s Average
Net Assets
Percent of
Vanguard Funds’
Contribution
Selected Value Fund
$ 212,000
Less than 0.01%
0.08%
International Explorer Fund
$ 103,000
Less than 0.01%
0.04%
Mid-Cap Growth Fund
$ 190,000
Less than 0.01%
0.08%
High Dividend Yield Index Fund
$ 1,440,000
Less than 0.01%
0.58%
Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund
$ 88,000
Less than 0.01%
0.04%
Global Minimum Volatility Fund
$ 138,000
Less than 0.01%
0.06%
International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
$ 114,000
Less than 0.01%
0.05%
International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
$ 68,000
Less than 0.01%
0.03%
Management. Corporate management and administrative services include (1) executive staff, (2) accounting and financial, (3) legal and regulatory, (4) shareholder account maintenance, (5) monitoring and control of custodian relationships, (6) shareholder reporting, and (7) review and evaluation of advisory and other services provided to the funds by third parties.
Distribution. Vanguard Marketing Corporation, 100 Vanguard Boulevard, Malvern, PA 19355, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard, is the principal underwriter for the funds and in that capacity performs and finances marketing, promotional, and distribution activities (collectively, marketing and distribution activities) that are primarily intended to result in the sale of the funds’ shares. VMC offers shares of each fund for sale on a continuous basis and will use all reasonable efforts in connection with the distribution of shares of the funds. VMC performs marketing and distribution activities in accordance with the conditions of a 1981 SEC exemptive order that permits the Vanguard funds to internalize and jointly finance the marketing, promotion, and distribution of their shares. The funds’ trustees review and approve the marketing and distribution expenses incurred by the funds, including the nature and cost of the activities and the desirability of each fund’s continued participation in the joint arrangement.
To ensure that each fund’s participation in the joint arrangement falls within a reasonable range of fairness, each fund contributes to VMC’s marketing and distribution expenses in accordance with an SEC-approved formula. Under that formula, one half of the marketing and distribution expenses are allocated among the funds based upon their relative net assets. The remaining half of those expenses is allocated among the funds based upon each fund’s sales for the preceding 24 months relative to the total sales of the funds as a group, provided, however, that no fund’s aggregate quarterly rate of contribution for marketing and distribution expenses shall exceed 125% of the average marketing and
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distribution expense rate for Vanguard and that no fund shall incur annual marketing and distribution expenses in excess of 0.20% of its average month-end net assets. Each fund’s contribution to these marketing and distribution expenses helps to maintain and enhance the attractiveness and viability of the Vanguard complex as a whole, which benefits all of the funds and their shareholders.
VMC’s principal marketing and distribution expenses are for advertising, promotional materials, and marketing personnel. Other marketing and distribution activities of an administrative nature that VMC undertakes on behalf of the funds may include, but are not limited to:
■ Conducting or publishing Vanguard-generated research and analysis concerning the funds, other investments, the financial markets, or the economy.
■ Providing views, opinions, advice, or commentary concerning the funds, other investments, the financial markets, or the economy.
■ Providing analytical, statistical, performance, or other information concerning the funds, other investments, the financial markets, or the economy.
■ Providing administrative services in connection with investments in the funds or other investments, including, but not limited to, shareholder services, recordkeeping services, and educational services.
■ Providing products or services that assist investors or financial service providers (as defined below) in the investment decision-making process.
■ Providing promotional discounts, commission-free trading, fee waivers, and other benefits to clients of Vanguard Brokerage Services® who maintain qualifying investments in the funds.
VMC performs most marketing and distribution activities itself. Some activities may be conducted by third parties pursuant to shared marketing arrangements under which VMC agrees to share the costs and performance of marketing and distribution activities in concert with a financial service provider. Financial service providers include, but are not limited to, investment advisors, broker-dealers, financial planners, financial consultants, banks, and insurance companies. Under these cost- and performance-sharing arrangements, VMC may pay or reimburse a financial service provider (or a third party it retains) for marketing and distribution activities that VMC would otherwise perform. VMC’s cost- and performance-sharing arrangements may be established in connection with Vanguard investment products or services offered or provided to or through the financial service providers. VMC’s arrangements for shared marketing and distribution activities may vary among financial service providers, and its payments or reimbursements to financial service providers in connection with shared marketing and distribution activities may be significant.
VMC, as a matter of policy, does not pay asset-based fees, sales-based fees, or account-based fees to financial service providers in connection with its marketing and distribution activities for the Vanguard funds. VMC does make fixed dollar payments to financial service providers when sponsoring, jointly sponsoring, financially supporting, or participating in conferences, programs, seminars, presentations, meetings, or other events involving fund shareholders, financial service providers, or others concerning the funds, other investments, the financial markets, or the economy, such as industry conferences, prospecting trips, due diligence visits, training or education meetings, and sales presentations. VMC also makes fixed dollar payments to financial service providers for data regarding funds, such as statistical information regarding sales of fund shares. In addition, VMC makes one-time fixed dollar payments for setup expenses associated with financial service providers’ use of Vanguard’s model portfolios comprised of funds.
In connection with its marketing and distribution activities, VMC may give financial service providers (or their representatives) (1) promotional items of nominal value that display Vanguard’s logo, such as golf balls, shirts, towels, pens, and mouse pads; (2) gifts that do not exceed $100 per person annually and are not preconditioned on achievement of a sales target; (3) an occasional meal, a ticket to a sporting event or the theater, or comparable entertainment that is neither so frequent nor so extensive as to raise any question of propriety and is not preconditioned on achievement of a sales target; and (4) reasonable travel and lodging accommodations to facilitate participation in marketing and distribution activities.
VMC policy prohibits marketing and distribution activities that are intended, designed, or likely to compromise suitability determinations by, or the fulfillment of any fiduciary duties or other obligations that apply to, financial service providers. Nonetheless, VMC’s marketing and distribution activities are primarily intended to result in the sale of the funds’ shares, and as such, its activities, including shared marketing and distribution activities and fixed dollar payments as described above, may influence applicable financial service providers (or their representatives) to recommend, promote, include, or invest in a Vanguard fund or share class. In addition, Vanguard or any of its subsidiaries may retain a financial service provider to provide consulting or other services, and that financial service provider also may provide services to
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investors. Investors should consider the possibility that any of these activities, relationships, or payments may influence a financial service provider’s (or its representatives’) decision to recommend, promote, include, or invest in a Vanguard fund or share class. Each financial service provider should consider its suitability determinations, fiduciary duties, and other legal obligations (or those of its representatives) in connection with any decision to consider, recommend, promote, include, or invest in a Vanguard fund or share class.
The following table describes the expenses of Vanguard and VMC that are incurred by the Funds. Amounts captioned “Management and Administrative Expenses” include a Fund's allocated share of expenses associated with the management, administrative, and transfer agency services Vanguard provides to the Vanguard funds. Amounts captioned “Marketing and Distribution Expenses” include a Fund's allocated share of expenses associated with the marketing and distribution activities that VMC conducts on behalf of the Vanguard funds.
As is the case with all mutual funds, transaction costs incurred by a Fund for buying and selling securities are not reflected in the table. Annual Shared Fund Operating Expenses are based on expenses incurred in the fiscal years ended October 31, 2018, 2019, and 2020, and are presented as a percentage of each Fund's average month-end net assets.  
Annual Shared Fund Operating Expenses
(Shared Expenses Deducted From Fund Assets)
Vanguard Fund
2018
2019
2020
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund
 
 
 
Management and Administrative Expenses
0.28%
0.23%
0.23%
Marketing and Distribution Expenses
0.01 
Less than 0.01 
0.01 
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund
 
 
 
Management and Administrative Expenses
0.14%
0.13%
0.13%
Marketing and Distribution Expenses
0.01 
0.01 
0.01 
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund
 
 
 
Management and Administrative Expenses
0.07%
0.06%
0.05%
Marketing and Distribution Expenses
0.01 
0.01 
Less than 0.01 
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
 
 
 
Management and Administrative Expenses
0.21%
0.18%
0.18%
Marketing and Distribution Expenses
0.01 
0.01 
0.01 
Vanguard International Explorer Fund
 
 
 
Management and Administrative Expenses
0.15%
0.16%
0.15%
Marketing and Distribution Expenses
0.02 
0.01 
0.01 
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
 
 
 
Management and Administrative Expenses
0.28%
0.25%
0.23%
Marketing and Distribution Expenses
0.01 
0.01 
0.01 
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund
 
 
 
Management and Administrative Expenses
0.18%
0.18%
0.19%
Marketing and Distribution Expenses
0.02 
0.01 
0.01 
Vanguard Selected Value Fund
 
 
 
Management and Administrative Expenses
0.14%
0.15%
0.14%
Marketing and Distribution Expenses
0.02 
0.01 
0.01 
Officers and Trustees
Each Vanguard fund is governed by the board of trustees of its trust and a single set of officers. Consistent with the board’s corporate governance principles, the trustees believe that their primary responsibility is oversight of the management of each fund for the benefit of its shareholders, not day-to-day management. The trustees set broad policies for the funds; select investment advisors; monitor fund operations, regulatory compliance, performance, and costs; nominate and select new trustees; and elect fund officers. Vanguard manages the day-to-day operations of the funds under the direction of the board of trustees.
The trustees play an active role, as a full board and at the committee level, in overseeing risk management for the funds. The trustees delegate the day-to-day risk management of the funds to various groups, including portfolio review,
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investment management, risk management, compliance, legal, fund accounting, and fund financial services. These groups provide the trustees with regular reports regarding investment, valuation, liquidity, and compliance, as well as the risks associated with each. The trustees also oversee risk management for the funds through regular interactions with the funds’ internal and external auditors.
The full board participates in the funds’ risk oversight, in part, through the Vanguard funds’ compliance program, which covers the following broad areas of compliance: investment and other operations; recordkeeping; valuation and pricing; communications and disclosure; reporting and accounting; oversight of service providers; fund governance; and codes of ethics, insider trading controls, and protection of nonpublic information. The program seeks to identify and assess risk through various methods, including through regular interdisciplinary communications between compliance professionals and business personnel who participate on a daily basis in risk management on behalf of the funds. The funds’ chief compliance officer regularly provides reports to the board in writing and in person.
The audit committee of the board, which is composed of F. Joseph Loughrey, Mark Loughridge, Sarah Bloom Raskin, and Peter F. Volanakis, each of whom is an independent trustee, oversees management of financial risks and controls. The audit committee serves as the channel of communication between the independent auditors of the funds and the board with respect to financial statements and financial reporting processes, systems of internal control, and the audit process. Vanguard’s head of internal audit reports directly to the audit committee and provides reports to the committee in writing and in person on a regular basis. Although the audit committee is responsible for overseeing the management of financial risks, the entire board is regularly informed of these risks through committee reports.
All of the trustees bring to each fund’s board a wealth of executive leadership experience derived from their service as executives (in many cases chief executive officers), board members, and leaders of diverse public operating companies, academic institutions, and other organizations. In determining whether an individual is qualified to serve as a trustee of the funds, the board considers a wide variety of information about the trustee, and multiple factors contribute to the board’s decision. Each trustee is determined to have the experience, skills, and attributes necessary to serve the funds and their shareholders because each trustee demonstrates an exceptional ability to consider complex business and financial matters, evaluate the relative importance and priority of issues, make decisions, and contribute effectively to the deliberations of the board. The board also considers the individual experience of each trustee and determines that the trustee’s professional experience, education, and background contribute to the diversity of perspectives on the board. The business acumen, experience, and objective thinking of the trustees are considered invaluable assets for Vanguard management and, ultimately, the Vanguard funds’ shareholders. The specific roles and experience of each board member that factor into this determination are presented on the following pages. The mailing address of the trustees and officers is P.O. Box 876, Valley Forge, PA 19482.  
Name, Year of Birth
Position(s)
Held With
Funds
Vanguard
Funds’ Trustee/
Officer Since
Principal Occupation(s)
During the Past Five Years,
Outside Directorships,
and Other Experience
Number of
Vanguard Funds
Overseen by
Trustee/Officer
Interested Trustee1
 
 
 
 
Mortimer J. Buckley
(1969)
Chairman of the
Board, Chief
Executive
Officer, and
President
January 2018
Chairman of the board (2019–present) of Vanguard and
of each of the investment companies served by
Vanguard; chief executive officer (2018–present) of
Vanguard; chief executive officer, president, and
trustee (2018–present) of each of the investment
companies served by Vanguard; president and director
(2017–present) of Vanguard; and president
(2018–present) of Vanguard Marketing Corporation.
Chief investment officer (2013–2017), managing
director (2002–2017), head of the Retail Investor Group
(2006–2012), and chief information officer (2001–2006)
of Vanguard. Chairman of the board (2011–2017) and
trustee (2009–2017) of the Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia; and trustee (2018–present) and vice chair
(2019–present) of The Shipley School.
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1 Mr. Buckley is considered an “interested person” as defined in the 1940 Act because he is an officer of the Trust.
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Name, Year of Birth
Position(s)
Held With
Funds
Vanguard
Funds’ Trustee/
Officer Since
Principal Occupation(s)
During the Past Five Years,
Outside Directorships,
and Other Experience
Number of
Vanguard Funds
Overseen by
Trustee/Officer
Independent Trustees
 
 
 
 
Emerson U. Fullwood
(1948)
Trustee
January 2008
Executive chief staff and marketing officer for North
America and corporate vice president (retired 2008) of
Xerox Corporation (document management products
and services). Former president of the Worldwide
Channels Group, Latin America, and Worldwide
Customer Service and executive chief staff officer of
Developing Markets of Xerox. Executive in residence
and 2009–2010 Distinguished Minett Professor at the
Rochester Institute of Technology. Director of SPX
FLOW, Inc. (multi-industry manufacturing). Director of
the University of Rochester Medical Center, the
Monroe Community College Foundation, the United
Way of Rochester, North Carolina A&T University, and
Roberts Wesleyan College. Trustee of the University of
Rochester.
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Amy Gutmann
(1949)
Trustee
June 2006
President (2004–present) of the University of
Pennsylvania. Christopher H. Browne Distinguished
Professor of Political Science, School of Arts and
Sciences, and professor of communication, Annenberg
School for Communication, with secondary faculty
appointments in the Department of Philosophy, School
of Arts and Sciences, and at the Graduate School of
Education, University of Pennsylvania.
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F. Joseph Loughrey
(1949)
Trustee
October 2009
President and chief operating officer (retired 2009) and
vice chairman of the board (2008–2009) of Cummins
Inc. (industrial machinery). Chairman of the board of
Hillenbrand, Inc. (specialized consumer services).
Director of the V Foundation. Member of the advisory
council for the College of Arts and Letters and chair of
the advisory board to the Kellogg Institute for
International Studies, both at the University of Notre
Dame. Chairman of the board of Saint Anselm College.
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Mark Loughridge
(1953)
Lead
Independent
Trustee
March 2012
Senior vice president and chief financial officer (retired
2013) of IBM (information technology services).
Fiduciary member of IBM’s Retirement Plan
Committee (2004–2013), senior vice president and
general manager (2002–2004) of IBM Global Financing,
vice president and controller (1998–2002) of IBM, and
a variety of other prior management roles at IBM.
Member of the Council on Chicago Booth.
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Scott C. Malpass
(1962)
Trustee
March 2012
Chief investment officer and vice president of the
University of Notre Dame (retired June 2020).
Assistant professor of finance at the Mendoza College
of Business, University of Notre Dame (retired June
2020), and member of the Notre Dame 403(b)
Investment Committee. Member of the board of
Catholic Investment Services, Inc. (investment
advisors) and the board of superintendence of the
Institute for the Works of Religion.
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Name, Year of Birth
Position(s)
Held With
Funds
Vanguard
Funds’ Trustee/
Officer Since
Principal Occupation(s)
During the Past Five Years,
Outside Directorships,
and Other Experience
Number of
Vanguard Funds
Overseen by
Trustee/Officer
Deanna Mulligan
(1963)
Trustee
January 2018
Board chair (2020), chief executive officer (2011–2020),
and president (2010–2019) of The Guardian Life
Insurance Company of America. Chief operating officer
(2010–2011) and executive vice president (2008–2010)
of Individual Life and Disability of The Guardian Life
Insurance Company of America. Member of the board
of the Economic Club of New York. Trustee of the
Partnership for New York City (business leadership),
the Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, the New
York-Presbyterian Hospital, and the Bruce Museum
(arts and science). Member of the Advisory Council for
the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
211
André F. Perold
(1952)
Trustee
December 2004
George Gund Professor of Finance and Banking,
Emeritus at the Harvard Business School (retired
2011). Chief investment officer and co-managing
partner of HighVista Strategies LLC (private
investment firm). Board member (2018–present) of RIT
Capital Partners (investment firm); investment
committee member of Partners Health Care System.
211
Sarah Bloom Raskin
(1961)
Trustee
January 2018
Deputy secretary (2014–2017) of the United States
Department of the Treasury. Governor (2010–2014) of
the Federal Reserve Board. Commissioner
(2007–2010) of financial regulation for the State of
Maryland. Director (2017–present) of i(x) Investments,
LLC. Rubenstein Fellow (2017–2020) of Duke
University; trustee (2017–present) of Amherst College;
and member of Amherst College Investment
Committee (2019–present).
211
Peter F. Volanakis
(1955)
Trustee
July 2009
President and chief operating officer (retired 2010) of
Corning Incorporated (communications equipment)
and director of Corning Incorporated (2000–2010) and
Dow Corning (2001–2010). Director (2012) of SPX
Corporation (multi-industry manufacturing). Overseer
of the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration,
Dartmouth College (2001–2013). Chairman of the
board of trustees of Colby-Sawyer College. Member of
the BMW Group Mobility Council.
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Executive Officers
 
 
 
 
John Bendl
(1970)
Chief Financial
Officer
October 2019
Principal of Vanguard. Chief financial officer
(2019–present) of each of the investment companies
served by Vanguard. Chief accounting officer, treasurer,
and controller of Vanguard (2017–present). Partner
(2003–2016) at KPMG (audit, tax, and advisory
services).
211
Christine M. Buchanan
(1970)
Treasurer
November 2017
Principal of Vanguard. Treasurer (2017–present) of each
of the investment companies served by Vanguard.
Partner (2005–2017) at KPMG (audit, tax, and advisory
services).
211
David Cermak
(1960)
Finance Director
October 2019
Principal of Vanguard. Finance director (2019–present)
of each of the investment companies served by
Vanguard. Managing director and head (2017–present)
of Vanguard Investments Singapore. Managing director
and head (2017–2019) of Vanguard Investments Hong
Kong. Representative director and head (2014–2017)
of Vanguard Investments Japan.
211
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Name, Year of Birth
Position(s)
Held With
Funds
Vanguard
Funds’ Trustee/
Officer Since
Principal Occupation(s)
During the Past Five Years,
Outside Directorships,
and Other Experience
Number of
Vanguard Funds
Overseen by
Trustee/Officer
John Galloway
(1973)
Investment
Stewardship
Officer
September 2020
Principal of Vanguard. Investment stewardship officer
(September 2020–present) of each of the investment
companies served by Vanguard. Head of Investor
Advocacy (February 2020–present) and head of
Marketing Strategy and Planning (2017–2020) at
Vanguard. Deputy Assistant to the President of the
United States (2015).
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Peter Mahoney
(1974)
Controller
May 2015
Principal of Vanguard. Controller (2015–present) of
each of the investment companies served by
Vanguard. Head of International Fund Services (2008–
2014) at Vanguard.
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Anne E. Robinson
(1970)
Secretary
September 2016
General counsel (2016–present) of Vanguard.
Secretary (2016–present) of Vanguard and of each of
the investment companies served by Vanguard.
Managing director (2016–present) of Vanguard.
Managing director and general counsel of Global Cards
and Consumer Services (2014–2016) at Citigroup.
Counsel (2003–2014) at American Express.
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Michael Rollings
(1963)
Finance Director
February 2017
Finance director (2017–present) and treasurer (2017)
of each of the investment companies served by
Vanguard. Managing director (2016–present) of
Vanguard. Chief financial officer (2016–present) of
Vanguard. Director (2016–present) of Vanguard
Marketing Corporation. Executive vice president and
chief financial officer (2006–2016) of MassMutual
Financial Group.
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John E. Schadl
(1972)
Chief
Compliance
Officer
March 2019
Principal of Vanguard. Chief compliance officer
(2019–present) of Vanguard and of each of the
investment companies served by Vanguard. Assistant
vice president (2019–present) of Vanguard Marketing
Corporation.
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All but one of the trustees are independent. The independent trustees designate a lead independent trustee. The lead independent trustee is a spokesperson and principal point of contact for the independent trustees and is responsible for coordinating the activities of the independent trustees, including calling regular executive sessions of the independent trustees; developing the agenda of each meeting together with the chairman; and chairing the meetings of the independent trustees. The lead independent trustee also chairs the meetings of the audit, compensation, and nominating committees. The board also has two investment committees, which consist of independent trustees and the sole interested trustee.
The independent trustees appoint the chairman of the board. The roles of chairman of the board and chief executive officer currently are held by the same person; as a result, the chairman of the board is an “interested” trustee. The independent trustees generally believe that the Vanguard funds’ chief executive officer is best qualified to serve as chairman and that fund shareholders benefit from this leadership structure through accountability and strong day-to-day leadership.
Board Committees: The Trust's board has the following committees:
■ Audit Committee: This committee oversees the accounting and financial reporting policies, the systems of internal controls, and the independent audits of each fund. The following independent trustees serve as members of the committee: Mr. Loughrey, Mr. Loughridge, Ms. Raskin, and Mr. Volanakis. The committee held six meetings during the Trust's fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
■ Compensation Committee: This committee oversees the compensation programs established by each fund for the benefit of its trustees. All independent trustees serve as members of the committee. The committee held one meeting during the Trust's fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
■ Investment Committees: These committees assist the board in its oversight of investment advisors to the funds and in the review and evaluation of materials relating to the board’s consideration of investment advisory agreements
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with the funds. Each trustee serves on one of two investment committees. Each investment committee held four meetings during the Trust's fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
■ Nominating Committee: This committee nominates candidates for election to the board of trustees of each fund. The committee also has the authority to recommend the removal of any trustee. All independent trustees serve as members of the committee. The committee held one meeting during the Trust's fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
The Nominating Committee will consider shareholder recommendations for trustee nominees. Shareholders may send recommendations to Mr. Loughridge, chairman of the committee.
Trustee Compensation
The same individuals serve as trustees of all Vanguard funds and each fund pays a proportionate share of the trustees’ compensation. Vanguard funds also employ their officers on a shared basis; however, officers are compensated by Vanguard, not the funds.
Independent Trustees. The funds compensate their independent trustees (i.e., the ones who are not also officers of the funds) in three ways:
■ The independent trustees receive an annual fee for their service to the funds, which is subject to reduction based on absences from scheduled board meetings.
■ The independent trustees are reimbursed for the travel and other expenses that they incur in attending board meetings.
■ Upon retirement (after attaining age 65 and completing five years of service), the independent trustees who began their service prior to January 1, 2001, receive a retirement benefit under a separate account arrangement. As of January 1, 2001, the opening balance of each eligible trustee’s separate account was generally equal to the net present value of the benefits he or she had accrued under the trustees’ former retirement plan. Each eligible trustee’s separate account will be credited annually with interest at a rate of 7.5% until the trustee receives his or her final distribution. Those independent trustees who began their service on or after January 1, 2001, are not eligible to participate in the plan.
“Interested” Trustee. Mr. Buckley serves as a trustee, but is not paid in this capacity. He is, however, paid in his role as an officer of Vanguard.
Compensation Table. The following table provides compensation details for each of the trustees. We list the amounts paid as compensation and accrued as retirement benefits by the Funds for each trustee. In addition, the table shows the total amount of benefits that we expect each trustee to receive from all Vanguard funds upon retirement and the total amount of compensation paid to each trustee by all Vanguard funds.
VANGUARD WHITEHALL FUNDS
TRUSTEES’ COMPENSATION TABLE  
Trustee
Aggregate
Compensation From
the Funds1
Pension or Retirement
Benefits Accrued as Part of
the Funds’ Expenses1
Accrued Annual
Retirement Benefit at
January 1, 20212
Total Compensation
From All Vanguard
Funds Paid to Trustees3
Mortimer J. Buckley
—
—
—
—
Emerson U. Fullwood
$ 4,945
—
—
$ 287,500
Amy Gutmann
4,945
—
—
287,500
F. Joseph Loughrey
5,289
—
—
307,500
Mark Loughridge
6,151
—
—
357,500
Scott C. Malpass
4,945
—
—
287,500
Deanna Mulligan
4,945
—
—
287,500
André F. Perold
4,945
—
—
287,500
Sarah Bloom Raskin
5,289
—
—
307,500
Peter F. Volanakis
5,289
—
—
307,500
1
The amounts shown in this column are based on the Trust's fiscal year ended October 31, 2020. Each Fund within the Trust is responsible for a proportionate share of these amounts.
2
Each trustee is eligible to receive retirement benefits only after completing at least 5 years (60 consecutive months) of service as a trustee for the Vanguard funds. The annual retirement benefit will be paid in monthly installments, beginning with the month following the trustee’s retirement from service, and will cease after 10 years of payments (120 monthly installments). Trustees who began their service on or after January 1, 2001, are not eligible to participate in the retirement benefit plan.
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3
The amounts reported in this column reflect the total compensation paid to each trustee for his or her service as trustee of 211 Vanguard funds for the 2020 calendar year.
Ownership of Fund Shares
All current trustees allocate their investments among the various Vanguard funds based on their own investment needs. The following table shows each trustee’s ownership of shares of each Fund and of all Vanguard funds served by the trustee as of December 31, 2020.
VANGUARD WHITEHALL FUNDS  
Vanguard Fund
Trustee
Dollar Range of
Fund Shares
Owned by Trustee
Aggregate Dollar Range
of Vanguard Fund Shares
Owned by Trustee
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund
Mortimer J. Buckley
—
Over $100,000
 
Emerson U. Fullwood
—
Over $100,000
 
Amy Gutmann
—
Over $100,000
 
F. Joseph Loughrey
—
Over $100,000
 
Mark Loughridge
—
Over $100,000
 
Scott C. Malpass
—
Over $100,000
 
Deanna Mulligan
—
Over $100,000
 
André F. Perold
—
Over $100,000
 
Sarah Bloom Raskin
—
Over $100,000
 
Peter F. Volanakis
—
Over $100,000
 
 
 
 
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund
Mortimer J. Buckley
Over $100,000
Over $100,000
 
Emerson U. Fullwood
—
Over $100,000
 
Amy Gutmann
—
Over $100,000
 
F. Joseph Loughrey
—
Over $100,000
 
Mark Loughridge
—
Over $100,000
 
Scott C. Malpass
—
Over $100,000
 
Deanna Mulligan
—
Over $100,000
 
André F. Perold
—
Over $100,000
 
Sarah Bloom Raskin
—
Over $100,000
 
Peter F. Volanakis
—
Over $100,000
 
 
 
 
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Mortimer J. Buckley
—
Over $100,000
 
Emerson U. Fullwood
Over $100,000
Over $100,000
 
Amy Gutmann
—
Over $100,000
 
F. Joseph Loughrey
Over $100,000
Over $100,000
 
Mark Loughridge
—
Over $100,000
 
Scott C. Malpass
—
Over $100,000
 
Deanna Mulligan
—
Over $100,000
 
André F. Perold
—
Over $100,000
 
Sarah Bloom Raskin
—
Over $100,000
 
Peter F. Volanakis
—
Over $100,000
 
 
 
 
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Vanguard Fund
Trustee
Dollar Range of
Fund Shares
Owned by Trustee
Aggregate Dollar Range
of Vanguard Fund Shares
Owned by Trustee
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
Mortimer J. Buckley
—
Over $100,000
 
Emerson U. Fullwood
—
Over $100,000
 
Amy Gutmann
—
Over $100,000
 
F. Joseph Loughrey
—
Over $100,000
 
Mark Loughridge
—
Over $100,000
 
Scott C. Malpass
—
Over $100,000
 
Deanna Mulligan
—
Over $100,000
 
André F. Perold
—
Over $100,000
 
Sarah Bloom Raskin
—
Over $100,000
 
Peter F. Volanakis
—
Over $100,000
 
 
 
 
Vanguard International Explorer Fund
Mortimer J. Buckley
Over $100,000
Over $100,000
 
Emerson U. Fullwood
—
Over $100,000
 
Amy Gutmann
—
Over $100,000
 
F. Joseph Loughrey
—
Over $100,000
 
Mark Loughridge
—
Over $100,000
 
Scott C. Malpass
—
Over $100,000
 
Deanna Mulligan
—
Over $100,000
 
André F. Perold
—
Over $100,000
 
Sarah Bloom Raskin
—
Over $100,000
 
Peter F. Volanakis
—
Over $100,000
 
 
 
 
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Mortimer J. Buckley
—
Over $100,000
 
Emerson U. Fullwood
—
Over $100,000
 
Amy Gutmann
—
Over $100,000
 
F. Joseph Loughrey
—
Over $100,000
 
Mark Loughridge
—
Over $100,000
 
Scott C. Malpass
—
Over $100,000
 
Deanna Mulligan
—
Over $100,000
 
André F. Perold
—
Over $100,000
 
Sarah Bloom Raskin
—
Over $100,000
 
Peter F. Volanakis
—
Over $100,000
 
 
 
 
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund
Mortimer J. Buckley
—
Over $100,000
 
Emerson U. Fullwood
—
Over $100,000
 
Amy Gutmann
—
Over $100,000
 
F. Joseph Loughrey
—
Over $100,000
 
Mark Loughridge
—
Over $100,000
 
Scott C. Malpass
—
Over $100,000
 
Deanna Mulligan
—
Over $100,000
 
André F. Perold
—
Over $100,000
 
Sarah Bloom Raskin
—
Over $100,000
 
Peter F. Volanakis
—
Over $100,000
 
 
 
 
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Vanguard Fund
Trustee
Dollar Range of
Fund Shares
Owned by Trustee
Aggregate Dollar Range
of Vanguard Fund Shares
Owned by Trustee
Vanguard Selected Value Fund
Mortimer J. Buckley
—
Over $100,000
 
Emerson U. Fullwood
—
Over $100,000
 
Amy Gutmann
—
Over $100,000
 
F. Joseph Loughrey
—
Over $100,000
 
Mark Loughridge
—
Over $100,000
 
Scott C. Malpass
—
Over $100,000
 
Deanna Mulligan
—
Over $100,000
 
André F. Perold
—
Over $100,000
 
Sarah Bloom Raskin
—
Over $100,000
 
Peter F. Volanakis
—
Over $100,000
As of January 31, 2021, the trustees and officers of the funds owned, in the aggregate, less than 1% of each class of each fund’s outstanding shares.
As of January 31, 2021, the following owned of record 5% or more of the outstanding shares of each class (other than ETF Shares):  
Vanguard Fund
Share Class
Owner and Address
Percentage
of Ownership
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index
Fund
Admiral Shares
CHARLES SCHWAB & CO INC SAN
FRANCISCO, CA
9.88%
 
Institutional Shares
NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY FBO
FLORIDA 529 SAVING PLAN - DV
CHICAGO, IL
44.40%
 
 
NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY FBO
THE SCHAEFFER REV FAMILY TRUST
CHICAGO, IL
24.93%
 
 
MAC & CO PITTSBURG, PA
30.65%
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund
Investor Shares
CHARLES SCHWAB & CO INC SAN
FRANCISCO, CA
6.98%
 
 
VANGUARD MANAGED ALLOCATION
FUND VALLEY FORGE, PA
9.71%
 
 
NATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES
CORPORATION JERSEY CITY, NJ
15.70%
 
Admiral Shares
CHARLES SCHWAB & CO INC SAN
FRANCISCO, CA
8.89%
 
 
MAC & CO PITTSBURG, PA
10.91%
 
 
MAC & CO PITTSBURG, PA
7.50%
 
 
NATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES
CORPORATION JERSEY CITY, NJ
8.34%
 
 
CAPINCO C/O US BANK NA
MILWAUKEE, WI
7.29%
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Admiral Shares
CHARLES SCHWAB & CO INC SAN
FRANCISCO, CA
6.00%
 
 
NATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES
CORPORATION JERSEY CITY, NJ
10.34%
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index
Fund
Admiral Shares
FCCI INSURANCE COMPANY
SARASOTA, FL
12.21%
Vanguard International Explorer Fund
Investor Shares
CHARLES SCHWAB & CO INC SAN
FRANCISCO, CA
9.17%
 
 
NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY FBO
NORTH DAKOTA STATE INVESTMENT
BOARD CHICAGO, IL
6.64%
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Vanguard Fund
Share Class
Owner and Address
Percentage
of Ownership
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Admiral Shares
BOK TTE COMMISSIONERS LAND OFF
- QUALIFIED PLANS TULSA, OK
37.84%
 
 
FCCI INSURANCE COMPANY
SARASOTA, FL
8.15%
 
 
NATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES
CORPORATION JERSEY CITY, NJ
5.75%
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund
Investor Shares
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS
INSTITUTIONAL OPERATIONS CO INC
COVINGTON, KY
8.96%
 
 
NATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES
CORPORATION JERSEY CITY, NJ
8.45%
Vanguard Selected Value Fund
Investor Shares
CHARLES SCHWAB & CO INC SAN
FRANCISCO, CA
7.11%
 
 
NATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES
CORPORATION JERSEY CITY, NJ
5.17%
 
 
NATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES
CORPORATION JERSEY CITY, NJ
7.16%
Although the Funds do not have information concerning the beneficial ownership of shares held in the names of Depository Trust Company (DTC) participants, as of January 31, 2021, the name and percentage ownership of each DTC participant that owned of record 5% or more of the outstanding ETF Shares of the Fund were as follows:  
Vanguard Fund
Owner
Percentage
of Ownership
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF
Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
20.01%
 
National Financial Services LLC
7.21%
 
State Street Bank and Trust Company
19.09%
 
TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.
5.04%
 
VANGUARD Marketing Corporation
6.47%
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
14.06%
 
Merrill Lynch, Pierece, Fenner & Smith
5.44%
 
National Financial Services LLC
11.94%
 
TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.
7.63%
 
VANGUARD Marketing Corporation
11.16%
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF
Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
22.52%
 
Merrill Lynch, Pierece, Fenner & Smith
12.28%
 
Morgan Stanley DW Inc.
6.08%
 
National Financial Services LLC
12.12%
 
Pershing LLC
5.78%
 
VANGUARD Marketing Corporation
9.32%
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF
Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
27.04%
 
Morgan Stanley DW Inc.
5.09%
 
National Financial Services LLC
9.94%
 
TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.
6.23%
 
VANGUARD Marketing Corporation
10.03%
Portfolio Holdings Disclosure Policies and Procedures
Introduction
Vanguard and the boards of trustees of the Vanguard funds (the Boards) have adopted Portfolio Holdings Disclosure Policies and Procedures (Policies and Procedures) to govern the disclosure of the portfolio holdings of each Vanguard fund. Vanguard and the Boards considered each of the circumstances under which Vanguard fund portfolio holdings may be disclosed to different categories of persons under the Policies and Procedures. Vanguard and the Boards also
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considered actual and potential material conflicts that could arise in such circumstances between the interests of Vanguard fund shareholders, on the one hand, and those of the fund’s investment advisor, distributor, or any affiliated person of the fund, its investment advisor, or its distributor, on the other. After giving due consideration to such matters and after the exercise of their fiduciary duties and reasonable business judgment, Vanguard and the Boards determined that the Vanguard funds have a legitimate business purpose for disclosing portfolio holdings to the persons described in each of the circumstances set forth in the Policies and Procedures and that the Policies and Procedures are reasonably designed to ensure that disclosure of portfolio holdings and information about portfolio holdings is in the best interests of fund shareholders and appropriately addresses the potential for material conflicts of interest.
The Boards exercise continuing oversight of the disclosure of Vanguard fund portfolio holdings by (1) overseeing the implementation and enforcement of the Policies and Procedures, the Code of Ethics, and the Policies and Procedures Designed to Prevent the Misuse of Inside Information (collectively, the portfolio holdings governing policies) by the chief compliance officer of Vanguard and the Vanguard funds; (2) considering reports and recommendations by the chief compliance officer concerning any material compliance matters (as defined in Rule 38a-1 under the 1940 Act and Rule 206(4)-7 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940) that may arise in connection with any portfolio holdings governing policies; and (3) considering whether to approve or ratify any amendment to any portfolio holdings governing policies.
Vanguard and the Boards reserve the right to amend the Policies and Procedures at any time and from time to time without prior notice at their sole discretion. For purposes of the Policies and Procedures, the term “portfolio holdings” means the equity and debt securities (e.g., stocks and bonds) held by a Vanguard fund and does not mean the cash investments, derivatives, and other investment positions (collectively, other investment positions) held by the fund.
Online Disclosure of Ten Largest Stock Holdings
Each actively managed Vanguard fund generally will seek to disclose the fund’s ten largest stock portfolio holdings and the percentage of the fund’s total assets that each of these holdings represents as of the end of the most recent calendar quarter (quarter-end ten largest stock holdings with weightings) online at vanguard.com, in the “Portfolio” section of the fund’s Portfolio & Management page, 15 calendar days after the end of the calendar quarter. Each Vanguard index fund generally will seek to disclose the fund’s ten largest stock portfolio holdings and the percentage of the fund’s total assets that each of these holdings represents as of the end of the most recent month (month-end ten largest stock holdings with weightings) online at vanguard.com, in the “Portfolio” section of the fund’s Portfolio & Management page, 15 calendar days after the end of the month. In addition, Vanguard funds generally will seek to disclose the fund’s ten largest stock portfolio holdings and the aggregate percentage of the fund’s total assets (and, for balanced funds, the aggregate percentage of the fund’s equity securities) that these holdings represent as of the end of the most recent month (month-end ten largest stock holdings) online at vanguard.com, in the “Portfolio” section of the fund’s Portfolio & Management page, 10 business days after the end of the month. Together, the quarter-end and month-end ten largest stock holdings are referred to as the ten largest stock holdings. Online disclosure of the ten largest stock holdings is made to all categories of persons, including individual investors, institutional investors, intermediaries, third-party service providers, rating and ranking organizations, affiliated persons of a Vanguard fund, and all other persons.
Online Disclosure of Complete Portfolio Holdings
Each actively managed Vanguard fund, unless otherwise stated, generally will seek to disclose the fund’s complete portfolio holdings as of the end of the most recent calendar quarter online at vanguard.com, in the “Portfolio” section of the fund’s Portfolio & Management page, 30 calendar days after the end of the calendar quarter. Each Vanguard fund relying on Rule 6c-11 under the 1940 Act generally will seek to disclose complete portfolio holdings, including other investment positions, at the beginning of each business day. These portfolio holdings, including other investment positions, will be disclosed online at vanguard.com in the “Portfolio” section of the fund’s Portfolio & Management page. In accordance with Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act, each of the Vanguard money market funds will disclose the fund’s complete portfolio holdings as of the last business day of the prior month online at vanguard.com, in the “Portfolio” section of the fund’s Portfolio & Management page, no later than the fifth business day of the current month. The complete portfolio holdings information for money market funds will remain available online for at least six months after the initial posting. Vanguard Market Neutral Fund and Vanguard Alternative Strategies Fund generally will seek to disclose the Fund’s complete portfolio holdings as of the end of the most recent calendar quarter online at vanguard.com, in the “Portfolio” section of the Fund’s Portfolio & Management page, 60 calendar days after the end of the calendar quarter. Each Vanguard index fund, other than those Vanguard index funds relying on Rule 6c-11, generally will seek to disclose the fund’s complete portfolio holdings as of the end of the most recent month online at
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vanguard.com, in the “Portfolio” section of the fund’s Portfolio & Management page, 15 calendar days after the end of the month. Online disclosure of complete portfolio holdings is made to all categories of persons, including individual investors, institutional investors, intermediaries, third-party service providers, rating and ranking organizations, affiliated persons of a Vanguard fund, and all other persons. Vanguard will review complete portfolio holdings before disclosure is made and, except with respect to the complete portfolio holdings of the Vanguard money market funds, may withhold any portion of the fund’s complete portfolio holdings from disclosure when deemed to be in the best interests of the fund after consultation with a Vanguard fund’s investment advisor.
Disclosure of Complete Portfolio Holdings to Service Providers Subject to Confidentiality and Trading Restrictions
Vanguard, for legitimate business purposes, may disclose Vanguard fund complete portfolio holdings at times it deems necessary and appropriate to rating and ranking organizations; financial printers; proxy voting service providers; pricing information vendors; issuers of guaranteed investment contracts for stable value portfolios; third parties that deliver analytical, statistical, or consulting services; and other third parties that provide services (collectively, Service Providers) to Vanguard, Vanguard subsidiaries, and/or the Vanguard funds. Disclosure of complete portfolio holdings to a Service Provider is conditioned on the Service Provider being subject to a written agreement imposing a duty of confidentiality, including a duty not to trade on the basis of any material nonpublic information.
The frequency with which complete portfolio holdings may be disclosed to a Service Provider, and the length of the lag, if any, between the date of the information and the date on which the information is disclosed to the Service Provider, is determined based on the facts and circumstances, including, without limitation, the nature of the portfolio holdings information to be disclosed, the risk of harm to the funds and their shareholders, and the legitimate business purposes served by such disclosure. The frequency of disclosure to a Service Provider varies and may be as frequent as daily, with no lag. Disclosure of Vanguard fund complete portfolio holdings by Vanguard to a Service Provider must be authorized by a Vanguard fund officer or a Principal in Vanguard’s Portfolio Review Department or Legal and Compliance Division. Any disclosure of Vanguard fund complete portfolio holdings to a Service Provider as previously described may also include a list of the other investment positions that make up the fund, such as cash investments and derivatives.
Currently, Vanguard discloses complete portfolio holdings to the following Service Providers as part of ongoing arrangements that serve legitimate business purposes: Abel/Noser Corporation; Advisor Software, Inc.; Alcom Printing Group, Inc.; Apple Press, L.C.; Bloomberg L.P.; Brilliant Graphics, Inc.; Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.; Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.; Canon Business Process Services; Charles River Systems, Inc.; FactSet Research Systems Inc.; Innovation Printing & Communications; Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc.; Intelligencer Printing Company; Investment Technology Group, Inc.; Lipper, Inc.; Markit WSO Corporation; McMunn Associates, Inc.; Reuters America Inc.; R.R. Donnelley, Inc.; State Street Bank and Trust Company; and Trade Informatics LLC.
Disclosure of Complete Portfolio Holdings to Vanguard Affiliates and Certain Fiduciaries Subject to Confidentiality and Trading Restrictions
Vanguard may disclose complete portfolio holdings between and among the following persons (collectively, Affiliates and Fiduciaries) for legitimate business purposes within the scope of their official duties and responsibilities, subject to such persons’ continuing legal duty of confidentiality and legal duty not to trade on the basis of any material nonpublic information, as such duties are imposed under the Code of Ethics, the Policies and Procedures Designed to Prevent the Misuse of Inside Information, by agreement, or under applicable laws, rules, and regulations: (1) persons who are subject to the Code of Ethics or the Policies and Procedures Designed to Prevent the Misuse of Inside Information; (2) an investment advisor, distributor, administrator, transfer agent, or custodian to a Vanguard fund; (3) an accounting firm, an auditing firm, or outside legal counsel retained by Vanguard, a Vanguard subsidiary, or a Vanguard fund; (4) an investment advisor to whom complete portfolio holdings are disclosed for due diligence purposes when the advisor is in merger or acquisition talks with a Vanguard fund’s current advisor; and (5) a newly hired investment advisor or sub-advisor to whom complete portfolio holdings are disclosed prior to the time it commences its duties.
The frequency with which complete portfolio holdings may be disclosed between and among Affiliates and Fiduciaries, and the length of the lag, if any, between the date of the information and the date on which the information is disclosed between and among the Affiliates and Fiduciaries, is determined by such Affiliates and Fiduciaries based on the facts and circumstances, including, without limitation, the nature of the portfolio holdings information to be disclosed, the risk of harm to the funds and their shareholders, and the legitimate business purposes served by such disclosure. The frequency of disclosure between and among Affiliates and Fiduciaries varies and may be as frequent as daily, with no
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lag. Any disclosure of Vanguard fund complete portfolio holdings to any Affiliates and Fiduciaries as previously described may also include a list of the other investment positions that make up the fund, such as cash investments and derivatives. Disclosure of Vanguard fund complete portfolio holdings or other investment positions by Vanguard, VMC, or a Vanguard fund to Affiliates and Fiduciaries must be authorized by a Vanguard fund officer or a Principal of Vanguard.
Currently, Vanguard discloses complete portfolio holdings to the following Affiliates and Fiduciaries as part of ongoing arrangements that serve legitimate business purposes: Vanguard and each investment advisor, custodian, and independent registered public accounting firm identified in each fund’s Statement of Additional Information.
Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings to Broker-Dealers in the Normal Course of Managing a Fund’s Assets
An investment advisor, administrator, or custodian for a Vanguard fund may, for legitimate business purposes within the scope of its official duties and responsibilities, disclose portfolio holdings (whether partial portfolio holdings or complete portfolio holdings) and other investment positions that make up the fund to one or more broker-dealers during the course of, or in connection with, normal day-to-day securities and derivatives transactions with or through such broker-dealers subject to the broker-dealer’s legal obligation not to use or disclose material nonpublic information concerning the fund’s portfolio holdings, other investment positions, securities transactions, or derivatives transactions without the consent of the fund or its agents. The Vanguard funds have not given their consent to any such use or disclosure and no person or agent of Vanguard is authorized to give such consent except as approved in writing by the Boards of the Vanguard funds. Disclosure of portfolio holdings or other investment positions by Vanguard to broker-dealers must be authorized by a Vanguard fund officer or a Principal of Vanguard.
Disclosure of Nonmaterial Information
The Policies and Procedures permit Vanguard fund officers, Vanguard fund portfolio managers, and other Vanguard representatives (collectively, Approved Vanguard Representatives) to disclose any views, opinions, judgments, advice, or commentary, or any analytical, statistical, performance, or other information, in connection with or relating to a Vanguard fund or its portfolio holdings and/or other investment positions (collectively, commentary and analysis) or any changes in the portfolio holdings of a Vanguard fund that occurred after the end of the most recent calendar quarter (recent portfolio changes) to any person if (1) such disclosure serves a legitimate business purpose, (2) such disclosure does not effectively result in the disclosure of the complete portfolio holdings of any Vanguard fund (which can be disclosed only in accordance with the Policies and Procedures), and (3) such information does not constitute material nonpublic information. Disclosure of commentary and analysis or recent portfolio changes by Vanguard, VMC, or a Vanguard fund must be authorized by a Vanguard fund officer or a Principal of Vanguard.
An Approved Vanguard Representative must make a good faith determination whether the information constitutes material nonpublic information, which involves an assessment of the particular facts and circumstances. Vanguard believes that in most cases recent portfolio changes that involve a few or even several securities in a diversified portfolio or commentary and analysis would be immaterial and would not convey any advantage to a recipient in making an investment decision concerning a Vanguard fund. Nonexclusive examples of commentary and analysis about a Vanguard fund include (1) the allocation of the fund’s portfolio holdings and other investment positions among various asset classes, sectors, industries, and countries; (2) the characteristics of the stock and bond components of the fund’s portfolio holdings and other investment positions; (3) the attribution of fund returns by asset class, sector, industry, and country; and (4) the volatility characteristics of the fund. Approved Vanguard Representatives may, at their sole discretion, deny any request for information made by any person, and may do so for any reason or for no reason. Approved Vanguard Representatives include, for purposes of the Policies and Procedures, persons employed by or associated with Vanguard or a subsidiary of Vanguard who have been authorized by Vanguard’s Portfolio Review Department to disclose recent portfolio changes and/or commentary and analysis in accordance with the Policies and Procedures.
Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings, Including Other Investment Positions, in Accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Exemptive Orders and Rule 6c-11
Vanguard’s Fund Financial Services unit may disclose to the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC), Authorized Participants, and other market makers the daily portfolio composition files (PCFs) that identify a basket of specified securities that may overlap with the actual or expected portfolio holdings of the Vanguard funds that offer a class of shares known as Vanguard ETF Shares (ETF Funds). Each Vanguard fund relying on Rule 6c-11 under the 1940 Act generally will seek to disclose complete portfolio holdings, including other investment positions, at the beginning of
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each business day. These portfolio holdings, including other investment positions, will be disclosed online at vanguard.com in the “Portfolio” section of a fund’s Portfolio & Management page. The disclosure of PCFs and portfolio holdings, including other investment positions, will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of related exemptive orders (Vanguard ETF Exemptive Orders) issued by the SEC or Rule 6c-11 under the 1940 Act, as described in this section.
Unlike the conventional classes of shares issued by ETF Funds, the ETF Shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange. Each ETF Fund issues and redeems ETF Shares in large blocks, known as “Creation Units.” To purchase or redeem a Creation Unit, an investor must be an “Authorized Participant” or the investor must purchase or redeem through a broker-dealer that is an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant is a participant in the Depository Trust Company (DTC) that has executed a “Participant Agreement” with VMC. Each ETF Fund issues Creation Units in exchange for a “portfolio deposit” consisting of a basket of specified securities (Deposit Securities) and a cash payment (Balancing Amount). Each ETF Fund also redeems Creation Units in kind; an investor who tenders a Creation Unit will receive, as redemption proceeds, a basket of specified securities together with a Balancing Amount.
In connection with the creation and redemption process, and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Vanguard ETF Exemptive Orders, Vanguard makes available to the NSCC (a clearing agency registered with the SEC and affiliated with the DTC), for dissemination to NSCC participants on each business day prior to the opening of trading on the listing exchange, a PCF containing a list of the names and the required number of shares of each Deposit Security for each ETF Fund. In addition, the listing exchange disseminates (1) continuously throughout the trading day, through the facilities of the Consolidated Tape Association, the market value of an ETF Share; and (2) every 15 seconds throughout the trading day, a calculation of the estimated NAV of an ETF Share (expected to be accurate to within a few basis points). Comparing these two figures allows an investor to determine whether, and to what extent, ETF Shares are selling at a premium or at a discount to NAV. ETF Shares are listed on the exchange and traded on the secondary market in the same manner as other equity securities. The price of ETF Shares trading on the secondary market is based on a current bid/offer market.
In addition to making PCFs available to the NSCC, as previously described, Vanguard’s Fund Financial Services unit may disclose the PCF for any ETF Fund to any person, or online at vanguard.com to all categories of persons, if (1) such disclosure serves a legitimate business purpose and (2) such disclosure does not constitute material nonpublic information. Vanguard’s Fund Financial Services unit must make a good faith determination whether the PCF for any ETF Fund constitutes material nonpublic information, which involves an assessment of the particular facts and circumstances. Vanguard believes that in most cases the PCF for any ETF Fund would be immaterial and would not convey any advantage to the recipient in making an investment decision concerning the ETF Fund, if sufficient time has passed between the date of the PCF and the date on which the PCF is disclosed. Vanguard’s Fund Financial Services unit may, at its sole discretion, determine whether to deny any request for the PCF for any ETF Fund made by any person, and may do so for any reason or for no reason. Disclosure of a PCF must be authorized by a Vanguard fund officer or a Principal in Vanguard’s Fund Financial Services unit.
Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings Related Information to the Issuer of a Security for Legitimate Business Purposes
Vanguard, at its sole discretion, may disclose portfolio holdings information concerning a security held by one or more Vanguard funds to the issuer of such security if the issuer presents, to the satisfaction of Vanguard’s Fund Financial Services unit, convincing evidence that the issuer has a legitimate business purpose for such information. Disclosure of this information to an issuer is conditioned on the issuer being subject to a written agreement imposing a duty of confidentiality, including a duty not to trade on the basis of any material nonpublic information. The frequency with which portfolio holdings information concerning a security may be disclosed to the issuer of such security, and the length of the lag, if any, between the date of the information and the date on which the information is disclosed to the issuer, is determined based on the facts and circumstances, including, without limitation, the nature of the portfolio holdings information to be disclosed, the risk of harm to the funds and their shareholders, and the legitimate business purposes served by such disclosure. The frequency of disclosure to an issuer cannot be determined in advance of a specific request and will vary based upon the particular facts and circumstances and the legitimate business purposes, but in unusual situations could be as frequent as daily, with no lag. Disclosure of portfolio holdings information concerning a security held by one or more Vanguard funds to the issuer of such security must be authorized by a Vanguard fund officer or a Principal in Vanguard’s Portfolio Review Department or Legal and Compliance Division.
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Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings as Required by Applicable Law
Vanguard fund portfolio holdings (whether partial portfolio holdings or complete portfolio holdings) and other investment positions that make up a fund shall be disclosed to any person as required by applicable laws, rules, and regulations. Examples of such required disclosure include, but are not limited to, disclosure of Vanguard fund portfolio holdings (1) in a filing or submission with the SEC or another regulatory body, (2) in connection with seeking recovery on defaulted bonds in a federal bankruptcy case, (3) in connection with a lawsuit, or (4) as required by court order. Disclosure of portfolio holdings or other investment positions by Vanguard, VMC, or a Vanguard fund as required by applicable laws, rules, and regulations must be authorized by a Vanguard fund officer or a Principal of Vanguard.
Prohibitions on Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings
No person is authorized to disclose Vanguard fund portfolio holdings or other investment positions (whether online at vanguard.com, in writing, by fax, by email, orally, or by other means) except in accordance with the Policies and Procedures. In addition, no person is authorized to make disclosure pursuant to the Policies and Procedures if such disclosure is otherwise unlawful under the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws (as defined in Rule 38a-1 under the 1940 Act). Furthermore, Vanguard’s management, at its sole discretion, may determine not to disclose portfolio holdings or other investment positions that make up a Vanguard fund to any person who would otherwise be eligible to receive such information under the Policies and Procedures, or may determine to make such disclosures publicly as provided by the Policies and Procedures.
Prohibitions on Receipt of Compensation or Other Consideration
The Policies and Procedures prohibit a Vanguard fund, its investment advisor, and any other person or entity from paying or receiving any compensation or other consideration of any type for the purpose of obtaining disclosure of Vanguard fund portfolio holdings or other investment positions. “Consideration” includes any agreement to maintain assets in the fund or in other investment companies or accounts managed by the investment advisor or by any affiliated person of the investment advisor.
Investment Advisory and Other Services
The Trust currently uses ten investment advisors:
■ Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd. (Baillie Gifford) provides investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard International Explorer Fund.
■ Cooke & Bieler, L.P. (Cooke & Bieler) provides investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard Selected Value Fund.
■ Donald Smith & Co., Inc. (Donald Smith & Co.) provides investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard Selected Value Fund.
■ Frontier Capital Management Co., LLC (Frontier Capital) provides investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund.
■ Pzena Investment Management, LLC (Pzena) provides investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard Selected Value Fund.
■ Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. (Schroders) provides investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard International Explorer Fund.
■ TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC (TimesSquare Capital) provides investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard International Explorer Fund.
■ Victory Capital Management Inc. (Victory Capital), through its RS Investments franchise, provides investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund.
■ Wellington Management Company LLP (Wellington Management) provides investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard International Explorer Fund and a portion of Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund.
■ Vanguard provides investment advisory services to Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund.
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Chartwell Investment Partners, LLC, provided investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund from 2006 until December 2016. William Blair Investment Management, LLC provided investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund from 2006 until December 2018. Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, LLC provided investment advisory services for a portion of Vanguard Selected Value Fund from 1996 until December 2019.
For funds that are advised by independent third-party advisory firms unaffiliated with Vanguard, the board of trustees of each fund hires investment advisory firms, not individual portfolio managers, to provide investment advisory services to such funds. Vanguard negotiates each advisory agreement, which contains advisory fee arrangements, on an arm’s length basis with the advisory firm. Each advisory agreement is reviewed annually by each fund’s board of trustees, taking into account numerous factors, which include, without limitation, the nature, extent, and quality of the services provided; investment performance; and the fair market value of the services provided. Each advisory agreement is between the Trust and the advisory firm, not between the Trust and the portfolio manager. The structure of the advisory fee paid to each unaffiliated investment advisory firm is described in the following sections. In addition, each firm has established policies and procedures designed to address the potential for conflicts of interest. Each firm’s compensation structure and management of potential conflicts of interest are summarized by the advisory firm in the following sections for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
A fund is a party to an investment advisory agreement with each of its independent third-party advisors whereby the advisor manages the investment and reinvestment of the portion of the fund’s assets that the fund’s board of trustees determines to assign to the advisor. In this capacity, each advisor continuously reviews, supervises, and administers the investment program for its portion of the fund’s assets. Hereafter, each portion is referred to as the advisor’s Portfolio. Each advisor discharges its responsibilities subject to the supervision and oversight of Vanguard’s Portfolio Review Department and the officers and trustees of the fund. Vanguard’s Portfolio Review Department is responsible for recommending changes in a fund’s advisory arrangements to the fund’s board of trustees, including changes in the amount of assets allocated to each advisor and recommendations to hire, terminate, or replace an advisor.
I. Vanguard Selected Value Fund
The Fund pays each of its investment advisors a base fee plus or minus a performance adjustment. The base fee, which is paid quarterly, is a percentage of average daily net assets managed by the advisor during the most recent fiscal quarter. The base fee has breakpoints, which means that the percentage declines as assets go up. The performance adjustment, also paid quarterly, is based on the cumulative total return of each advisor’s portion of the Fund relative to that of the Russell Midcap Value Index (for Cooke & Bieler and Pzena) or the MSCI US Investable Market 2500 Index (for Donald Smith & Co.) over the preceding 60-month period (a 36-month period for Pzena).
During the fiscal years ended October 31, 2018, 2019, and 2020, Vanguard Selected Value Fund incurred aggregate investment advisory fees of $22,497,000 (before a performance-based decrease of $1,582,000), $18,250,000 (before a performance-based decrease of $4,730,000), and $12,987,000 (before a performance-based decrease of $3,926,000), respectively.
A. Cooke & Bieler, L.P. (Cooke & Bieler)
Cooke & Bieler, founded in 1949, is an employee-owned partnership managing assets for institutional clients.
1. Other Accounts Managed
The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio managers of the Fund as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted):
 
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Mehul Trivedi
Registered investment companies1
5
$ 6.2B
1
$ 5B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
2
$ 420M
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
115
$ 4B
13
$ 919M
William Weber
Registered investment companies1
4
$ 6.2B
1
$ 5B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
2
$ 420M
0
$ 0
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Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
 
Other accounts
115
$ 4B
13
$ 919M
1 Includes Vanguard Selected Value Fund which held assets of $5 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
The Portfolio Managers face inherent conflicts of interest in their day-to-day management of the Fund and other accounts because the Fund may have different investment objectives, strategies and risk profiles than the other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers. For instance, to the extent that the Portfolio Managers manage accounts with different investment strategies than the Fund, they may from time to time be inclined to purchase securities, including initial public offerings, for one account but not for the Fund. Additionally, some of the accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers may have different fee structures, including performance fees, which are or have the potential to be higher or lower, in some cases significantly higher or lower, than the fees paid by the Fund. The differences in fee structures may provide an incentive to the Portfolio Managers to allocate more favorable trades to the higher-paying accounts.
To minimize the effects of these inherent conflicts of interest, the Advisor has adopted and implemented policies and procedures, including brokerage and trade allocation policies and procedures, that they believe address the potential conflicts associated with managing portfolios for multiple clients and are designed to ensure that all clients are treated fairly and equitably. Accordingly, security block purchases are allocated to all accounts with similar objectives in a fair and equitable manner. Furthermore, the Advisor has adopted a Code of Ethics under Rule17j-1 under the 1940 Act and Rule 204A-1 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”) to address potential conflicts associated with managing the Fund and any personal accounts the Portfolio Managers may maintain.
In the case of Cooke & Bieler, the Portfolio Managers manage accounts on a team basis so the Portfolio Managers may be subject to the potential conflicts of interests described above. Accordingly, performance and allocation of securities are closely monitored to ensure equal treatment and Cooke & Bieler has implemented policies and procedures to ensure that clients are treated fairly and that potential conflicts of interest are minimized.
3. Description of Compensation
Cooke & Bieler’s compensation structure seeks to reward Investment Team members equally for the success of their individual holdings as well as the success of the firm. Annual Investment Team compensation is composed of a base salary, an individual incentive bonus and distributions based on ownership in the partnership. Results vary by analyst and by year but compensation for a tenured member of the team is generally split 40% individual incentive bonus, 40% partnership distributions, and 20% base salary.

 

Salaries are fixed and generally even across the team. The bonus compensation each Investment Team member receives is based on performance that is tracked daily to the basis point and measured against the benchmark. To match incentives with our long-term investment horizon, investment results are calculated using a four-year rolling average. The years are time-weighted, with the trailing year weighted 40%, the prior year weighted 30%, and the two years prior to that weighted 20% and 10%, respectively. Bonuses typically range from one to four times base salary and are decided through an annual peer review process.
Partnership distributions vary with the success and profitability of the firm and ownership is spread broadly among key professionals.
Analyst performance is measured against the Russell Mid Cap Value Index. In order to match incentives with our long-term investment horizon, performance is measured by a 4-year rolling average. The years are time-weighted with the trailing year weighted 40%, the prior year 30%, and year 3 and 4, 20% and 10%, respectively.
Benefits are available to all key professionals.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Mr. Trivedi and Mr. Weber did not own any shares of Vanguard Selected Value Fund.
B. Donald Smith & Co., Inc. (Donald Smith & Co.)
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Donald Smith & Co., founded in 1975 as Home Portfolio Advisors and renamed Donald Smith & Co., Inc., in 1983, manages assets for institutional clients. The voting stock and management of Donald Smith & Co. are controlled by Co-CIOs — Richard L. Greenberg and Jon Hartsel.
1. Other Accounts Managed
The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio managers of the Fund as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted):  
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Richard L. Greenberg
Registered investment companies1
1
$ 5B
1
$ 5B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
2
$ 16M
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
23
$ 982M
3
$ 160M
Jon Hartsel
Registered investment companies1
1
$ 5B
1
$ 5B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
2
$ 16M
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
23
$ 982M
3
$ 160M
1 Includes Vanguard Selected Value Fund which held assets of $5 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
Donald Smith & Co. is an independent investment advisor with no parent or subsidiary organizations.
Clients include mutual funds, public and corporate pension plans, endowments and foundations, and other separate accounts. Because the portfolio managers manage other accounts in addition to the Fund, conflicts of interest may arise in connection with the portfolio manager’s management of the Fund’s investment on the one hand and the investments of such other accounts on the other hand. Donald Smith & Co. has put in place systems, policies, and procedures, which have been designed to maintain fairness in portfolio management across all clients. Potential conflicts between the Fund and other types of accounts are managed in accordance with trade aggregation and allocation policies and procedures, internal review processes, and direct oversight by Richard L. Greenberg, CEO and Co-CIO. Investment personnel of the firm or its affiliates may be permitted to be commercially or professionally involved with an issuer of securities. Any potential conflicts of interest from such involvement would be monitored for compliance with the firm’s Code of Ethics.

 3. Description of Compensation
Portfolio manager compensation at Donald Smith & Co., Inc. is comprised of 1) base salary, 2) discretionary bonus, 3) SEP IRA contribution, and 4) participation in the earnings of the company. Base salary is a fixed constant year over year. A bonus is discretionary. While there is no established formula, some variables to determine this include overall firm performance, each individual portfolio manager’s contribution to firm performance (performance of his own portfolio), and qualitative assessments of each portfolio manager’s capabilities. The SEP IRA contribution is the maximum % allowed by the IRS. Each portfolio manager receives a certain portion of the total earnings of the company based on his ownership percentage.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Mr. Hartsel owned shares in the range of $50,001-$100,000 and Mr. Greenberg did not own any shares of Vanguard Selected Value Fund.
C. Pzena Investment Management, LLC (Pzena)
Pzena, based in New York, New York, was founded in 1995. In 2007, the firm completed an initial public offering, whereby the majority ownership of the firm was retained by the members of the Executive Committee and other employees.

 1. Other Accounts Managed
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The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio managers of the Fund as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted):  
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Richard Pzena
Registered investment companies1
9
$ 11.9B
2
$ 9.7B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
15
$ 338M
2
$ 113M
 
Other accounts
52
$ 894M
0
$ 0
John Flynn
Registered investment companies1
11
$ 12B
2
$ 9.9B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
14
$ 273M
1
$ 4M
 
Other accounts
82
$ 2.1B
0
$ 0
Ben Silver
Registered investment companies1
11
$ 12B
2
$ 9.9B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
32
$ 5.6B
4
$ 370M
 
Other accounts
98
$ 5.4B
0
$ 0
1 Includes Vanguard Selected Value Fund which held assets of $5 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
In Pzena’s view, conflicts of interest may arise in managing the Fund’s portfolio investments, on the one hand, and the portfolios of Pzena’s other clients and/or accounts (together “Accounts”), on the other. Set forth below is a brief description of some of the material conflicts that may arise and Pzena’s policy or procedure for handling such conflicts.
Although Pzena has designed such procedures to prevent and address conflicts, there is no guarantee that these procedures will detect every situation in which a conflict could arise.
The management of multiple Accounts inherently carries the risk that there may be competing interests for the portfolio management team’s time and attention. Pzena seeks to minimize this by using one investment approach (i.e., classic value investing) and by managing all Accounts on a strategy-specific basis.
If the portfolio management team identifies a limited investment opportunity that may be suitable for more than one Account, the Fund may not be able to take full advantage of that opportunity; however, Pzena has adopted procedures for allocating portfolio transactions across Accounts so that each Account is treated fairly. With respect to partial fills for an order, depending on the size of the execution, Pzena may choose to allocate the executed shares on a pro-rata basis or on a random basis. As with all trade allocations, each Account generally receives pro-rata allocations of any new issue or IPO security that is appropriate for its investment objective. Permissible reasons for excluding an Account from an otherwise acceptable IPO or new-issue investment include the Account having FINRA restricted person status, lack of available cash to make the purchase, a client-imposed trading prohibition on IPOs or on the business of the issuer, and brokerage restrictions.
With respect to securities transactions for the Accounts, Pzena determines which broker to use to execute each order, consistent with its duty to seek best execution. Pzena will bunch or aggregate like orders when it believes doing so will be beneficial to the Accounts. However, with respect to certain Accounts, Pzena may be limited by the client with respect to the selection of brokers or may be instructed to direct trades through a particular broker. In these cases, Pzena may place separate, nonsimultaneous transactions for the Fund and another Account, which may temporarily impact the market price of the security or the execution of the transaction to the detriment of one or the other.
Conflicts of interest may arise when members of the portfolio management team transact personally in securities investments made or to be made for the Fund or other Accounts. To address this, Pzena has adopted a written Code of Business Conduct and Ethics designed to prevent and detect personal trading activities that may interfere or conflict with client interests (including Fund shareholders’ interests) or its current investment strategy. The Code of Business Conduct and Ethics generally requires that most transactions in securities by Pzena’s Access Persons and certain related persons, whether or not such securities are purchased or sold on behalf of the Accounts, be cleared prior to execution by appropriate approving parties and compliance personnel. Securities transactions for Access Persons’ personal accounts also are subject to reporting requirements and annual and quarterly certification requirements. In
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addition, no Access Person shall be permitted to effect a short-term trade (i.e., to purchase and subsequently sell within 60 calendar days, or to sell and subsequently purchase within 60 calendar days) of non-exempt securities. Finally, orders for proprietary accounts (i.e., accounts of Pzena’s principals, affiliates, or employees or their immediate family that are managed by Pzena) are subject to written trade allocation procedures designed to ensure fair treatment of client accounts.
Pzena manages some Accounts under performance-based fee arrangements. Pzena recognizes that this type of incentive compensation creates the risk for potential conflicts of interest. This structure may create inherent pressure to allocate investments having a greater potential for higher returns to accounts of those clients paying a performance fee. To prevent conflicts of interest associated with managing accounts with different compensation structures, Pzena generally requires portfolio decisions to be made on a product-specific basis. Pzena also requires pre-allocation of all client orders based on specific fee-neutral criteria. Additionally, Pzena requires average pricing of all aggregated orders. Finally, Pzena has adopted a policy prohibiting portfolio managers (and all employees) from placing the investment interests of one client or a group of clients with the same investment objectives above the investment interests of any other client or group of clients with the same or similar investment objectives. These measures help Pzena mitigate some of the conflicts that its management of private investment companies would otherwise present. Investment personnel of the firm or its affiliates may be permitted to be commercially or professionally involved with an issuer of securities. Any potential conflicts of interest from such involvement would be monitored for compliance with the firm’s Code of Ethics.
3. Description of Compensation
Pzena’s compensation philosophy is to reward long-term superior performers with total compensation at or near the top quartile of the asset management industry. As with all investment professionals at Pzena, Mr. Flynn, Mr. Pzena, and Mr. Silver are compensated through a combination of a fixed base salary, performance bonus, and equity ownership, if appropriate, due to superior personal performance. The time frame Pzena examines for bonus compensation is annual. Base pay is set to be in line with industry averages, and when setting the level of discretionary bonuses, a blend of quantitative and qualitative measures are considered; however, bonuses are not based on Fund performance or assets of the Fund. For investment professionals, Pzena examines such things as effort, efficiency, ability to focus on the correct issues, stock modeling ability, and ability to successfully interact with company management. However, Pzena always considers all of the contributions that an employee has made and is likely to make in the future. Pzena avoids a compensation model that is driven by individual security performance, as this can lead to short-term thinking which is contrary to the firm's value investment philosophy. Ownership is provided to individuals who have contributed meaningfully to the long-term success of the organization, and is the primary tool used by Pzena for attracting and retaining the best people. Employees invited into the partnership generally receive an initial share grant at no cost to them and are subsequently offered economically attractive opportunities to exchange cash compensation for additional shares. Equity ownership ties personnel to long-term performance as the value of their ownership stake depends on Pzena delivering superior long-term results to investors. Mr. Flynn, Mr. Pzena, and Mr. Silver are equity owners of Pzena.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Mr. Pzena, Mr. Flynn, and Mr. Silver did not own any shares of Vanguard Selected Value Fund.
II. Vanguard International Explorer Fund
The Fund pays each of its investment advisors a base fee plus or minus a performance adjustment. The base fee, which is paid quarterly, is a percentage of average daily net assets managed by the advisor during the most recent fiscal quarter. The base fee has breakpoints, which means that the percentage declines as assets go up. The performance adjustment, also paid quarterly, is based on the cumulative total return of each advisor’s portion of the Fund relative to that of the S&P/Citigroup Extended Market Europe and Pacific (EM EPAC) for Schroders; S&P EPAC SmallCap Index for TimesSquare and Wellington; and MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) ex US Small-Cap Index for Baillie Gifford according to advisory agreements over the preceding 36-month period.
During the fiscal years ended October 31, 2018, 2019, and 2020, Vanguard International Explorer Fund incurred aggregate investment advisory fees of approximately $9,450,000 (before a performance-based decrease of $296,000), $7,846,000 (before a performance-based decrease of $1,138,000), and $6,734,000 (before a performance-based decrease of $1,171,000) respectively.
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A. Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. (Schroders)
Schroders is a wholly owned subsidiary of Schroder U.S. Holdings Inc., which currently engages through its subsidiary firms in the asset management business. Schroder U.S. Holdings Inc. is an indirect, wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Schroders plc, a publicly owned holding company organized under the laws of England.
Sub-Advisor—Schroder Investment Management North America Limited. The Fund has entered into a sub-advisory agreement with Schroders and Schroder Investment Management North America Limited (Schroder Limited) pursuant to which Schroder Limited has primary responsibility for choosing investments for the Fund.
Under the terms of the sub-advisory agreement for the Fund, Schroders pays Schroder Limited a portion of the advisory fee actually paid to Schroders under its investment advisory agreement with the Fund.

 1. Other Accounts Managed
The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio managers of the Fund as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted).  
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Luke Biermann
Registered investment companies1
1
$ 2.3B
1
$ 2.3B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
2
$ 416M
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
Matthew Dobbs
Registered investment companies1
1
$ 2.3B
1
$ 2.3B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
8
$ 5.5B
2
$ 1.1B
 
Other accounts
1
$ 298M
1
$ 298M
1 Includes Vanguard International Explorer Fund which held assets of $2.3 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
Whenever a portfolio manager of the Schroders Portfolio manages other accounts, potential conflicts of interest exist, including potential conflicts between the investment strategy of the Schroders Portfolio and the investment strategy of the other accounts. For example, in certain instances, a portfolio manager may take conflicting positions in a particular security for different accounts by selling a security for one account and continuing to hold it for another account. In addition, the fact that other accounts require the portfolio manager to devote less than all of his or her time to the Schroders Portfolio may be seen itself to constitute a conflict with the interest of the Schroders Portfolio.
A portfolio manager may also execute transactions for another fund or account at the direction of such fund or account that may adversely impact the value of securities held by the Schroders Portfolio. Securities selected for funds or accounts other than the Schroders Portfolio may outperform the securities selected for the Schroders Portfolio. Finally, if a portfolio manager identifies a limited investment opportunity that may be suitable for more than one fund or other account, the Schroders Portfolio may not be able to take full advantage of that opportunity because of an allocation of that opportunity across all eligible funds and accounts.
At Schroders, individual portfolio managers may manage multiple accounts for multiple clients. In addition to mutual funds, these other accounts may include separate accounts, collective trusts, or offshore funds. Certain of these accounts may pay a performance fee, and portfolio managers may have an incentive to allocate investment to these accounts.
Schroders manages potential conflicts between funds or with other types of accounts through allocation policies and procedures, internal review processes, and oversight by client directors. Schroders has developed trade allocation and client order priority systems and controls to ensure that no one client, regardless of type, is intentionally favored at the expense of another. Allocation policies are designed to address potential conflicts in situations where two or more funds or accounts participate in investment decisions involving the same securities.
The structure of each portfolio manager’s compensation may give rise to potential conflicts of interest. Each portfolio manager’s base pay tends to increase with additional and more complex responsibilities that include increased assets under management, which indirectly links compensation to sales.
B-47
Schroders has adopted certain compliance procedures that are designed to address these, and other, types of conflicts. However, there is no guarantee that such procedures will detect each and every situation in which a conflict arises. Investment personnel of the firm or its affiliates may be permitted to be commercially or professionally involved with an issuer of securities. Any potential conflicts of interest from such involvement would be monitored for compliance with the firm’s Code of Ethics.
3. Description of Compensation
Schroders’ methodology for measuring and rewarding the contribution made by portfolio managers combines quantitative measures with qualitative measures. The Fund’s portfolio managers are compensated for their services to the Fund and to other accounts they manage in a combination of base salary and annual discretionary bonus, as well as the standard retirement, health and welfare benefits available to all Schroder employees. Certain fund managers may also receive awards under a long-term incentive program. Base salary of Schroder employees is determined by reference to the level of responsibility inherent in the role and the experience of the incumbent, and is benchmarked annually against market data to ensure that Schroders is paying competitively. Schroders reviews base salaries annually, targeting increases at employees whose roles have increased in scope materially during the year and those whose salary is behind market rates. At more senior levels, base salaries tend to be adjusted less frequently as the emphasis is increasingly on the discretionary bonus.
Schroders believes that a discretionary incentive scheme approach is preferable to the use of formulaic arrangements to ensure that good conduct and behaviors in line with the Schroders values are rewarded, to avoid reinforcing or creating conflicts of interest and to encourage a one team attitude. Any discretionary bonus is determined by a number of factors. At a macro level the total amount available to spend is a function of the compensation to revenue ratio achieved by Schroders globally. Schroders then assesses the performance of the division and of a management team to determine the share of the aggregate bonus pool that is spent in each area. This focus on “team” maintains consistency and minimizes internal competition that may be detrimental to the interests of Schroders’ clients. For each team, Schroders assesses the performance of their Funds relative to competitors and to relevant benchmarks (which may be internally-and/or externally-based and are considered over a range of performance periods, including over one and three year periods), the level of Funds under management and the level of performance fees generated, if any. The portfolio managers’ compensation for other accounts they manage may be based upon such accounts’ performance. Schroders also reviews “softer” factors such as leadership, contribution to other parts of the business, and adherence to our corporate values of excellence, integrity, teamwork, passion, and innovation. For those employees receiving significant bonuses, a part may be deferred in the form of Schroders plc stock and fund-based awards of notional cash investments in a range of Schroders funds.
These deferrals vest over a period of three years or more and seek to ensure that the interests of employees are aligned with those of clients and shareholders.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Mr. Biermann and Mr. Dobbs did not own any shares of Vanguard International Explorer Fund.
B. TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC (TimesSquare Capital)
TimesSquare Capital, based in New York, New York, is a registered investment advisor that specializes in small- and mid-cap growth equities. TimesSquare Capital’s institutional partner, Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (AMG), a publicly traded global asset management company, indirectly holds a majority equity interest in TimesSquare Capital, with the remaining portion owned by TimesSquare Capital principals.

 1. Other Accounts Managed
The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio manager of the Fund as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted):
 
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Magnus S. Larsson
Registered investment companies1
4
$ 3.2B
1
$ 2.3B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
4
$ 335M
0
0
B-48
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
 
Other accounts
14
$ 1.5B
2
$ 296M
1 Includes Vanguard International Explorer Fund which held assets of $2.3 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
TimesSquare Capital portfolio managers are often responsible for managing one or more mutual funds as well as other accounts, such as separate accounts, and other pooled investment vehicles, such as collective trust funds or unregistered hedge funds. A portfolio manager may manage other accounts which have materially higher fee arrangements than the Fund and may manage other accounts which have a performance-based fee. A portfolio manager also may make personal investments in accounts they manage or support. The side-by-side management of the Fund along with other accounts may raise potential conflicts of interest by incenting a portfolio manager to direct a disproportionate amount of: (1) their attention; (2) limited investment opportunities, such as less liquid securities or initial public offerings; and/or (3) desirable trade allocations, to such other accounts. In addition, to assist in the investment decision-making process for its clients, including the Fund, TimesSquare Capital may use brokerage commissions generated from securities transactions to obtain research and/or brokerage services from broker-dealers. Thus, TimesSquare Capital may have an incentive to select a broker that provides research through the use of brokerage, rather than paying for execution only. Certain other trading practices, such as cross-trading between the Fund and another account, also may raise conflict of interest issues. TimesSquare Capital has adopted a compliance program designed to address these, and other, types of reasonably foreseeable potential areas of conflict. TimesSquare Capital has designated a Chief Compliance Officer and provided the resources and support required to ensure that the compliance program remains effective. Investment personnel of the firm or its affiliates may be permitted to be commercially or professionally involved with an issuer of securities. Any potential conflicts of interest from such involvement would be monitored for compliance with the firm's Code of Ethics.
3. Description of Compensation
TimesSquare Capital’s compensation is comprised of the following three components: base salaries, an annual bonus plan, and significant equity in the firm. The program is tied exclusively to client investment performance and financial results of the firm and its investment business. Moreover, the program is based on a series of clear metrics with investment performance, relative to the appropriate comparative universe and benchmark. Studies of competitive investment management compensation practices and levels are routinely conducted to ensure that investment professionals are competitively paid, and base salaries adjusted when performance, market data, career path progression, or position scope warrant an increase to encourage retention and development of top performers. For key investment decision-makers, variable performance-driven elements, such as the annual bonus and equity in the firm, comprise the substantial majority of total compensation. Bonuses for TimesSquare Capital portfolio managers are determined primarily by investment performance using both manager-relative and benchmark-relative measures over one and three year periods. Senior investment professionals receive significant equity ownership in the firm, subject to vesting and other restrictions. Once vested, certain components with vested value are not immediately accessible to further encourage retention. A majority of TimesSquare Capital investment professionals currently retain ownership in TimesSquare Capital, and newer members will be eligible for ownership as they gain tenure and add value to TimesSquare Capital's clients.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Mr. Larsson did not own any shares of Vanguard International Explorer Fund.
C. Wellington Management Company LLP (Wellington Management)
Wellington Management is a Delaware limited liability partnership with principal offices at 280 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210. Wellington Management is owned by the partners of Wellington Management Group LLP, a Massachusetts limited liability partnership. Wellington Management is a professional investment counseling firm that provides investment services to investment companies, employee benefit plans, endowments, foundations, and other institutions. Wellington Management and its predecessor organizations have provided investment advisory services for over 80 years.

 1. Other Accounts Managed
B-49
The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio manager of the Fund as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted).  
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Mary Pryshlak
Registered investment companies1
12
$ 10.4B
2
$ 3B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
50
$ 18.7B
9
$ 6.1B
 
Other accounts
90
$ 33B
14
$ 5.9B
1 Includes Vanguard International Explorer Fund which held assets of $2.3 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
Individual investment professionals at Wellington Management manage multiple accounts for multiple clients. These accounts may include mutual funds, separate accounts (assets managed on behalf of institutions, such as pension funds, insurance companies, foundations, or separately managed account programs sponsored by financial intermediaries), bank common trust accounts, and hedge funds. Each Wellington Management Portfolio’s or Fund’s manager listed in a prospectus who is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of each Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund (Portfolio Manager) generally manages accounts in several different investment styles. These accounts may have investment objectives, strategies, time horizons, tax considerations, and risk profiles that differ from those of each Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund. A Portfolio Manager makes investment decisions for each account, including each Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund, based on the investment objectives, policies, practices, benchmarks, cash flows, tax, and other relevant investment considerations applicable to that account. Consequently, a Portfolio Manager may purchase or sell securities, including initial public offerings (IPOs), for one account and not another account, and the performance of securities purchased for one account may vary from the performance of securities purchased for other accounts. Alternatively, these accounts may be managed in a similar fashion to each Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund and thus the accounts may have similar—and in some cases nearly identical—objectives, strategies, and/or holdings to those of each Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund.
A Portfolio Manager or other investment professionals at Wellington Management may place transactions on behalf of other accounts that are directly or indirectly contrary to investment decisions made on behalf of each Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund, or make investment decisions that are similar to those made for each Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund, both of which have the potential to adversely impact each Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund depending on market conditions. For example, an investment professional may purchase a security in one account while appropriately selling that same security in another account. Similarly, a Portfolio Manager may purchase the same security for a Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund and one or more other accounts at or about the same time. In those instances, the other accounts will have access to their respective holdings prior to the public disclosure of each Wellington Management Portfolio’s or Fund’s holdings. In addition, some of these accounts have fee structures, including performance fees, which are or have the potential to be higher, in some cases significantly higher, than the fees Wellington Management receives for managing each Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund. Mr. Manning and Ms. Pryshlak also manage accounts which pay performance allocations to Wellington Management or its affiliates. Because incentive payments paid by Wellington Management to each Portfolio Manager are tied to revenues earned by Wellington Management and, where noted, to the performance achieved by the manager in each account, the incentives associated with any given account may be significantly higher or lower than those associated with other accounts managed by a given Portfolio Manager. Finally, the Portfolio Manager may hold shares or investments in the other pooled investment vehicles and/or other accounts identified above.
Wellington Management’s goal is to meet its fiduciary obligation to treat all clients fairly and provide high-quality investment services to all of its clients. Wellington Management has adopted and implemented policies and procedures, including brokerage and trade allocation policies and procedures, which it believes address the conflicts associated with managing multiple accounts for multiple clients. In addition, Wellington Management monitors a variety of areas, including compliance with primary account guidelines, the allocation of IPOs, and compliance with the firm’s Code of Ethics, and places additional investment restrictions on investment professionals who manage hedge funds and certain other accounts. Furthermore, senior investment and business personnel at Wellington Management periodically review the performance of Wellington Management’s investment professionals. Although Wellington Management does not track the time an investment professional spends on a single account, Wellington Management does periodically assess whether an investment professional has adequate time and resources to effectively manage the investment professional’s various client mandates.
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3. Description of Compensation
Wellington Management receives a fee based on the assets under management of the Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund as set forth in the Investment Advisory Agreement between Wellington Management and the Trust on behalf of the Fund. Wellington Management pays its investment professionals out of its total revenues, including the advisory fee earned with respect to the Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund. The following relates to the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
Wellington Management’s compensation structure is designed to attract and retain high-caliber investment professionals necessary to deliver high-quality investment management services to its clients. Wellington Management’s compensation of the Wellington Management Portfolio’s or Fund’s manager listed in the prospectus who is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund includes a base salary. The base salary for the Portfolio Manager who is a partner (a “Partner”) of Wellington Management Group LLP, the ultimate holding company of Wellington Management, is generally a fixed amount that is determined by the managing partners of Wellington Management Group LLP.
The Portfolio Manager may also be eligible for bonus payments based on her overall contribution to Wellington Management’s business operations. Senior management at Wellington Management may reward individuals as it deems appropriate based on other factors. Each Partner is eligible to participate in a Partner-funded tax-qualified retirement plan, the contributions to which are made pursuant to an actuarial formula. Ms. Pryshlak is a Partner.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Ms. Pryshlak did not own any shares of International Explorer Fund.
D. Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd. (Baillie Gifford)
Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd. is an investment advisory firm founded in 1983. Baillie Gifford is wholly owned by a Scottish investment company, Baillie Gifford & Co. Founded in 1908, Baillie Gifford & Co., which is one of the largest independently owned investment management firms in the United Kingdom, manages money primarily for institutional clients.
1. Other Accounts Managed
The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio managers of the Fund as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted).  
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Brian Lum
Registered investment companies1
5
$ 46B
3
$ 43B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
5
$ 2.1B
1
$ 111M
 
Other accounts
34
$ 18.9B
0
$ 0
Stephen Vaughan
Registered investment companies1
2
$ 2.3B
1
$ 2.3B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
1
$ 274M
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
1
$ 651M
0
$ 0
1 Includes Vanguard International Explorer Fund which held assets of $2.3 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
At Baillie Gifford, individual portfolio managers may manage multiple accounts for multiple clients. In addition to mutual funds, these other accounts may include separate accounts, collective investment schemes, or offshore funds. Baillie Gifford manages potential conflicts between funds or with other types of accounts by implementing effective organizational and administrative arrangements to ensure that reasonable steps are taken to prevent the conflict giving rise to a material risk of damage to the interests of clients.
One area where a conflict of interest potentially arises is in the placing of orders for multiple clients and subsequent allocation of trades. Unless client-specific circumstances dictate otherwise, investment teams normally implement transactions in individual stocks for all clients with similar mandates at the same time. This aggregation of individual
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transactions can, of course, operate to the advantage or disadvantage of the clients involved in the order. When receiving orders from investment managers, traders at Baillie Gifford will generally treat order priority on a “first come, first served” basis, and any exceptions to this are permitted only in accordance with established policies. Baillie Gifford has also developed trade allocation systems and controls to ensure that no one client, regardless of type, is intentionally favored at the expense of another. Allocation policies are designed to address potential conflicts in situations where two or more funds or accounts participate in investment decisions involving the same securities. Investment personnel of the firm or its affiliates may be permitted to be commercially or professionally involved with an issuer of securities. Any potential conflicts of interest from such involvement would be monitored for compliance with the firm’s Code of Ethics.
3. Description of Compensation
As employees of the firm, Mr. Lum and Mr. Vaughan receive compensation with three key elements: (1) base salary, (2) a company-wide all-staff bonus, and (3) a performance-related bonus referred to as the Investment Departments’ Incentive Bonus Scheme. The performance-related bonus is based 50% on individual performance and 50% on investment performance (determined on a pre-tax basis). Investment performance is calculated on a team basis and is measured over a five-year period against the relevant benchmark. In addition, Mr. Lum and Mr. Vaughan are required to defer 40% of their respective variable remunerations each year. Awards deferred will be held for a period of three years and will be invested in a range of funds managed by Baillie Gifford.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Mr. Lum and Mr. Vaughan did not own any shares of Vanguard International Explorer Fund.
III. Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund
The Fund pays each of its investment advisors a base fee plus or minus a performance adjustment. The base fee, which is paid quarterly, is a percentage of average daily net assets managed by the advisor during the most recent fiscal quarter. The base fee has breakpoints, which means that the percentage declines as assets go up. The performance adjustment, also paid quarterly, is based on the cumulative total return of each advisor’s portion of the Fund relative to that of the Russell Midcap Growth Index over the preceding 36-month period.
During the fiscal years ended October 31, 2018, 2019, and 2020, Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund incurred aggregate investment advisory fees of $8,715,000 (before a performance-based decrease of $1,759,000), $8,187,000 (before a performance-based decrease of $980,000), and $8,359,000 (before a performance-based decrease of $2,230,000), respectively.

 A. Victory Capital Management Inc. (Victory Capital)
Victory Capital, based in San Antonio, Texas, is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Victory Capital Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded Delaware corporation. Victory Capital is organized as a New York corporation and is a diversified global investment advisory firm comprised of numerous independent investment franchises. The RS Investments franchise is responsible for the day-to-day management of a portion of Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund.
1. Other Accounts Managed
The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio managers of the Fund as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted):
 
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Stephen Bishop
Registered investment companies1
18
$ 14.9B
5
$ 8.7B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
7
$ 861M
1
$ 28M
 
Other accounts
3
$ 223M
1
$ 140M
Melissa
Chadwick-Dunne
Registered investment companies1
15
$ 13.3B
4
$ 7.4B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
7
$ 861M
1
$ 28M
 
Other accounts
3
$ 233M
1
$ 140M
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Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Christopher W. Clark
Registered investment companies1
18
$ 14.9B
5
$ 8.7B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
8
$ 861M
2
$ 91M
 
Other accounts
3
$ 223M
1
$ 140M
D. Scott Tracy
Registered investment companies1
16
$ 13.3B
4
$ 7.4B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
7
$ 861M
1
$ 28M
 
Other accounts
3
$ 233M
3
$ 140M
Paul Leung
Registered investment companies1
18
$ 14.9B
5
$ 8.7B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
7
$ 861M
1
$ 28M
 
Other accounts
3
$ 233M
1
$ 140M
1 Includes Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund which held assets of $4.4 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
Victory Capital’s portfolio managers are often responsible for managing one or more mutual funds as well as other accounts, such as separate accounts, and other pooled investment vehicles, such as collective trust funds or unregistered hedge funds. A portfolio manager may manage other accounts that have materially higher fee arrangements than the Fund and may, in the future, manage accounts that have a performance-based fee. A portfolio manager also may make personal investments in accounts they manage or support. The side-by-side management of the Fund along with other accounts may raise potential conflicts of interest by incenting a portfolio manager to direct a disproportionate amount of: (1) their attention; (2) limited investment opportunities, such as less liquid securities or initial public offerings; and/or (3) desirable trade allocations, to such other accounts. In addition, to assist in the investment decision-making process for its clients, including the Fund, Victory Capital may use brokerage commissions generated from securities transactions to obtain research and/or brokerage services from broker-dealers. Thus, Victory Capital may have an incentive to select a broker that provides research through the use of brokerage, rather than paying for execution only. Certain other trading practices, such as cross-trading between the Fund and another account, also may raise conflict of interest issues. Victory Capital has adopted numerous compliance policies and procedures, including a Code of Ethics, and brokerage and trade allocation policies and procedures, which seek to address the conflicts associated with managing multiple accounts for multiple clients. In addition, Victory capital has a designated Chief Compliance Officer (selected in accordance with the federal securities laws) and compliance staff whose activities are focused on monitoring the activities of Victory Capital’s investment franchises and employees in order to detect and address potential and actual conflicts of interest. However, there can be no assurance that Victory Capital’s compliance program will achieve its intended result.
3. Description of Compensation
Victory Capital has designed the structure of its portfolio managers’ compensation to (1) align portfolio managers’ interests with those of Victory Capital’s clients with an emphasis on long-term, risk-adjusted investment performance, (2) help Victory Capital attract and retain high-quality investment professionals, and (3) contribute to Victory Capital’s overall financial success. Each of the Victory Capital portfolio managers receives a base salary plus an annual incentive bonus for managing the Fund, separate accounts, other investment companies, pooled investment vehicles, and other accounts (including any accounts for which Victory Capital receives a performance fee) (together, “Accounts”). A portfolio manager’s base salary is dependent on the manager’s level of experience and expertise. Victory Capital monitors each manager’s base salary relative to salaries paid for similar positions with peer firms by reviewing data provided by various consultants that specialize in competitive salary information. Such data, however, is not considered to be a definitive benchmark.
Each of the portfolio management teams employed by Victory Capital (including RS Investments) may earn incentive compensation based on a percentage of Victory Capital’s revenue attributable to fees paid by Accounts managed by the team. The chief investment officer of each team, in coordination with Victory Capital, determines the allocation of the incentive compensation earned by the team among the team’s portfolio managers by establishing a “target” incentive for each portfolio manager based on the manager’s level of experience and expertise in the manager’s investment style. Individual performance is based on objectives established annually using performance metrics such as portfolio structure and positioning, research, stock selection, asset growth, client retention, presentation skills, marketing to prospective clients, and contribution to Victory Capital’s philosophy and values, such as leadership, risk management,
B-53
and teamwork. The annual incentive bonus also factors in individual investment performance of each portfolio manager’s portfolio or Fund relative to a selected peer group(s). The overall performance results for a manager are based on the composite performance of all Accounts managed by that manager on a combination of one, three, and five year rolling performance periods as compared to the performance information of a peer group of similarly-managed competitors.
Victory Capital’s portfolio managers may participate in the equity ownership plan of Victory Capital’s parent company. There is an ongoing annual equity pool granted to certain employees based on their contribution to the firm. Eligibility for participation in these incentive programs depends on the manager’s performance and seniority.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Mr. Bishop, Ms. Chadwick-Dunn, Mr. Clark, Mr. Leung, and Mr. Tracy did not own any shares of Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund.
B. Wellington Management Company LLP (Wellington Management)
Wellington Management is a Delaware limited liability partnership with principal offices at 280 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210. Wellington Management is owned by the partners of Wellington Management Group LLP, a Massachusetts limited liability partnership. Wellington Management is a professional investment counseling firm that provides investment services to investment companies, employee benefit plans, endowments, foundations, and other institutions. Wellington Management and its predecessor organizations have provided investment advisory services for over 80 years.

 1. Other Accounts Managed
The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio manager of the Fund as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted).  
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Timothy Manning
Registered investment companies1
4
$ 5.5B
1
$ 4.4B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
6
$ 214M
1
$ 10.4M
 
Other accounts
6
$ 960M
0
$ 0
1 Includes Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund which held assets of $4.4 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
Please refer to Wellington Management’s discussion beginning on page B-48.
3. Description of Compensation
Wellington Management receives a fee based on the assets under management of the Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund as set forth in the Investment Advisory Agreement between Wellington Management and the Trust on behalf of the Fund. Wellington Management pays its investment professionals out of its total revenues, including the advisory fee earned with respect to the Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund. The following relates to the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020.
Wellington Management’s compensation structure is designed to attract and retain high-caliber investment professionals necessary to deliver high-quality investment management services to its clients. Wellington Management’s compensation of the Wellington Management Portfolio’s or Fund’s manager listed in the prospectus who is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Wellington Management Portfolio or Fund includes a base salary and incentive components. The base salary for the Portfolio Manager who is a partner (a “Partner”) of Wellington Management Group LLP, the ultimate holding company of Wellington Management, is generally a fixed amount that is determined by the managing partners of Wellington Management Group LLP.  The Portfolio Manager is eligible to receive an incentive payment based on the revenues earned by Wellington Management from the Wellington Management Portfolio and generally each other account managed by such Portfolio Manager. The Portfolio Manager’s incentive payment relating to the Wellington Management Portfolio is linked to the gross pre-tax performance of the
B-54
Wellington Management Portfolio compared to the Russell Midcap Growth Index over one-, three-, and five-year periods, with an emphasis on five-year results. Wellington Management applies similar incentive compensation structures (although the benchmarks or peer groups, time periods, and rates may differ) to other accounts managed by the Portfolio Manager, including accounts with performance fees.
Portfolio-based incentives across all accounts managed by an investment professional can, and typically do, represent a significant portion of an investment professional’s overall compensation; incentive compensation varies significantly by individual and can vary significantly from year to year. The Portfolio Manager may also be eligible for bonus payments based on his overall contribution to Wellington Management’s business operations. Senior management at Wellington Management may reward individuals as it deems appropriate based on other factors. Each Partner is eligible to participate in a Partner-funded tax-qualified retirement plan, the contributions to which are made pursuant to an actuarial formula. Mr. Manning is a Partner.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Mr. Manning did not own any shares of Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund.
C. Frontier Capital Management Co., LLC (Frontier Capital)
Frontier Capital is a registered investment advisor founded in 1980. Affiliated Managers Group, Inc., a publicly traded asset management company with equity investments in a diverse group of investment management firms, indirectly owns a controlling interest in Frontier Capital.
1. Other Accounts Managed
The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio managers of the Fund as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted):
 
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
Christopher J. Scarpa
Registered investment companies1
3
$ 7.7B
1
$ 4.4B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
1
$ 177M
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
19
$ 895M
0
$ 0
Ravi Dabas
Registered investment companies1
3
$ 7.7B
1
$ 4.4B
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
1
$ 177M
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
19
$ 895M
0
$ 0
1 Includes Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund which held assets of $4.4 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
In connection with its management of clients’ accounts, Frontier Capital is subject to a number of actual or apparent conflicts of interest. These conflicts may arise when a portfolio manager has day-to-day management responsibilities with respect to more than one fund or other account. A portfolio manager potentially could give favorable treatment to some accounts for a variety of reasons, including favoring larger accounts, accounts that have a different advisory fee arrangement (including any accounts that pay performance-based fees), or accounts in which the portfolio manager has a personal investment. In addition, conflicts may arise relating to the allocation of investments among accounts with similar investment objectives but managed by different portfolio managers.
Frontier Capital’s portfolio managers typically manage multiple accounts. Generally, however, accounts within a particular investment strategy (e.g., mid-cap growth) with similar objectives are managed similarly. Accordingly, portfolio holdings and industry and sector exposure tend to be similar across a group of accounts in the same strategy with similar objectives, which tend to minimize the potential for conflicts of interest.
Frontier Capital has adopted trade allocation and aggregation policies that seek to treat all clients fairly and equitably. These policies address the allocation of limited investment opportunities, such as IPOs, and the allocation of transactions and aggregations of orders across multiple accounts. Investment personnel of the firm or its affiliates may be permitted to be commercially or professionally involved with an issuer of securities. Any potential conflicts of interest from such involvement would be monitored for compliance with the firm’s Code of Ethics.
B-55
3. Description of Compensation
Frontier Capital’s portfolio manager compensation structure is designed to align the interests of portfolio managers with those of the shareholders whose assets they manage. Frontier Capital’s portfolio manager compensation program consists of a base salary, an annual bonus, and participation in company-funded retirement plans. In addition, all of Frontier Capital’s portfolio managers are partners at Frontier Capital, which entitles them to share in the firm’s profits and the long-term growth of the firm. The annual bonus is variable and based partially or primarily upon management-fee revenues generated from client accounts.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Mr. Scarpa and Mr. Dabas did not own any shares of Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund.
IV. Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Vanguard provides investment advisory services to Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund through its Equity Index Group, and to Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund through its Quantitative Equity Group. Vanguard, through its Fixed Income Group, provides investment advisory services to Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund. The compensation and other expenses of Vanguard’s advisory staff are allocated among the funds utilizing these services.

 

During the fiscal years ended October 31, 2018, 2019, and 2020, the Funds incurred the following approximate investment advisory expenses:  
Vanguard Fund
2018
2019
2020
High Dividend Yield Index Fund
$ 3,332,000
$ 3,293,000
$ 2,529,000
Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund
40,000
55,000
53,000
Global Minimum Volatility Fund
1,254,000
1,665,000
1,191,000
International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
160,000
187,000
320,000
International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
162,000
184,000
233,000
1. Other Accounts Managed
The following table provides information relating to the other accounts managed by the portfolio managers of the Funds as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 (unless otherwise noted).  
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
William Coleman
Registered investment companies1
54
$ 949B
0
$ 0
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
1
$ 8.1B
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
Gerard C. O’Reilly
Registered investment companies1
18
$ 1.5B
0
$ 0
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
1
$ 355M
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
Joshua C. Barrickman
Registered investment companies2
23
$ 959B
0
$ 0
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
Antonio Picca
Registered investment companies3
8
$ 3.6B
0
$ 0
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
Justin E. Hales
Registered investment companies4
5
$ 65B
0
$ 0
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
B-56
Portfolio Manager
 
No. of
accounts
Total assets
No. of accounts with
performance-based
fees
Total assets in
accounts with
performance-based
fees
 
Other accounts
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
Michael Perre
Registered investment companies4
7
$ 590B
0
$ 0
 
Other pooled investment vehicles
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
 
Other accounts
0
$ 0
0
$ 0
1 Includes Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund which held assets of $34 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2 Includes Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund which held assets of $2.1 billion as of October 31, 2020.
3 Includes Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund which held assets of $3.2 billion as of October 31, 2020.
4 Includes Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund which collectively held assets of $4.3 billion as of October 31, 2020.
2. Material Conflicts of Interest
At Vanguard, individual portfolio managers may manage multiple accounts for multiple clients. In addition to mutual funds, these accounts may include separate accounts, collective trusts, and offshore funds. Managing multiple funds or accounts may give rise to potential conflicts of interest including, for example, conflicts among investment strategies and conflicts in the allocation of investment opportunities. Vanguard manages potential conflicts between funds or accounts through allocation policies and procedures, internal review processes, and oversight by trustees and independent third parties. Vanguard has developed trade allocation procedures and controls to ensure that no one client, regardless of type, is intentionally favored at the expense of another. Allocation policies are designed to address potential conflicts in situations in which two or more funds or accounts participate in investment decisions involving the same securities.
3. Description of Compensation
All Vanguard portfolio managers are Vanguard employees. This section describes the compensation of the Vanguard employees who manage Vanguard mutual funds. As of October 31, 2020, a Vanguard portfolio manager’s compensation generally consists of base salary, bonus, and payments under Vanguard’s long-term incentive compensation program. In addition, portfolio managers are eligible for the standard retirement benefits and health and welfare benefits available to all Vanguard employees. Also, certain portfolio managers may be eligible for additional retirement benefits under several supplemental retirement plans that Vanguard adopted in the 1980s to restore dollar-for-dollar the benefits of management employees that had been cut back solely as a result of tax law changes. These plans are structured to provide the same retirement benefits as the standard retirement plans.
In the case of portfolio managers responsible for managing multiple Vanguard funds or accounts, the method used to determine their compensation is the same for all funds and investment accounts. A portfolio manager’s base salary is determined by the manager’s experience and performance in the role, taking into account the ongoing compensation benchmark analyses performed by Vanguard’s Human Resources Department. A portfolio manager’s base salary is generally a fixed amount that may change as a result of an annual review, upon assumption of new duties, or in response to a market adjustment of the position.
A portfolio manager’s bonus is determined by a number of factors. One factor is gross, pre-tax performance of the fund relative to expectations for how the fund should have performed, given the fund’s investment objective, policies, strategies, and limitations, and the market environment during the measurement period. This performance factor is not based on the amount of assets held in any individual fund’s portfolio. For Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, the performance factor depends on how successfully the portfolio manager meets or exceeds the performance expectations of the Fund and maintains the risk parameters of the Fund over a three-year period. For Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund, the performance factor depends on how closely the portfolio manager tracks the Fund’s benchmark index over a one-year period. Additional factors include the portfolio manager’s contributions to the investment management functions within the sub-asset class, contributions to the development of other investment professionals and supporting staff, and overall contributions to strategic planning and decisions for the investment group. The target bonus is expressed as a percentage of base salary. The actual bonus paid may be more or less than the target bonus, based on how well the manager satisfies the objectives stated above. The bonus is paid on an annual basis.
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Under the long-term incentive compensation program, all full-time employees receive a payment from Vanguard’s long-term incentive compensation plan based on their years of service, job level, and, if applicable, management responsibilities. Each year, Vanguard’s independent directors determine the amount of the long-term incentive compensation award for that year based on the investment performance of the Vanguard funds relative to competitors and Vanguard’s operating efficiencies in providing services to the Vanguard funds.
4. Ownership of Securities
As of October 31, 2020, Mr. Picca owned shares of Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund within the $50,001-$100,000 range. As of the same date, none of the other portfolio managers owned shares of the Funds they managed.
Duration and Termination of Investment Advisory Agreements

The current investment advisory agreements with the unaffiliated advisors (other than Cooke & Bieler for Vanguard Selected Value Fund and Baillie Gifford for Vanguard International Explorer Fund) are renewable for successive one-year periods, only if (1) each renewal is approved by a vote of the Fund’s board of trustees, including the affirmative votes of a majority of the trustees who are not parties to the agreement or “interested persons” (as defined in the 1940 Act) of any such party, cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of considering such approval, or (2) each renewal is specifically approved by a vote of a majority of the Fund’s outstanding voting securities. An agreement is automatically terminated if assigned, and may be terminated without penalty at any time either (1) by vote of the board of trustees of the Fund upon thirty (30) days’ written notice to the advisor (sixty (60) days’ written notice for Schroders), (2) by a vote of a majority of the Fund’s outstanding voting securities upon 30 days’ written notice to the advisor (60 days’ written notice for Schroders), or (3) by the advisor upon ninety (90) days’ written notice to the Fund.
Each initial investment advisory agreement with Cooke & Bieler and Baillie Gifford are binding for a two-year period. At the end of that time, each agreement will become renewable for successive one-year periods, subject to the above conditions.
Vanguard provides investment advisory services to Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund pursuant to the terms of the Fifth Amended and Restated Funds’ Service Agreement. This Agreement will continue in full force and effect until terminated or amended by mutual agreement of the Vanguard funds and Vanguard.
Securities Lending
The following table describes the securities lending activities of each Fund (other than Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund) during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020. Pursuant to Vanguard's securities lending policy, the Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund is not permitted to, and does not, lend its investment securities.  
Vanguard Fund
Securities Lending Activities
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund
 
Gross income from securities lending activities
$588,085
Fees paid to securities lending agent from a revenue split
$0
Fees paid for any cash collateral management service (including fees deducted from a pooled cash
collateral reinvestment vehicle) that are not included in the revenue split
$1,541
Administrative fees not included in revenue split
$5,102
Indemnification fee not included in revenue split
$0
Rebate (paid to borrower)
$147,766
Other fees not included in revenue split (specify)
$0
Aggregate fees/compensation for securities lending activities
$154,409
Net income from securities lending activities
$433,676
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Vanguard Fund
Securities Lending Activities
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund
 
Gross income from securities lending activities
$463,266
Fees paid to securities lending agent from a revenue split
$0
Fees paid for any cash collateral management service (including fees deducted from a pooled cash
collateral reinvestment vehicle) that are not included in the revenue split
$632
Administrative fees not included in revenue split
$4,328
Indemnification fee not included in revenue split
$0
Rebate (paid to borrower)
$6,765
Other fees not included in revenue split (specify)
$0
Aggregate fees/compensation for securities lending activities
$11,725
Net income from securities lending activities
$451,541
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
 
Gross income from securities lending activities
$149,912
Fees paid to securities lending agent from a revenue split
$0
Fees paid for any cash collateral management service (including fees deducted from a pooled cash
collateral reinvestment vehicle) that are not included in the revenue split
$469
Administrative fees not included in revenue split
$1,487
Indemnification fee not included in revenue split
$0
Rebate (paid to borrower)
$40,442
Other fees not included in revenue split (specify)
$0
Aggregate fees/compensation for securities lending activities
$42,398
Net income from securities lending activities
$107,514
Vanguard International Explorer Fund
 
Gross income from securities lending activities
$2,853,610
Fees paid to securities lending agent from a revenue split
$120,066
Fees paid for any cash collateral management service (including fees deducted from a pooled cash
collateral reinvestment vehicle) that are not included in the revenue split
$3,588
Administrative fees not included in revenue split
$10,533
Indemnification fee not included in revenue split
$0
Rebate (paid to borrower)
$200,595
Other fees not included in revenue split (specify)
$0
Aggregate fees/compensation for securities lending activities
$334,782
Net income from securities lending activities
$2,518,828
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
 
Gross income from securities lending activities
$396,325
Fees paid to securities lending agent from a revenue split
$0
Fees paid for any cash collateral management service (including fees deducted from a pooled cash
collateral reinvestment vehicle) that are not included in the revenue split
$965
Administrative fees not included in revenue split
$4,049
Indemnification fee not included in revenue split
$0
Rebate (paid to borrower)
$66,009
Other fees not included in revenue split (specify)
$0
Aggregate fees/compensation for securities lending activities
$71,023
Net income from securities lending activities
$325,302
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Vanguard Fund
Securities Lending Activities
Vanguard Mid Cap Growth Fund
 
Gross income from securities lending activities
$1,452,565
Fees paid to securities lending agent from a revenue split
$0
Fees paid for any cash collateral management service (including fees deducted from a pooled cash
collateral reinvestment vehicle) that are not included in the revenue split
$2,288
Administrative fees not included in revenue split
$11,003
Indemnification fee not included in revenue split
$0
Rebate (paid to borrower)
$276,187
Other fees not included in revenue split (specify)
$0
Aggregate fees/compensation for securities lending activities
$289,478
Net income from securities lending activities
$1,163,087
Vanguard Selected Value Fund
 
Gross income from securities lending activities
$1,035,303
Fees paid to securities lending agent from a revenue split
$0
Fees paid for any cash collateral management service (including fees deducted from a pooled cash
collateral reinvestment vehicle) that are not included in the revenue split
$737
Administrative fees not included in revenue split
$12,485
Indemnification fee not included in revenue split
$0
Rebate (paid to borrower)
$26,165
Other fees not included in revenue split (specify)
$0
Aggregate fees/compensation for securities lending activities
$39,387
Net income from securities lending activities
$995,916
The services provided by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and Vanguard, each acting separately as securities lending agents for certain Vanguard funds, include coordinating the selection of securities to be loaned to approved borrowers; negotiating the terms of the loan; monitoring the value of the securities loaned and corresponding collateral, marking to market daily; coordinating the investment of cash collateral in the funds’ approved cash collateral reinvestment vehicle; monitoring dividends and coordinating material proxy votes relating to loaned securities; and transferring, recalling, and arranging the return of loaned securities to the funds upon termination of the loan.
Portfolio Transactions
The advisor decides which securities to buy and sell on behalf of a Fund and then selects the brokers or dealers that will execute the trades on an agency basis or the dealers with whom the trades will be effected on a principal basis. For each trade, the advisor must select a broker-dealer that it believes will provide “best execution.” Best execution does not necessarily mean paying the lowest spread or commission rate available. In seeking best execution, the SEC has said that an advisor should consider the full range of a broker-dealer’s services. The factors considered by the advisor in seeking best execution include, but are not limited to, the broker-dealer’s execution capability, clearance and settlement services, commission rate, trading expertise, willingness and ability to commit capital, ability to provide anonymity, financial responsibility, reputation and integrity, responsiveness, access to underwritten offerings and secondary markets, and access to company management, as well as the value of any research provided by the broker-dealer. In assessing which broker-dealer can provide best execution for a particular trade, the advisor also may consider the timing and size of the order and available liquidity and current market conditions. Subject to applicable legal requirements, the advisor may select a broker based partly on brokerage or research services provided to the advisor and its clients, including the Funds. The advisor may cause a Fund to pay a higher commission than other brokers would charge if the advisor determines in good faith that the amount of the commission is reasonable in relation to the value of services provided. The advisor also may receive brokerage or research services from broker-dealers that are provided at no charge in recognition of the volume of trades directed to the broker. To the extent research services or products may be a factor in selecting brokers, services and products may include written research reports analyzing performance or securities, discussions with research analysts, meetings with corporate executives to obtain oral reports on company performance, market data, and other products and services that will assist the advisor in its investment decision-making process. The research services provided by brokers through which a Fund effects securities transactions may be used by the advisor in servicing all of its accounts, and some of the services may not be used by the advisor in connection with the Fund.
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The types of securities in which Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund invests are generally purchased and sold in principal transactions, meaning that the Fund normally purchases securities directly from the issuer or a primary market-maker acting as principal for the securities on a net basis. Explicit brokerage commissions are not paid on these transactions, although purchases of new issues from underwriters of securities typically include a commission or concession paid by the issuer to the underwriter, and purchases from dealers serving as market-makers typically include a dealer’s markup (i.e., a spread between the bid and the asked prices). Brokerage commissions will also be paid in connection with opening and closing out futures positions.
As previously explained, the types of securities that Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund purchases do not normally involve the payment of explicit brokerage commissions. If any such brokerage commissions are paid, however, the advisor will evaluate their reasonableness by considering: (1) the historical commission rates; (2) the rates that other institutional investors are paying, based upon publicly available information; (3) the rates quoted by brokers and dealers; (4) the size of a particular transaction, in terms of the number of shares, the dollar amount, and the number of clients involved; (5) the complexity of a particular transaction in terms of both execution and settlement; (6) the level and type of business done with a particular firm over a period of time; and (7) the extent to which the broker or dealer has capital at risk in the transaction.
During the fiscal years ended October 31, 2018, 2019, and 2020, the Funds paid the following approximate amounts in brokerage commissions. Brokerage commissions paid by the Fund may be substantially different from year to year for multiple reasons, such as cash flows or changes to the stocks that make up a fund’s target index.  
Vanguard Fund
2018
2019
2020
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund
$ 3,000
$ 5,000
$ 5,000
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund
291,000
733,000
736,000
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund
493,000
444,000
604,000
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
150,000
222,000
249,000
Vanguard International Explorer Fund
2,743,000
1,687,000
2,297,000
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
105,000
116,000
217,000
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund
2,837,000
2,434,000
2,096,000
Vanguard Selected Value Fund
5,310,000
5,120,000
5,203,000
Some securities that are considered for investment by a Fund may also be appropriate for other Vanguard funds or for other clients served by the advisors. If such securities are compatible with the investment policies of a Fund and one or more of an advisor’s other clients, and are considered for purchase or sale at or about the same time, then transactions in such securities may be aggregated by the advisor, and the purchased securities or sale proceeds may be allocated among the participating Vanguard funds and the other participating clients of the advisor in a manner deemed equitable by the advisor. Although there may be no specified formula for allocating such transactions, the allocation methods used, and the results of such allocations, will be subject to periodic review by the Fund's board of trustees.
The ability of Vanguard and external advisors to purchase or dispose of certain fund investments, or to exercise rights on behalf of a Fund, may be restricted or impaired because of limitations imposed by law, regulation, or by certain regulators or issuers. As a result, Vanguard and external advisors on behalf of a Fund may be required to limit purchases, sell existing investments, or otherwise limit the exercise of shareholder rights by the Fund, including voting rights. These ownership restrictions and limitations can impact a Fund's performance. For index funds, this impact generally takes the form of tracking error, which can arise when a fund is not able to acquire its desired amount of a security. For actively managed funds, this impact can result, for example, in missed investment opportunities otherwise desired by a fund's investment advisor. If a Fund is required to limit its investment in a particular issuer, then the Fund may seek to obtain regulatory or corporate consents or ownership waivers. Other options a Fund may pursue include seeking to obtain economic exposure to that issuer through alternative means, such as through a derivative, which may be more costly than owning securities of the issuer directly, or through investment in a wholly-owned subsidiary.
As of October 31, 2020, each Fund held securities of its “regular brokers or dealers,” as that term is defined in Rule 10b-1 of the 1940 Act, as follows:  
Vanguard Fund
Regular Broker or Dealer (or Parent)
Aggregate Holdings
Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index
Fund
—
—
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund
—
—
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Vanguard Fund
Regular Broker or Dealer (or Parent)
Aggregate Holdings
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
$ 303,095,000
 
J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.
1,042,647,000
 
Jefferies LLC
15,494,000
 
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.
643,950,000
 
Morgan Stanley
225,255,000
 
National Financial Services LLC
30,076,000
 
Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
282,565,000
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
MIZUHO SEC INC
454,000
Vanguard International Explorer Fund
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
3,900,000
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund
BANCO SANTANDER BRASIL
405,000
 
MIZUHO SEC INC
5,878,000
 
SCOTIA CAPITAL USA INC
9,429,000
Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund
—
—
Vanguard Selected Value Fund
Jefferies & Company, Inc.
45,773,000
Portfolio turnover for Vanguard Selected Value Fund. The Selected Value Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 31% during its fiscal year ended October 31, 2019, and 85% during its fiscal year ended October 31, 2020. The higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund in the fiscal year 2020 was due to a change in the Fund's advisory structure at the end of 2019.
Portfolio turnover for Vanguard International Explorer Fund. The International Explorer Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 35% during its fiscal year ended October 31, 2019, and 71% during its fiscal year ended October 31, 2020. The higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund in the fiscal year 2020 was due in part to a change in the Fund's advisory structure in 2020.
Portfolio turnover for Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 75% during its fiscal year ended October 31, 2018, and 111% during its fiscal year ended October 31, 2019. The higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund in the fiscal year 2019 was due to increased trading activity in the Fund's portfolio as a result of a change in the Fund's advisory structure at the end of 2018. The Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 74% during its fiscal year ended October 31, 2020. The lower portfolio turnover rate for the Fund in the fiscal year 2020 was due to decreased trading activity since the Fund's fiscal year 2019.
Proxy Voting
I. Proxy Voting Policies
Each Vanguard fund advised by Vanguard retains the authority to vote proxies received with respect to the shares of equity securities held in a portfolio advised by Vanguard. The Board of Trustees of the Vanguard-advised funds (the Board) has adopted proxy voting procedures and guidelines to govern proxy voting for each portfolio retaining proxy voting authority, which are summarized in Appendix A. The Board of each Vanguard fund advised by a manager not affiliated with Vanguard has delegated the authority to vote proxies related to the portfolio securities held by each fund to its respective advisor(s). Each advisor will vote such proxies in accordance with its own proxy voting policies and procedures, which are summarized in Appendix B.
Vanguard has entered into agreements with various state, federal, and non-U.S. regulators and with certain issuers that limit the amount of shares that the funds may vote at their discretion for particular securities. For these securities, the funds are able to vote a limited portion of the shares at their discretion. Any additional shares generally are voted in the same proportion as votes cast by the issuer’s entire shareholder base (i.e., mirror voted), or the fund is not permitted to vote such shares. Further, the Board has adopted policies that will result in certain funds mirror voting a higher proportion of the shares they own in a regulated issuer in order to permit certain other funds (generally advised by managers not affiliated with Vanguard) to mirror vote none, or a lower proportion, of their shares in such regulated issuer.
II. Securities Lending
There may be occasions when Vanguard needs to restrict lending of and/or recall securities that are out on loan in order to vote the full position at a shareholder meeting. For the funds managed by Vanguard, Vanguard has processes to
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monitor securities on loan and to evaluate any circumstances that may require it to restrict and/or attempt to recall the security based on the criteria set forth in Appendix A. Additionally, Vanguard has processes in place for advisors unaffiliated with Vanguard who have been delegated authority to vote proxies on behalf of certain Vanguard funds to inform Vanguard of an upcoming vote the advisor deems to be material in accordance with such advisor’s proxy voting policies and procedures in order for Vanguard to instruct the recall of the security.
To obtain a free copy of a report that details how the funds voted the proxies relating to the portfolio securities held by the funds for the prior 12-month period ended June 30, log on to vanguard.com or visit the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Information About the ETF Share Class
Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund (the ETF Funds) each offer and issue an exchange-traded class of shares called ETF Shares. Each ETF Fund issues and redeems ETF Shares in large blocks, known as “Creation Units.”
To purchase or redeem a Creation Unit, you must be an Authorized Participant or you must transact through a broker that is an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant is a participant in the Depository Trust Company (DTC) that has executed a Participant Agreement with Vanguard Marketing Corporation, the ETF Funds' Distributor (the Distributor). For a current list of Authorized Participants, contact the Distributor.
Investors that are not Authorized Participants must hold ETF Shares in a brokerage account. As with any stock traded on an exchange through a broker, purchases and sales of ETF Shares will be subject to usual and customary brokerage commissions.
Each ETF Fund issues Creation Units in kind in exchange for a basket of securities that are part of—or soon to be part of—its target index (Deposit Securities). Each ETF Fund also redeems Creation Units in kind; an investor who tenders a Creation Unit will receive, as redemption proceeds, a basket of securities that are part of the Fund’s portfolio holdings (Redemption Securities). The Deposit Securities and Redemption Securities may include American Depositary Receipts. As part of any creation or redemption transaction, the investor will either pay or receive some cash in addition to the securities, as described more fully on the following pages. Each ETF Fund reserves the right to issue Creation Units for cash, rather than in kind. As of the date of this Statement of Additional Information, cash purchases and redemptions will be required for securities traded in Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan and UAE.
Exchange Listing and Trading
The ETF Shares have been approved for listing on a national securities exchange and will trade on the exchange at market prices that may differ from net asset value (NAV). There can be no assurance that, in the future, ETF Shares will continue to meet all of the exchange’s listing requirements. The exchange will institute procedures to delist a Fund’s ETF Shares if the Fund’s ETF Shares do not continuously comply with the exchange’s listing rules. The exchange will also delist a Fund’s ETF Shares upon termination of the ETF share class.
The exchange disseminates, through the facilities of the Consolidated Tape Association, an updated “indicative optimized portfolio value” (IOPV) for each ETF Fund as calculated by an information provider. The ETF Funds are not involved with or responsible for the calculation or dissemination of the IOPVs, and they make no warranty as to the accuracy of the IOPVs. An IOPV for a Fund’s ETF Shares is disseminated every 15 seconds during regular exchange trading hours. An IOPV has a securities value component and a cash component. The IOPV is designed as an estimate of an ETF Fund’s NAV at a particular point in time, but it is only an estimate and should not be viewed as the actual NAV, which is calculated once each day.
Conversions and Exchanges
Owners of conventional shares (i.e., not exchange-traded shares) issued by an ETF Fund may convert those shares to ETF Shares of equivalent value of the same Fund. Please note that investors who own conventional shares through a 401(k) plan or other employer-sponsored retirement or benefit plan generally may not convert those shares to ETF Shares and should check with their plan sponsor or recordkeeper. ETF Shares, whether acquired through a conversion or purchased on the secondary market, cannot be converted to conventional shares by a shareholder. Also, ETF Shares of one fund cannot be exchanged for ETF Shares of another fund.
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Investors that are not Authorized Participants must hold ETF Shares in a brokerage account. Thus, before converting conventional shares to ETF Shares, an investor must have an existing, or open a new, brokerage account. This account may be with Vanguard Brokerage Services or with any other brokerage firm. To initiate a conversion of conventional shares to ETF Shares, an investor must contact his or her broker.
Vanguard Brokerage Services does not impose a fee on conversions from Vanguard conventional shares to Vanguard ETF Shares. However, other brokerage firms may charge a fee to process a conversion. Vanguard reserves the right, in the future, to impose a transaction fee on conversions or to limit or terminate the conversion privilege.
Converting conventional shares to ETF Shares is generally accomplished as follows. First, after the broker notifies Vanguard of an investor‘s request to convert, Vanguard will transfer conventional shares from the investor‘s account with Vanguard to the broker‘s omnibus account with Vanguard (an account maintained by the broker on behalf of all its customers who hold conventional Vanguard fund shares through the broker). After the transfer, Vanguard’s records will reflect the broker, not the investor, as the owner of the shares. Next, the broker will instruct Vanguard to convert the appropriate number or dollar amount of conventional shares in its omnibus account to ETF Shares of equivalent value, based on the respective NAVs of the two share classes. The ETF Fund’s transfer agent will reflect ownership of all ETF Shares in the name of the DTC. The DTC will keep track of which ETF Shares belong to the broker, and the broker, in turn, will keep track of which ETF Shares belong to its customers.
Because the DTC is unable to handle fractional shares, only whole shares can be converted. For example, if the investor owned 300.25 conventional shares, and this was equivalent in value to 90.75 ETF Shares, the DTC account would receive 90 ETF Shares. Conventional shares with a value equal to 0.75 ETF Shares (in this example, that would be 2.481 conventional shares) would remain in the broker‘s omnibus account with Vanguard. The broker then could either (1) take certain internal actions necessary to credit the investor‘s account with 0.75 ETF Shares or (2) redeem the 2.481 conventional shares for cash at NAV and deliver that cash to the investor’s account. If the broker chose to redeem the conventional shares, the investor would realize a gain or loss on the redemption that must be reported on his or her tax return (unless the shares are held in an IRA or other tax-deferred account). An investor should consult his or her broker for information on how the broker will handle the conversion process, including whether the broker will impose a fee to process a conversion.
The conversion process works differently for investors who opt to hold ETF Shares through an account at Vanguard Brokerage Services. Investors who convert their conventional shares to ETF Shares through Vanguard Brokerage Services will have all conventional shares for which they request conversion converted to the equivalent dollar value of ETF Shares. Because no fractional shares will have to be sold, the transaction will not be taxable.
Here are some important points to keep in mind when converting conventional shares of an ETF Fund to ETF Shares:
■ The conversion process can take anywhere from several days to several weeks, depending on the broker. Vanguard generally will process conversion requests either on the day they are received or on the next business day. Vanguard imposes conversion blackout windows around the dates when an ETF Fund declares dividends. This is necessary to prevent a shareholder from collecting a dividend from both the conventional share class currently held and also from the ETF share class to which the shares will be converted.
■ During the conversion process, an investor will remain fully invested in the Fund‘s conventional shares, and the investment will increase or decrease in value in tandem with the NAV of those shares.
■ The conversion transaction is nontaxable except, if applicable, to the very limited extent previously described.
■ During the conversion process, an investor will be able to liquidate all or part of an investment by instructing Vanguard or the broker (depending on whether the shares are held in the investor’s account or the broker‘s omnibus account) to redeem the conventional shares. After the conversion process is complete, an investor will be able to liquidate all or part of an investment by instructing the broker to sell the ETF Shares.
Book Entry Only System
ETF Shares issued by the Funds are registered in the name of the DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., and are deposited with, or on behalf of, the DTC. The DTC is a limited-purpose trust company that was created to hold securities of its participants (DTC Participants) and to facilitate the clearance and settlement of transactions among them through electronic book-entry changes in their accounts, thereby eliminating the need for physical movement of securities certificates. DTC Participants include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations, and
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certain other organizations. The DTC is a subsidiary of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which is owned by certain participants of the DTCC’s subsidiaries, including the DTC. Access to the DTC system is also available to others such as banks, brokers, dealers, and trust companies that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly (Indirect Participants).
Beneficial ownership of ETF Shares is limited to DTC Participants, Indirect Participants, and persons holding interests through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in ETF Shares (owners of such beneficial interests are referred to herein as Beneficial Owners) is shown on, and the transfer of ownership is effected only through, records maintained by the DTC (with respect to DTC Participants) and on the records of DTC Participants (with respect to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners that are not DTC Participants). Beneficial Owners will receive from, or through, the DTC Participant a written confirmation relating to their purchase of ETF Shares. The laws of some jurisdictions may require that certain purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities. Such laws may impair the ability of certain investors to acquire beneficial interests in ETF Shares.
Each ETF Fund recognizes the DTC or its nominee as the record owner of all ETF Shares for all purposes. Beneficial Owners of ETF Shares are not entitled to have ETF Shares registered in their names and will not receive or be entitled to physical delivery of share certificates. Each Beneficial Owner must rely on the procedures of the DTC and any DTC Participant and/or Indirect Participant through which such Beneficial Owner holds its interests to exercise any rights of a holder of ETF Shares.
Conveyance of all notices, statements, and other communications to Beneficial Owners is effected as follows. The DTC will make available to each ETF Fund, upon request and for a fee, a listing of the ETF Shares of the Fund held by each DTC Participant. The ETF Fund shall obtain from each DTC Participant the number of Beneficial Owners holding ETF Shares, directly or indirectly, through the DTC Participant. The ETF Fund shall provide each DTC Participant with copies of such notice, statement, or other communication, in form, in number, and at such place as the DTC Participant may reasonably request, in order that these communications may be transmitted by the DTC Participant, directly or indirectly, to the Beneficial Owners. In addition, the ETF Fund shall pay to each DTC Participant a fair and reasonable amount as reimbursement for the expenses attendant to such transmittal, subject to applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
Share distributions shall be made to the DTC or its nominee as the registered holder of all ETF Shares. The DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any such distributions, shall immediately credit the DTC Participants’ accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in ETF Shares of the appropriate Fund as shown on the records of the DTC or its nominee. Payments by DTC Participants to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners of ETF Shares held through such DTC Participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in a “street name,” and will be the responsibility of such DTC Participants.
The ETF Funds have no responsibility or liability for any aspects of the records relating to or notices to Beneficial Owners; for payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in such ETF Shares; for maintenance, supervision, or review of any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests; or for any other aspect of the relationship between the DTC and DTC Participants or the relationship between such DTC Participants and the Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners owning through such DTC Participants.
The DTC may determine to discontinue providing its service with respect to ETF Shares at any time by giving reasonable notice to the ETF Funds and discharging its responsibilities with respect thereto under applicable law. Under such circumstances, the ETF Funds shall take action either to find a replacement for the DTC to perform its functions at a comparable cost or, if such replacement is unavailable, to issue and deliver printed certificates representing ownership of ETF Shares, unless the ETF Funds make other arrangements with respect thereto satisfactory to the exchange.
Purchase and Issuance of ETF Shares in Creation Units
Except for conversions to ETF Shares from conventional shares,  the ETF Funds issue and sell ETF Shares only in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor, without a sales load, at their NAV next determined after receipt of an order in proper form on any business day. The ETF Funds do not issue fractional Creation Units.
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A business day is any day on which the NYSE is open for business. As of the date of this Statement of Additional Information, the NYSE observes the following U.S. holidays: New Year’s Day; Martin Luther King, Jr., Day; Presidents’ Day (Washington’s Birthday); Good Friday; Memorial Day (observed); Independence Day; Labor Day; Thanksgiving Day; and Christmas Day.
Fund Deposit. The consideration for purchase of a Creation Unit from an ETF Fund generally consists of an in-kind deposit of a designated portfolio of securities (Deposit Securities) and an amount of cash (Cash Component) consisting of a purchase balancing amount and a transaction fee (both described in the following paragraphs). Together, the Deposit Securities and the Cash Component constitute the fund deposit.
The purchase balancing amount is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of a Creation Unit and the market value of the Deposit Securities (Deposit Amount). It ensures that the NAV of a fund deposit (not including the transaction fee) is identical to the NAV of the Creation Unit it is used to purchase. If the purchase balancing amount is a positive number (i.e., the NAV per Creation Unit exceeds the market value of the Deposit Securities), then that amount will be paid by the purchaser to an ETF Fund in cash. If the purchase balancing amount is a negative number (i.e., the NAV per Creation Unit is less than the market value of the Deposit Securities), then that amount will be paid by an ETF Fund to the purchaser in cash (except as offset by the transaction fee).
Vanguard, through the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC), makes available after the close of each business day a list of the names and the number of shares of each Deposit Security to be included in the next business day’s fund deposit for each ETF Fund (subject to possible amendment or correction). Each Fund reserves the right to accept a nonconforming fund deposit.
The identity and number of shares of the Deposit Securities required for a fund deposit may change from one day to another to reflect rebalancing adjustments, corporate actions, or to respond to adjustments to the weighting or composition of the component securities of the relevant target index.
In addition, each ETF Fund reserves the right to permit or require the substitution of an amount of cash—referred to as “cash in lieu”—to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security. This might occur, for example, if a Deposit Security is not available in sufficient quantity for delivery, is not eligible for transfer through the applicable clearance and settlement system, or is not eligible for trading by an Authorized Participant or the investor for which an Authorized Participant is acting. Trading costs incurred by the ETF Fund in connection with the purchase of Deposit Securities with cash-in-lieu amounts will be an expense of the ETF Fund. However, Vanguard may adjust the transaction fee to protect existing shareholders from this expense.
All questions as to the number of shares of each security in the Deposit Securities and the validity, form, eligibility, and acceptance for deposit of any securities to be delivered shall be determined by the appropriate ETF Fund, and the ETF Fund’s determination shall be final and binding.
Procedures for Purchasing Creation Units. An Authorized Participant may place an order to purchase Creation Units from Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund either (1) through the Continuous Net Settlement (CNS) clearing processes of the NSCC as such processes have been enhanced to effect purchases of Creation Units, such processes being referred to herein as the Clearing Process, or (2) outside the Clearing Process. To purchase through the Clearing Process, an Authorized Participant must be a member of the NSCC that is eligible to use the CNS system. Purchases of Creation Units cleared through the Clearing Process will be subject to a lower transaction fee than those cleared outside the Clearing Process.
For all ETF Funds, to initiate a purchase order for a Creation Unit, an Authorized Participant must submit an order in proper form to the Distributor and such order must be received by the Distributor prior to the closing time of regular trading on the NYSE (Closing Time) (ordinarily 4 p.m., Eastern time) to receive that day‘s NAV. The date on which an order to purchase (or redeem) Creation Units is placed is referred to as the transmittal date. Authorized Participants must transmit orders using a transmission method acceptable to the Distributor pursuant to procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement.
Purchase orders effected outside the Clearing Process are likely to require transmittal by the Authorized Participant earlier on the transmittal date than orders effected using the Clearing Process. Those persons placing orders outside the Clearing Process should ascertain the deadlines applicable to the DTC and the Federal Reserve Bank wire system by contacting the operations department of the broker or depository institution effectuating such transfer of Deposit Securities and Cash Component.
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For Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund, the Distributor shall inform the ETF Fund’s custodian of the order. The custodian will then inform the appropriate foreign sub-custodians. Each sub-custodian shall maintain an account into which the Authorized Participant shall deliver, on behalf of itself or the party on whose behalf it is acting, the relevant Deposit Securities (or the cash value of all or part of such securities, in the case of a permitted or required cash purchase or cash-in-lieu amount), with any appropriate adjustments as advised by Vanguard. Deposit Securities must be delivered to an account maintained at the applicable local sub-custodians.
The Authorized Participant must also make available on or before the contractual settlement date, by means satisfactory to the ETF Fund, immediately available or same-day funds estimated by the ETF Fund to be sufficient to pay the Cash Component. Any excess funds will be returned following settlement of the issue of the Creation Unit.
Neither the Trust, the ETF Funds, the Distributor, nor any affiliated party will be liable to an investor who is unable to submit a purchase order by Closing Time, even if the problem is the responsibility of one of those parties (e.g., the Distributor‘s phone or email systems were not operating properly).
If you are not an Authorized Participant, you must place your purchase order in an acceptable form with an Authorized Participant. The Authorized Participant may request that you make certain representations or enter into agreements with respect to the order (e.g., to provide for payments of cash when required).
Placement of Purchase Orders for Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
Purchase Orders Using the Clearing Process
For purchase orders placed through the Clearing Process, the Participant Agreement authorizes the Distributor to transmit through the transfer agent or index receipt agent to the NSCC, on behalf of an Authorized Participant, such trade instructions as are necessary to effect the Authorized Participant‘s purchase order. Pursuant to such trade instructions to the NSCC, the Authorized Participant agrees to deliver the requisite Deposit Securities and the Cash Component to the appropriate ETF Fund, together with such additional information as may be required by the Distributor.
An order to purchase Creation Units through the Clearing Process is deemed received on the transmittal date if (1) such order is received by the ETF Fund’s designated agent before Closing Time on such transmittal date and (2) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed. Such order will be effected based on the NAV of the ETF Fund next determined on that day. An order to purchase Creation Units through the Clearing Process made in proper form but received after Closing Time on the transmittal date will be deemed received on the next business day immediately following the transmittal date and will be effected at the NAV next determined on that day. The Deposit Securities and the Cash Component will be transferred by the second NSCC business day following the date on which the purchase request is deemed received.
Purchase Orders Outside the Clearing Process
An Authorized Participant that wishes to place an order to purchase Creation Units outside the Clearing Process must state that it is not using the Clearing Process and that the purchase instead will be effected through a transfer of securities and cash directly through the DTC. An order to purchase Creation Units outside the Clearing Process is deemed received by the ETF Fund’s designated agent on the transmittal date if (1) such order is received by the Distributor before Closing Time on such transmittal date and (2) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed.
If a fund deposit is incomplete on the second business day after the trade date (the trade date, known as “T,” is the date on which the trade actually takes place; two business days after the trade date is known as “T+2”) because of the failed delivery of one or more of the Deposit Securities, the ETF Fund shall be entitled to cancel the purchase order. Alternatively, the ETF Fund may issue Creation Units in reliance on the Authorized Participant’s undertaking to deliver the missing Deposit Securities at a later date. Such undertaking shall be secured by the delivery and maintenance of cash collateral in an amount determined by the ETF Fund in accordance with the terms of the Participant Agreement.
Placement of Purchase Orders for Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF. An order to purchase Creation Units is deemed received on the transmittal date if (1) such order is received by the Distributor prior to Closing Time on such transmittal date, or an earlier cut-off time in the case of an ETF Fund that has established such a time and (2) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed.
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Except as provided herein, a Creation Unit will not be issued until the transfer of good title to an ETF Fund of the Deposit Securities and the payment of the Cash Component have been completed. When each sub-custodian has confirmed to the custodian that the required securities included in the fund deposit have been delivered to the account of the relevant sub-custodian, and the Cash Component has been delivered to the custodian, the Distributor shall be notified of such delivery, and the ETF Fund will issue and cause the delivery of the Creation Unit.
If a fund deposit is incomplete on the second business day after the trade date (the trade date, known as “T,” is the date on which the trade actually takes place; two business days after the trade date is known as “T+2”) because of the failed delivery of one or more of the Deposit Securities, the ETF Fund shall be entitled to cancel the purchase order. Alternatively, the ETF Fund may issue Creation Units in reliance on the Authorized Participant’s undertaking to deliver the missing Deposit Securities at a later date. Such undertaking shall be secured by the delivery and maintenance of cash collateral in an amount determined by the ETF Fund in accordance with the terms of the Participant Agreement.
Placement of Purchase Orders for Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF. An Authorized Participant must deliver the cash and government securities portion of a fund deposit through the Federal Reserve’s Fedwire System and the corporate securities portion of a fund deposit through the DTC. If a fund deposit is incomplete on the second business day after the trade date (the trade date is the date on which the trade actually takes place, or “T”; two business days after the trade is known as “T+2”) because of the failed delivery of one or more of the Deposit Securities, the ETF Fund shall be entitled to cancel the purchase order.
The ETF Fund may issue Creation Units in reliance on the Authorized Participant’s undertaking to deliver the missing Deposit Securities at a later date. Such undertaking shall be secured by the delivery and maintenance of cash collateral in an amount determined by the ETF Fund in accordance with the terms of the Participant Agreement.
Rejection of Purchase Orders. Each ETF Fund reserves the absolute right to reject a purchase order. By way of example, and not limitation, an ETF Fund will reject a purchase order if:
■ The order is not in proper form.
■ The Deposit Securities delivered are not the same (in name or amount) as the published basket.
■ Acceptance of the Deposit Securities would have certain adverse tax consequences to the ETF Fund.
■ Acceptance of the fund deposit would, in the opinion of counsel, be unlawful.
■ Acceptance of the fund deposit would otherwise, at the discretion of the ETF Fund or Vanguard, have an adverse effect on the Fund or any of its shareholders.
■ Circumstances outside the control of the ETF Fund, the Trust, the transfer agent, the custodian, the subcustodian, the Distributor, and Vanguard make it for all practical purposes impossible to process the order. Examples include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, public service disruptions, or utility problems such as fires, floods, extreme weather conditions, and power outages resulting in telephone, telecopy, and computer failures; market conditions or activities causing trading halts; systems failures involving computer or other information systems affecting the aforementioned parties as well as the DTC, the NSCC, or any other participant in the purchase process; and similar extraordinary events.
If a purchase order is rejected, the Distributor shall notify the Authorized Participant that submitted the order. The ETF Funds, the Trust, the transfer agent, the custodian, the subcustodian, the Distributor, and Vanguard are under no duty, however, to give notification of any defects or irregularities in the delivery of a fund deposit, nor shall any of them incur any liability for the failure to give any such notification.
Transaction Fee on Purchases of Creation Units. Each ETF Fund may impose a transaction fee (payable to the Fund) to compensate the ETF Fund for costs associated with the issuance of Creation Units. The amount of the fee, which may be changed by each ETF Fund from time to time at its sole discretion, is made available daily to Authorized Participants, market makers, and other interested parties through Vanguard’s proprietary portal system. For Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, an additional charge may be imposed for purchases of Creation Units effected outside the Clearing Process. When an ETF Fund permits (or requires) a purchaser to substitute cash in lieu of depositing one or more Deposit Securities, the purchaser may be assessed an additional charge on the cash-in-lieu portion of the investment. The amount of this charge will be disclosed to investors before they place their orders. The amount will be determined by the ETF Fund at its sole discretion. The maximum transaction fee on purchases of Creation Units, including any additional charges as described, shall be 2% of the value of the Creation Units.
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Each ETF Fund reserves the right to not impose a transaction fee or to vary the amount of the transaction fee imposed, up to the maximum amount listed above. To the extent a creation transaction fee is not charged or does not cover the costs associated with the issuance of the Creation Units, certain costs may be borne by the ETF Fund.
Redemption of ETF Shares in Creation Units
To be eligible to place a redemption order, you must be an Authorized Participant. Investors that are not Authorized Participants must make appropriate arrangements with an Authorized Participant in order to redeem a Creation Unit.
ETF Shares may be redeemed only in Creation Units. Investors should expect to incur brokerage and other transaction costs in connection with assembling a sufficient number of ETF Shares to constitute a redeemable Creation Unit. There can be no assurance, however, that there will be sufficient liquidity in the public trading market at any time to permit assembly of a Creation Unit. Redemption requests received on a business day in good order will receive the NAV next determined after the request is made.
Unless cash redemptions are available or specified for an ETF Fund, an investor tendering a Creation Unit generally will receive redemption proceeds consisting of (1) a basket of Redemption Securities; plus (2) a redemption balancing amount in cash equal to the difference between (x) the NAV of the Creation Unit being redeemed, as next determined after receipt of a request in proper form, and (y) the value of the Redemption Securities; less (3) a transaction fee. If the Redemption Securities have a value greater than the NAV of a Creation Unit, the redeeming investor will pay the redemption balancing amount in cash to the ETF Fund, rather than receive such amount from the Fund.
Vanguard, through the NSCC, makes available after the close of each business day a list of the names and the number of shares of each Redemption Security to be included in the next business day’s redemption basket for each ETF Fund (subject to possible amendment or correction). The basket of Redemption Securities provided to an investor redeeming a Creation Unit may not be identical to the basket of Deposit Securities required of an investor purchasing a Creation Unit. If an ETF Fund and a redeeming investor mutually agree, the Fund may provide the investor with a basket of Redemption Securities that differs from the composition of the redemption basket published through the NSCC.
Each ETF Fund reserves the right to deliver cash in lieu of any Redemption Security for the same reason it might accept cash in lieu of a Deposit Security, as previously discussed, or if the ETF Fund could not lawfully deliver the security or could not do so without first registering such security under federal or state law.
Neither the Trust, the ETF Funds, the Distributor, nor any affiliated party will be liable to an investor who is unable to submit a redemption order by Closing Time, even if the problem is the responsibility of one of those parties (e.g., the Distributor's phone or email systems were not operating properly).
Transaction Fee on Redemptions of Creation Units for Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF. Each ETF Fund may impose a transaction fee (payable to the Fund) to compensate the Fund for costs associated with the redemption of Creation Units. The amount of the fee, which may be changed by each ETF Fund from time to time at its sole discretion, is made available daily to Authorized Participants, market makers, and other interested parties through Vanguard’s proprietary portal system. An additional charge may be imposed for redemptions of Creation Units of Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF effected outside the Clearing Process. When an ETF Fund permits (or requires) a redeeming investor to receive cash in lieu of one or more Redemption Securities, each ETF Fund may assess an additional variable charge on the cash portion of the redemption. The amount will vary as determined by the ETF Fund at its sole discretion, and is made available daily to Authorized Participants, market makers, and other interested parties through Vanguard’s proprietary portal system. The maximum transaction fee, including any variable charges, on redemptions of Creation Units shall be 2% of the value of the Creation Units.
Each ETF Fund reserves the right to not impose a transaction fee or to vary the amount of the transaction fee imposed, up to the maximum amount listed above. To the extent a redemption transaction fee is not charged or does not cover the costs associated with the redemption of the Creation Units, certain costs may be borne by the Fund.
Transaction Fee on Redemptions of Creation Units for Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF. The ETF Fund imposes a transaction fee (payable to the Fund) to compensate the Fund for costs associated with the redemption of Creation Units. The amount of the fee, which may be changed by the ETF Fund from time to time at its sole discretion, is made available daily to Authorized Participants, market makers, and other interested parties through Vanguard’s proprietary portal system. For Creation Unit redemptions, unlike purchases, the ETF Fund does not impose an additional charge on investors who receive cash in lieu of one or more Redemption Securities. The maximum transaction fee on redemptions of Creation Units shall be 2% of the value of the Creation Units.
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The ETF Fund reserves the right to not impose a transaction fee or to vary the amount of the transaction fee imposed, up to the maximum amount listed above. To the extent a redemption transaction fee is not charged or does not cover the costs associated with the redemption of the Creation Units, certain costs may be borne by the Fund.
Placement of Redemption Orders for Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
Redemption Orders Using the Clearing Process
An Authorized Participant may place an order to redeem Creation Units of the ETF Fund either (1) through the CNS clearing processes of the NSCC as such processes have been enhanced to effect redemptions of Creation Units, such processes being referred to herein as the Clearing Process, or (2) outside the Clearing Process. To redeem through the Clearing Process, an Authorized Participant must be a member of the NSCC that is eligible to use the CNS system. Redemptions of Creation Units cleared through the Clearing Process will be subject to a lower transaction fee than those cleared outside the Clearing Process.
An order to redeem Creation Units through the Clearing Process is deemed received on the transmittal date if (1) such order is received by the ETF Fund’s designated agent before Closing Time on such transmittal date and (2) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed. Such order will be effected based on the NAV of the ETF Fund next determined on that day. An order to redeem Creation Units through the Clearing Process made in proper form but received by the ETF Fund after Closing Time on the transmittal date will be deemed received on the next business day immediately following the transmittal date and will be effected at the NAV next determined on that day. The Redemption Securities and the Cash Redemption Amount will be transferred by the second NSCC business day following the date on which the redemption request is deemed received.
Redemption Orders Outside the Clearing Process
An Authorized Participant that wishes to place an order to redeem a Creation Unit outside the Clearing Process must state that it is not using the Clearing Process and that the redemption instead will be effected through a transfer of ETF Shares directly through the DTC. An order to redeem a Creation Unit of the ETF Fund outside the Clearing Process is deemed received on the transmittal date if (1) such order is received by the ETF Fund’s designated agent before Closing Time on such transmittal date and (2) all other procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement are properly followed.
If a redemption order in proper form is submitted to the transfer agent by an Authorized Participant prior to Closing Time on the transmittal date, then the value of the Redemption Securities and the Cash Redemption Amount will be determined by the ETF Fund on such transmittal date.
After the transfer agent has deemed an order for redemption outside the Clearing Process received, the transfer agent will initiate procedures to transfer the Redemption Securities and the Cash Redemption Amount to the Authorized Participant on behalf of the redeeming Beneficial Owner by the second business day following the transmittal date on which such redemption order is deemed received by the transfer agent.
If on T+2 an Authorized Participant has failed to deliver all of the Vanguard ETF Shares it is seeking to redeem, the ETF Fund shall be entitled to cancel the redemption order. Alternatively, the ETF Fund may deliver to the Authorized Participant the full complement of Redemption Securities and cash in reliance on the Authorized Participant’s undertaking to deliver the missing ETF Shares at a later date. Such undertaking shall be secured by the Authorized Participant’s delivery and maintenance of cash collateral in accordance with collateral procedures that are part of the Participant Agreement. In all cases the ETF Fund shall be entitled to charge the Authorized Participant for any costs (including investment losses, attorney's fees, and interest) incurred by the ETF Fund as a result of the late delivery or failure to deliver.
The ETF Fund reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to require or permit a redeeming investor to receive the redemption proceeds in cash. In such cases, the investor would receive a cash payment equal to the NAV of its ETF Shares based on the NAV of those shares next determined after the redemption request is received in proper form (minus a transaction fee, including a charge for cash redemptions, as previously discussed).
If an Authorized Participant, or a redeeming investor acting through an Authorized Participant, is subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security included in the basket of Redemption Securities, such investor may be paid an equivalent amount of cash in lieu of the security. In addition, the ETF Fund reserves the right to redeem Creation Units partially for cash to the extent that the Fund could not lawfully deliver one or more Redemption Securities or could not do so without first registering such securities under federal or state law.
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Placement of Redemption Orders for Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF, and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF. To initiate a redemption order for a Creation Unit, an Authorized Participant must submit such order in proper form to the Distributor before Closing Time in order to receive that day’s NAV. Authorized Participants must transmit orders using a transmission method acceptable to the Distributor pursuant to procedures set forth in the Participant Agreement.
If on the settlement date (typically T+2) an Authorized Participant has failed to deliver all of the Vanguard ETF Shares it is seeking to redeem, the ETF Fund shall be entitled to cancel the redemption order. Alternatively, the ETF Fund may deliver to the Authorized Participant the full complement of Redemption Securities and cash in reliance on the Authorized Participant’s undertaking to deliver the missing ETF Shares at a later date. Such undertaking shall be secured by the Authorized Participant’s delivery and maintenance of cash collateral in accordance with collateral procedures that are part of the Participant Agreement. In all cases the ETF Fund shall be entitled to charge the Authorized Participant for any costs (including investment losses, attorney’s fees, and interest) incurred by the ETF Fund as a result of the late delivery or failure to deliver.
If an Authorized Participant, or a redeeming investor acting through an Authorized Participant, is subject to a legal restriction with respect to a particular security included in the basket of Redemption Securities, such investor may be paid an equivalent amount of cash in lieu of the security. In addition, the ETF Fund reserves the right to redeem Creation Units partially for cash to the extent that the Fund could not lawfully deliver one or more Redemption Securities or could not do so without first registering such securities under federal or state law.
In connection with taking delivery of shares of Redemption Securities upon redemption of a Creation Unit, an Authorized Participant, or a Beneficial Owner redeeming through an Authorized Participant, must maintain appropriate security arrangements with a qualified broker-dealer, bank, or other custody provider in each jurisdiction in which any of the Redemption Securities are customarily traded, to which account such Deposit Securities will be delivered.
If appropriate arrangements to take delivery of the Redemption Securities in the applicable foreign jurisdictions, as required in the preceding paragraph, are not in place, or if it is not possible to effect deliveries of the Redemption Securities in such jurisdictions, the ETF Fund may at its discretion effect the redemption in cash. In such case, the investor will receive a cash payment equal to the NAV of the redeemed shares, based on the NAV next calculated after receipt of the redemption request in proper form (minus a transaction fee as specified previously, to offset the ETF Fund’s transaction costs associated with the disposition of Redemption Securities of the ETF Fund).
Because the Redemption Securities of the ETF Fund may trade on the relevant exchange(s) on days that the exchange is closed, stockholders may not be able to redeem their shares of the ETF Fund, or to purchase or sell ETF Shares on the exchange, on days when the NAV of the ETF Fund could be significantly affected by events in the relevant foreign markets.
Suspension of Redemption Rights. The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed with respect to an ETF Fund (1) for any period during which the NYSE or listing exchange is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings), (2) for any period during which trading on the NYSE or listing exchange is suspended or restricted, (3) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the Fund’s portfolio securities or determination of its NAV is not reasonably practicable, or (4) in such other circumstances as the SEC permits.
Precautionary Notes
A precautionary note to ETF investors: The DTC or its nominee will be the registered owner of all outstanding ETF Shares. Your ownership of ETF Shares will be shown on the records of the DTC and the DTC Participant broker through which you hold the shares. Vanguard will not have any record of your ownership. Your account information will be maintained by your broker, which will provide you with account statements, confirmations of your purchases and sales of ETF Shares, and tax information. Your broker also will be responsible for distributing income and capital gains distributions and for ensuring that you receive shareholder reports and other communications from the fund whose ETF Shares you own. You will receive other services (e.g., dividend reinvestment and average cost information) only if your broker offers these services.
You should also be aware that investments in ETF Shares may be subject to certain risks relating to having large shareholders. To the extent that a large number of the Fund's ETF Shares are held by a large shareholder (e.g., an institutional investor, an investment advisor or an affiliate of an investment advisor, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity), a large redemption by such a shareholder could result in an increase in the ETF's
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expense ratio, cause the ETF to incur higher transaction costs, cause the ETF to fail to comply with applicable listing standards of the listing exchange upon which it is listed, lead to the realization of taxable capital gains, or cause the remaining shareholders to receive distributions representing a disproportionate share of the ETF's ordinary income and long-term capital gains. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on an exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the ETF Shares.
A precautionary note to purchasers of Creation Units: You should be aware of certain legal risks unique to investors purchasing Creation Units directly from the issuing fund.
Because new ETF Shares may be issued on an ongoing basis, a “distribution” of ETF Shares could be occurring at any time. Certain activities that you perform as a dealer could, depending on the circumstances, result in your being deemed a participant in the distribution in a manner that could render you a statutory underwriter and subject you to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 (the 1933 Act). For example, you could be deemed a statutory underwriter if you purchase Creation Units from the issuing fund, break them down into the constituent ETF Shares, and sell those shares directly to customers or if you choose to couple the creation of a supply of new ETF Shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for ETF Shares. Whether a person is an underwriter depends upon all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to that person’s activities, and the examples mentioned here should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could cause you to be deemed an underwriter.
Dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as opposed to engaging in ordinary secondary-market transactions), and thus dealing with ETF Shares as part of an “unsold allotment” within the meaning of Section 4(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, will be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(3) of the 1933 Act.
A precautionary note to shareholders redeeming Creation Units: An Authorized Participant that is not a “qualified institutional buyer” as defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act will not be able to receive, as part of the redemption basket, restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.
A precautionary note to investment companies: Vanguard ETF Shares are issued by registered investment companies, and therefore the acquisition of such shares by other investment companies is subject to the restrictions of Section 12(d)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Vanguard has obtained an SEC exemptive order that allows registered investment companies to invest in the issuing funds beyond the limits of Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions, including the requirement to enter into a participation agreement with Vanguard.
ETF Shares: Foreign Market Information
The security settlement cycles and local market holiday schedules in foreign markets, as well as unscheduled foreign market closings, may result in the delivery of redemption proceeds (either in kind or in cash) more than seven days after receipt of a redemption request in proper form. Below are the dates of regular holidays affecting the relevant markets in which the ETF Funds invest and the dates on which, if a redemption request is submitted, the settlement period in a given market will exceed seven days. The proclamation of new holidays, the treatment by market participants of certain days as “informal holidays,” the elimination of existing holidays, or changes in local securities delivery practices could affect the information set forth herein at some time in the future.
Regular Holidays. The calendar year 2021 local market holidays are as follows:  
Country
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
Albania
1
 
15, 22
5
3, 13
 
20
 
6
 
29
8, 27
Argentina
1
15, 16
24
1, 2
24, 25
21
9
16
 
8, 11
22
8
Australia
1, 26
 
1, 8
2, 5, 6,
25, 26
3, 31
7, 14
 
2, 11
27
4, 23
2
24, 27,
28, 31
Austria
1, 6
 
 
2, 5
13, 24
3
 
 
 
26
1
8, 24,
31
Bahrain**
1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bangladesh**
 
21
17, 29
14
10, 13,
26
 
1,
20-22
15, 19,
30
 
19
 
16
Belgium
1
 
 
2, 5
13, 14
 
21
 
 
 
1, 11
24, 31
B-72
Country
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
Benin
1
 
 
5
10, 13,
24
 
20
 
 
19
1, 15
 
Bermuda
1
 
 
2
28
21
29, 30
 
6
 
11
27, 28
Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Fed. of
1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Botswana
1
 
 
2, 5
13
 
1, 19,
20
 
30
1
 
27
Brazil
1, 25
15-17
 
2, 21
 
3
9
 
7
12
2, 15
 
Bulgaria
1
 
3
2, 5,
30
3, 4, 6,
24
 
 
 
6, 22
 
 
24, 27,
28
Burkina Faso
1
 
 
5
10, 13,
24
 
20
 
 
19
1, 15
 
Canada
1, 4
15
 
2
24
24
1
2
6
11
11
24, 27,
28
China
1
11, 12,
15-17
 
5
3-5
14
 
 
20, 21
1, 4-7
 
 
China Connect - Bond
Connect
1
11, 12,
15-17
 
5
3-5
14
 
 
20, 21
1, 4-7
 
 
China Connect - Stock
Connect
1
11, 12,
15-17
 
1, 2, 5,
6
3-5,
18, 19
14, 30
1
 
17,
20-22
1, 4-7,
13, 14
 
24, 27
Colombia
1, 11
 
22
1, 2
17
7, 14
5, 20
16
 
18
1, 15
8, 24,
31
Costa Rica
1
 
 
1, 2
3
 
26
2
13
 
29
 
Croatia
1, 6
 
 
2, 5
 
3, 22
 
5
 
 
1, 18
24, 31
Cyprus
1, 6
 
15, 25
1, 2, 5,
30
3, 4
21
 
 
 
1, 28
 
24
Czech Republic
1
 
 
2, 5
 
 
5, 6
 
28
28
17
24, 31
Denmark
1
 
 
1, 2, 5,
30
13, 14,
24
 
 
 
 
 
 
24, 31
Egypt**
7, 25
 
 
25
2, 3,
12, 13
30
1,
19-22
9
 
6, 18
 
 
Estonia
1
24
 
2, 5
13
23, 24
 
20
 
 
 
24, 31
Eswatini
1
 
 
2, 5,
19, 26
13
 
22
 
6
 
 
 
Finland
1, 6
 
 
2, 5
13
25
 
 
 
 
 
6, 24,
31
France
1
 
 
2, 5
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24, 31
Georgia, Republic of
1, 4, 7,
19
 
3, 8
9, 30
3, 10,
12, 26
 
 
30
 
14
23
 
Germany
1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ghana
1, 7
 
8
2, 5
3, 13
 
20
4
21
 
 
3,
27-28
Greece
1, 6
 
15, 25
2, 5,
30
3
21
 
 
 
28
 
24
Guinea-Bissau
1
 
 
5
10, 13,
24
 
20
 
 
19
1, 15
 
Hong Kong
1
11, 12,
15
 
2, 5, 6
19
14
1
 
22
1, 14
 
24, 27,
31
Hungary
1
 
15
2, 5
24
 
 
20
 
 
1
24, 31
Iceland
1
 
 
1, 2, 5,
22
13, 24
17
 
2
 
 
 
24, 31
India
26
19
11, 29
1, 2,
13, 14,
21
13, 26
 
21
16, 19
10
15, 19
4, 5,
19
 
Indonesia
1
12
11, 12
2
12-14,
17-19,
26
1
20
10, 17
 
19
 
24, 27,
31
B-73
Country
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
Ireland
1
 
17
2, 5
3
7
 
2
 
25
 
24, 27,
28, 31
Israel**
 
 
28,
29-31
1, 2,
14, 15
16, 17
 
18
 
6, 7, 8,
15, 16,
20, 21,
22, 23,
26, 27,
28
 
 
 
Italy
1
 
 
2, 5
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24, 31
Ivory Coast
1
 
 
5
10, 13,
24
 
20
 
 
19
1, 15
 
Japan
1, 11
11, 23
 
29
3-5
 
22, 23
9
20, 23
 
3, 23
31
Jordan**
1
 
 
 
12, 13,
25
 
19-22
9
 
18
 
 
Kazakhstan
1, 4, 7
 
8,
22-24
 
3, 7,
10
 
6, 21
30
 
 
 
1, 16,
17
Kenya
1
 
 
2, 5
 
1
 
 
 
11, 20
 
13, 27
Korea, Republic of
1
11, 12
1
 
5, 19
 
 
 
20-22
 
 
 
Kuwait**
3
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Latvia
1
 
 
2, 5
3, 4,
13
23-25
 
 
 
 
18, 19
24, 31
Lithuania
1
16
11
2, 5
13
24
6
 
 
 
1, 2
24, 31
Luxembourg
1
 
 
2, 5
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24, 31
Malawi
1, 15
 
3
2, 5
3, 13,
14
 
6
 
 
15
 
27
Malaysia
1, 28
1, 11,
12
 
29
12-14,
26, 31
7
20
10, 31
16
19
4
 
Mali
1
 
 
5
10, 13,
24
 
20
 
 
19
1, 15
 
Mauritius
1, 28
1, 12
11, 12
13
14
 
 
 
 
 
1, 2, 4
 
Mexico
1
1
15
1, 2
 
 
 
 
16
 
2, 15
 
Morocco
1, 11
 
 
 
14
 
21, 30
20
 
20
18
 
Namibia
1
 
22
2, 5,
27
4, 13,
25
16
 
9, 26
24
 
 
10, 16,
27
Netherlands
1
 
 
2, 5
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24, 31
New Zealand
1, 4
8
 
2, 5,
26
 
7
 
 
 
25
 
27, 28
Niger
1
 
 
5
10, 13,
24
 
20
 
 
19
1, 15
 
Nigeria
1
 
 
2, 5
13, 14
 
20, 21
 
 
1, 18
 
27
Norway
1
 
31
1, 2, 5
13, 17,
24
 
 
 
 
 
 
24, 31
Pakistan
1
5
23
12
13, 14
 
1, 20,
21
18, 19
 
19
 
 
Panama
1
15-17
 
2
 
 
 
 
 
 
3-5,
10, 29
8
Peru
1
 
31
2
 
29
28, 29
30
 
8
1
8
Philippines
1
12, 25
 
1, 2, 9
 
 
 
30
 
 
1, 2,
30
8, 24,
30, 31
Poland
1, 6
 
 
2, 5
3
3
 
 
 
 
1, 11
24, 31
Portugal
1
 
 
2, 5
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24, 31
Qatar**
 
9
7
 
13
 
20-22
 
 
 
 
 
Romania
1
 
 
30
3
1, 21
 
 
 
 
30
1
Russia
1, 4-8,
7
22-23
8
 
3, 10
14
 
 
 
 
4-5
31
Saudi Arabia**
 
 
 
 
12-13
 
19-22
 
23
 
 
 
B-74
Country
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
Senegal
1
 
 
5
10, 13,
24
 
20
 
 
19
1, 15
 
Serbia
1, 7, 8
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Singapore
1
11, 12
 
2
13, 26
 
20
9
 
 
4
24, 31
Slovak Republic
1, 6
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovenia
1
8
 
2, 5,
27
 
25
 
 
 
 
1
24, 31
South Africa
1
 
22
2, 5,
27
 
16
 
9
24
 
 
16, 27
Spain
1
 
 
2, 5
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24, 31
Sri Lanka
1, 14,
28
4, 26
11
2, 13,
14, 26,
30
14, 26,
27
24
21, 23
 
20
19, 20
4, 18
24
Srpska, Republic of
1, 6, 7
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sweden
1, 5, 6
 
 
1, 2, 5,
30
12, 13
25
 
 
 
 
5
24, 31
Switzerland
1
 
 
2, 5
13, 24
 
 
 
 
 
 
24, 31
Taiwan
1
10-12,
15, 16
1
2, 5,
30
 
14
 
 
20, 21
11
 
31
Thailand
1
26
 
6,
13-15
3, 4,
26
3
26, 28
12
 
13, 25
 
6, 10,
31
Togo
1
 
 
5
10, 13,
24
 
20
 
 
19
1, 15
 
Tunisia
1, 14
 
 
9
11, 12,
13
 
20, 21
10, 13
 
15, 19
 
 
Turkey
1
 
 
23
12, 13,
14, 19
 
15, 19,
20-23
30
 
28, 29
 
 
Uganda
1, 26
16
8
2, 5
 
3, 9
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ukraine
1, 7, 8
 
8
 
3, 4,
10
21, 28
 
23, 24
 
14
 
27
United Arab Emirates -
ADX**
 
 
 
 
13
 
19-21
9
 
18
 
1, 2
United Arab Emirates -
DFM**
 
 
 
 
13
 
19-21
9
 
18
 
1, 2
United Arab Emirates -
DIFC**
 
 
 
 
13
 
19-21
9
 
18
 
1, 2
United Kingdom
1
 
 
2, 5
3, 31
 
 
30
 
 
 
24, 27,
28, 31
United States
1, 18
15
 
2
31
 
5
 
6
11
11, 25,
26
24
Uruguay
1, 6
15, 16
 
1, 2,
19
17
 
 
25
 
11
2
 
Vietnam
1
10-12,
15, 16
 
21, 30
3
 
 
 
2, 3
 
 
 
Zambia
1
 
8, 12
2, 5
25
 
5, 6
2
 
18, 25
 
 
Zimbabwe
1
 
 
2, 5
25
 
 
9, 10
 
 
 
22
** Market is closed every Friday
Redemption. A redemption request submitted on the following dates in the following foreign markets in calendar year 2021 will result in a settlement period that exceeds seven calendar days.  
Argentina
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Australia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
B-75
Austria
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Bahrain
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
07/18/2021
07/25/2021
T+7
07/19/2021
07/26/2021
T+7
 
Bangladesh
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Belgium
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Bermuda
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Botswana
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/29/2021
04/06/2021
T+8
03/30/2021
04/07/2021
T+8
03/31/2021
04/08/2021
T+8
04/01/2021
04/09/2021
T+8
05/07/2021
05/14/2021
T+7
05/10/2021
05/17/2021
T+7
05/11/2021
05/18/2021
T+7
05/12/2021
05/19/2021
T+7
06/25/2021
07/02/2021
T+7
06/28/2021
07/05/2021
T+7
06/29/2021
07/06/2021
T+7
06/30/2021
07/07/2021
T+7
07/13/2021
07/21/2021
T+8
07/14/2021
07/22/2021
T+8
07/15/2021
07/23/2021
T+8
07/16/2021
07/26/2021
T+10
09/24/2021
10/04/2021
T+10
09/27/2021
10/05/2021
T+8
09/28/2021
10/06/2021
T+8
09/29/2021
10/07/2021
T+8
12/21/2021
12/28/2021
T+7
12/22/2021
12/29/2021
T+7
12/23/2021
12/30/2021
T+7
12/24/2021
12/31/2021
T+7
 
Brazil
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
02/10/2021
02/17/2021
T+7
02/11/2021
02/18/2021
T+7
02/12/2021
02/19/2021
T+7
 
Bulgaria
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
04/28/2021
05/05/2021
T+7
04/29/2021
05/07/2021
T+8
B-76
Bulgaria
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
12/22/2021
12/29/2021
T+7
12/23/2021
12/30/2021
T+7
 
Canada
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Chile
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
China A-Share
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
China B-Share
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
02/08/2021
02/18/2021
T+10
02/09/2021
02/19/2021
T+10
02/10/2021
02/22/2021
T+12
04/28/2021
05/06/2021
T+8
04/29/2021
05/07/2021
T+8
04/30/2021
05/10/2021
T+10
09/15/2021
09/22/2021
T+7
09/16/2021
09/23/2021
T+7
09/17/2021
09/24/2021
T+7
09/28/2021
10/08/2021
T+10
09/29/2021
10/11/2021
T+12
09/30/2021
10/12/2021
T+12
 
China Connect
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Colombia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/29/2021
04/05/2021
T+7
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
 
Costa Rica
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Croatia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Cyprus
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
04/28/2021
05/05/2021
T+7
04/29/2021
05/06/2021
T+7
 
B-77
Czech Republic
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Denmark
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
 
Egypt
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
07/15/2021
07/25/2021
T+10
07/18/2021
07/26/2021
T+8
 
Estonia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Finland
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
France
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Germany
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Ghana
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
04/01/2021
04/08/2021
T+7
12/22/2021
12/29/2021
T+7
12/23/2021
12/30/2021
T+7
12/24/2021
12/31/2021
T+7
 
Greece
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Hong Kong - Equity
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
02/09/2021
02/16/2021
T+7
02/10/2021
02/17/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
04/01/2021
04/08/2021
T+7
 
Hong Kong - Corporate/Government Debt
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
02/08/2021
02/16/2021
T+8
02/09/2021
02/17/2021
T+8
02/10/2021
02/18/2021
T+8
03/30/2021
04/07/2021
T+8
03/31/2021
04/08/2021
T+8
04/01/2021
04/09/2021
T+8
12/21/2021
12/28/2021
T+7
B-78
Hong Kong - Corporate/Government Debt
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
12/22/2021
12/29/2021
T+7
12/23/2021
12/30/2021
T+7
 
Hungary
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Iceland
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
 
India
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Indonesia - Equity
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
05/10/2021
05/20/2021
T+10
05/11/2021
05/21/2021
T+10
 
Indonesia - Corporate/Government Debt
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/08/2021
03/15/2021
T+7
03/09/2021
03/16/2021
T+7
03/10/2021
03/17/2021
T+7
05/07/2021
05/20/2021
T+13
05/10/2021
05/21/2021
T+11
05/11/2021
05/24/2021
T+13
12/21/2021
12/28/2021
T+7
12/22/2021
12/29/2021
T+7
12/23/2021
12/30/2021
T+7
 
Ireland
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Israel
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/24/2021
04/04/2021
T+11
03/25/2021
04/05/2021
T+11
09/02/2021
09/09/2021
T+7
09/05/2021
09/12/2021
T+7
09/14/2021
09/22/2021
T+8
 
Italy
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Japan - Equity
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
04/28/2021
05/06/2021
T+8
04/30/2021
05/07/2021
T+7
 
Japan - Corporate/Government Debt
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
04/27/2021
05/06/2021
T+9
B-79
Japan - Corporate/Government Debt
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
04/28/2021
05/07/2021
T+9
04/30/2021
05/10/2021
T+10
07/19/2021
07/26/2021
T+7
07/20/2021
07/27/2021
T+7
07/21/2021
07/28/2021
T+7
09/17/2021
09/24/2021
T+7
 
Jordan
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
07/15/2021
07/25/2021
T+10
07/18/2021
07/26/2021
T+8
 
Kazakhstan
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/17/2021
03/25/2021
T+8
03/18/2021
03/26/2021
T+8
03/19/2021
03/29/2021
T+10
05/04/2021
05/11/2021
T+7
05/05/2021
05/12/2021
T+7
05/06/2021
05/13/2021
T+7
12/13/2021
12/20/2021
T+7
12/14/2021
12/21/2021
T+7
12/15/2021
12/22/2021
T+7
 
Kenya
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
04/01/2021
04/08/2021
T+7
 
Kuwait
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
07/14/2021
07/25/2021
T+11
07/15/2021
07/26/2021
T+11
07/18/2021
07/27/2021
T+9
 
Latvia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
06/21/2021
06/28/2021
T+7
06/22/2021
06/29/2021
T+7
 
Lithuania
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
04/01/2021
04/08/2021
T+7
10/27/2021
11/03/2021
T+7
10/28/2021
11/04/2021
T+7
10/29/2021
11/05/2021
T+7
 
Luxembourg
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
B-80
Malawi
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
04/01/2021
04/08/2021
T+7
05/10/2021
05/17/2021
T+7
05/11/2021
05/18/2021
T+7
05/12/2021
05/19/2021
T+7
 
Malaysia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Mauritius
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
01/26/2021
02/02/2021
T+7
01/27/2021
02/03/2021
T+7
03/08/2021
03/15/2021
T+7
03/09/2021
03/16/2021
T+7
03/10/2021
03/17/2021
T+7
10/27/2021
11/03/2021
T+7
10/28/2021
11/05/2021
T+8
10/29/2021
11/08/2021
T+10
 
Mexico
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Morocco
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
05/10/2021
05/17/2021
T+7
05/11/2021
05/18/2021
T+7
05/12/2021
05/19/2021
T+7
07/16/2021
07/23/2021
T+7
07/19/2021
07/26/2021
T+7
07/20/2021
07/27/2021
T+7
10/14/2021
10/21/2021
T+7
10/15/2021
10/22/2021
T+7
10/18/2021
10/25/2021
T+7
 
Namibia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/15/2021
03/23/2021
T+8
03/16/2021
03/24/2021
T+8
03/17/2021
03/25/2021
T+8
03/18/2021
03/26/2021
T+8
03/19/2021
03/29/2021
T+10
03/26/2021
04/06/2021
T+11
03/29/2021
04/07/2021
T+9
03/30/2021
04/08/2021
T+9
03/31/2021
04/09/2021
T+9
04/01/2021
04/12/2021
T+11
04/20/2021
04/28/2021
T+8
04/21/2021
04/29/2021
T+8
04/22/2021
04/30/2021
T+8
04/23/2021
05/03/2021
T+10
04/26/2021
05/05/2021
T+9
B-81
Namibia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
04/28/2021
05/06/2021
T+8
04/29/2021
05/07/2021
T+8
04/30/2021
05/10/2021
T+10
05/03/2021
05/11/2021
T+8
05/06/2021
05/14/2021
T+8
05/07/2021
05/17/2021
T+10
06/09/2021
06/17/2021
T+8
06/10/2021
06/18/2021
T+8
06/11/2021
06/21/2021
T+10
06/14/2021
06/22/2021
T+8
06/15/2021
06/23/2021
T+8
08/02/2021
08/10/2021
T+8
08/03/2021
08/11/2021
T+8
08/04/2021
08/12/2021
T+8
08/05/2021
08/13/2021
T+8
08/06/2021
08/16/2021
T+10
08/19/2021
08/27/2021
T+8
08/20/2021
08/30/2021
T+10
08/23/2021
08/31/2021
T+8
08/24/2021
09/01/2021
T+8
08/25/2021
09/02/2021
T+8
09/17/2021
09/27/2021
T+10
09/20/2021
09/28/2021
T+8
09/21/2021
09/29/2021
T+8
09/22/2021
09/30/2021
T+8
09/23/2021
10/01/2021
T+8
12/03/2021
12/13/2021
T+10
12/06/2021
12/14/2021
T+8
12/07/2021
12/15/2021
T+8
12/08/2021
12/17/2021
T+9
12/09/2021
12/20/2021
T+11
12/13/2021
12/21/2021
T+8
12/14/2021
12/22/2021
T+8
12/15/2021
12/23/2021
T+8
12/20/2021
12/28/2021
T+8
12/21/2021
12/29/2021
T+8
12/22/2021
12/30/2021
T+8
12/23/2021
12/31/2021
T+8
12/24/2021
01/04/2022
T+11
12/28/2021
01/05/2022
T+8
12/29/2021
01/06/2022
T+8
12/30/2021
01/07/2022
T+8
12/31/2021
01/10/2022
T+10
 
Netherlands
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
New Zealand
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
B-82
Nigeria
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
04/01/2021
04/08/2021
T+7
05/10/2021
05/17/2021
T+7
05/11/2021
05/18/2021
T+7
05/12/2021
05/19/2021
T+7
07/15/2021
07/22/2021
T+7
07/16/2021
07/23/2021
T+7
07/19/2021
07/26/2021
T+7
 
Norway
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/29/2021
04/06/2021
T+8
03/30/2021
04/07/2021
T+8
 
Oman
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/08/2021
03/15/2021
T+7
03/09/2021
03/16/2021
T+7
03/10/2021
03/17/2021
T+7
05/09/2021
05/16/2021
T+7
05/10/2021
05/17/2021
T+7
05/11/2021
05/18/2021
T+7
07/14/2021
07/25/2021
T+11
07/15/2021
07/26/2021
T+11
07/18/2021
07/27/2021
T+9
 
Pakistan
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
07/16/2021
07/26/2021
T+10
07/19/2021
07/27/2021
T+8
 
Panama
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
02/11/2021
02/18/2021
T+7
02/12/2021
02/19/2021
T+7
11/01/2021
11/08/2021
T+7
11/02/2021
11/09/2021
T+7
 
Peru
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Philippines
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/29/2021
04/05/2021
T+7
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
10/27/2021
11/03/2021
T+7
10/28/2021
11/04/2021
T+7
10/29/2021
11/05/2021
T+7
12/27/2021
01/04/2022
T+8
12/28/2021
01/05/2022
T+8
12/29/2021
01/06/2022
T+8
 
B-83
Poland
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Portugal
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Qatar
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
07/15/2021
07/25/2021
T+10
07/18/2021
07/26/2021
T+8
07/19/2021
07/27/2021
T+8
 
Romania
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Russia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
02/17/2021
02/24/2021
T+7
02/18/2021
02/25/2021
T+7
02/19/2021
02/26/2021
T+7
11/01/2021
11/08/2021
T+7
11/02/2021
11/09/2021
T+7
11/03/2021
11/10/2021
T+7
12/28/2021
01/04/2022
T+7
12/29/2021
01/05/2022
T+7
12/30/2021
01/06/2022
T+7
 
Saudi Arabia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
05/09/2021
05/19/2021
T+10
05/10/2021
05/20/2021
T+10
05/11/2021
05/23/2021
T+12
07/13/2021
07/25/2021
T+12
07/14/2021
07/26/2021
T+12
07/15/2021
07/27/2021
T+12
 
Serbia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Singapore
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Slovak Republic
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Slovenia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
South Africa
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
B-84
South Africa
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
04/01/2021
04/08/2021
T+7
 
South Korea
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
09/16/2021
09/23/2021
T+7
09/17/2021
09/24/2021
T+7
 
Spain
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Sri Lanka
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
04/08/2021
04/15/2021
T+7
04/09/2021
04/16/2021
T+7
04/12/2021
04/19/2021
T+7
05/21/2021
05/28/2021
T+7
05/24/2021
05/31/2021
T+7
05/25/2021
06/01/2021
T+7
07/19/2021
07/26/2021
T+7
07/20/2021
07/27/2021
T+7
10/14/2021
10/21/2021
T+7
10/15/2021
10/22/2021
T+7
10/18/2021
10/25/2021
T+7
 
Sweden
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
 
Switzerland
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Taiwan
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
02/08/2021
02/17/2021
T+9
02/09/2021
02/18/2021
T+9
 
Tanzania
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/08/2021
T+8
04/01/2021
04/09/2021
T+8
05/10/2021
05/17/2021
T+7
05/11/2021
05/18/2021
T+7
05/12/2021
05/19/2021
T+7
10/12/2021
10/19/2021
T+7
10/13/2021
10/20/2021
T+7
 
Thailand
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
04/09/2021
04/16/2021
T+7
04/12/2021
04/19/2021
T+7
 
B-85
Tunisia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
05/10/2021
05/17/2021
T+7
05/11/2021
05/18/2021
T+7
05/12/2021
05/19/2021
T+7
07/15/2021
07/22/2021
T+7
07/16/2021
07/23/2021
T+7
07/19/2021
07/26/2021
T+7
10/13/2021
10/20/2021
T+7
10/14/2021
10/21/2021
T+7
 
Turkey
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
05/10/2021
05/17/2021
T+7
05/11/2021
05/18/2021
T+7
07/14/2021
07/26/2021
T+12
07/16/2021
07/27/2021
T+11
 
Uganda
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
01/11/2021
01/18/2021
T+7
01/12/2021
01/19/2021
T+7
01/13/2021
01/20/2021
T+7
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
04/01/2021
04/08/2021
T+7
 
Ukraine
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
01/04/2021
01/11/2021
T+7
01/05/2021
01/12/2021
T+7
01/06/2021
01/13/2021
T+7
04/28/2021
05/05/2021
T+7
04/29/2021
05/06/2021
T+7
04/30/2021
05/07/2021
T+7
08/18/2021
08/25/2021
T+7
08/19/2021
08/26/2021
T+7
08/20/2021
08/27/2021
T+7
10/11/2021
10/18/2021
T+7
10/12/2021
10/19/2021
T+7
10/13/2021
10/20/2021
T+7
 
United Arab Emirates
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
07/15/2021
07/25/2021
T+10
07/18/2021
07/26/2021
T+8
 
United Kingdom
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
United States
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
Uruguay
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
No settlement cycles (>=): T+7
 
B-86
Vietnam
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
02/08/2021
02/17/2021
T+9
02/09/2021
02/18/2021
T+9
 
WAEMU
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
05/07/2021
05/14/2021
T+7
 
Zambia
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
04/01/2021
04/08/2021
T+7
06/30/2021
07/07/2021
T+7
07/01/2021
07/08/2021
T+7
07/02/2021
07/09/2021
T+7
 
Zimbabwe
 
 
Redemption Date
Redemption Settlement Date
Settlement Period
03/30/2021
04/06/2021
T+7
03/31/2021
04/07/2021
T+7
04/01/2021
04/08/2021
T+7
08/04/2021
08/11/2021
T+7
08/05/2021
08/12/2021
T+7
08/06/2021
08/13/2021
T+7
In 2021, the maximum number of calendar days necessary to satisfy a redemption request would be 14 days.
Financial Statements
Each Fund’s Financial Statements for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020, appearing in the Funds' 2020 Annual Reports to Shareholders, and the reports thereon of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, also appearing therein, are incorporated by reference into this Statement of Additional Information. For a more complete discussion of each Fund’s performance, please see the Funds' Annual and Semiannual Reports to Shareholders, which may be obtained without charge.
Description of Bond Ratings
Moody’s Rating Symbols
The following describe characteristics of the global long-term (original maturity of 1 year or more) bond ratings provided by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (Moody’s):
Aaa—Judged to be obligations of the highest quality, they are subject to the lowest level of credit risk.
Aa—Judged to be obligations of high quality, they are subject to very low credit risk. Together with the Aaa group, they make up what are generally known as high-grade bonds.
A—Judged to be upper-medium-grade obligations, they are subject to low credit risk.
Baa—Judged to be medium-grade obligations, subject to moderate credit risk, they may possess certain speculative characteristics.
Ba—Judged to be speculative obligations, they are subject to substantial credit risk.
B—Considered to be speculative obligations, they are subject to high credit risk.
Caa—Judged to be speculative obligations of poor standing, they are subject to very high credit risk.
B-87
Ca—Viewed as highly speculative obligations, they are likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest.
C—Viewed as the lowest rated obligations, they are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal and interest.
Moody’s also supplies numerical indicators (1, 2, and 3) to rating categories. The modifier 1 indicates that the security is in the higher end of its rating category, the modifier 2 indicates a mid-range ranking, and the modifier 3 indicates a ranking toward the lower end of the category.
The following describe characteristics of the global short-term (original maturity of 13 months or less) bond ratings provided by Moody’s. This ratings scale also applies to U.S. municipal tax-exempt commercial paper.
Prime-1 (P-1)—Judged to have a superior ability to repay short-term debt obligations.
Prime-2 (P-2)—Judged to have a strong ability to repay short-term debt obligations.
Prime-3 (P-3)—Judged to have an acceptable ability to repay short-term debt obligations.
Not Prime (NP)—Cannot be judged to be in any of the prime rating categories.
The following describe characteristics of the U.S. municipal short-term bond ratings provided by Moody’s:
Moody’s ratings for state and municipal notes and other short-term (up to 3 years) obligations are designated Municipal Investment Grade (MIG).
MIG 1—Indicates superior quality, enjoying the excellent protection of established cash flows, liquidity support, and broad-based access to the market for refinancing.
MIG 2—Indicates strong credit quality with ample margins of protection, although not as large as in the preceding group.
MIG 3—Indicates acceptable credit quality, with narrow liquidity and cash-flow protection and less well-established market access for refinancing.
SG—Indicates speculative credit quality with questionable margins of protection.
Standard and Poor’s Rating Symbols
The following describe characteristics of the long-term (original maturity of 1 year or more) bond ratings provided by Standard and Poor’s:
AAA—These are the highest rated obligations. The capacity to pay interest and repay principal is extremely strong.
AA—These also qualify as high-grade obligations. They have a very strong capacity to pay interest and repay principal, and they differ from AAA issues only in small degree.
A—These are regarded as upper-medium-grade obligations. They have a strong capacity to pay interest and repay principal although they are somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than debt in higher-rated categories.
BBB—These are regarded as having an adequate capacity to pay interest and repay principal. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity in this regard. This group is the lowest that qualifies for commercial bank investment.
BB, B, CCC, CC, and C—These obligations range from speculative to significantly speculative with respect to the capacity to pay interest and repay principal. BB indicates the lowest degree of speculation and C the highest.
D—These obligations are in default, and payment of principal and/or interest is likely in arrears.
The ratings from AA to CCC may be modified by the addition of a plus (+) or minus (–) sign to show relative standing within the major rating categories.
The following describe characteristics of short-term (original maturity of 365 days or less) bond and commercial paper ratings designations provided by Standard and Poor’s:
B-88
A-1—These are the highest rated obligations. The capacity of the obligor to pay interest and repay principal is strong. The addition of a plus sign (+) would indicate a very strong capacity.
A-2—These obligations are somewhat susceptible to changing economic conditions. The obligor has a satisfactory capacity to pay interest and repay principal.
A-3—These obligations are more susceptible to the adverse effects of changing economic conditions, which could lead to a weakened capacity to pay interest and repay principal.
B—These obligations are vulnerable to nonpayment and are significantly speculative, but the obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitments.
C—These obligations are vulnerable to nonpayment, but the obligor must rely on favorable economic conditions to meet its financial commitment.
D—These obligations are in default, and payment of principal and/or interest is likely in arrears.
The following describe characteristics of U.S. municipal short-term (original maturity of 3 years or less) note ratings provided by Standard and Poor’s:
SP-1—This designation indicates a strong capacity to pay principal and interest.
SP-2—This designation indicates a satisfactory capacity to pay principal and interest.
SP-3—This designation indicates a speculative capacity to pay principal and interest.
Appendix A
Vanguard-Advised Funds Proxy Voting Policy
Each Vanguard fund advised by Vanguard retains authority to vote proxies received with respect to the shares of equity securities held in a portfolio advised by Vanguard. The Board of Trustees (the Board) for the Vanguard-advised funds has adopted proxy voting procedures and guidelines to govern proxy voting for each portfolio retaining proxy voting authority.
The Investment Stewardship Oversight Committee (the Committee), made up primarily of fund officers and subject to the procedures described below, oversees the Vanguard-advised funds' proxy voting. The Committee reports directly to the Board. Vanguard is subject to these procedures and the proxy voting guidelines to the extent that they call for Vanguard to administer the voting process and implement the resulting voting decisions, and for these purposes the guidelines have also been approved by the Board of Directors of Vanguard.
The voting principles and guidelines adopted by the Board provide a framework for assessing each proposal and seek to ensure that each vote is cast in the best interests of each fund. Under the guidelines, each proposal is evaluated on its merits, based on the particular facts and circumstances as presented. For more information on the funds' proxy voting guidelines, please visit about.vanguard.com/investment-stewardship.
I. Investment Stewardship Team
The Investment Stewardship Team administers the day-to-day operation of the funds' proxy voting process, overseen by the Committee. The Investment Stewardship Team performs the following functions: (1) managing and conducting due diligence of proxy voting vendors; (2) reconciling share positions; (3) analyzing proxy proposals using factors described in the guidelines; (4) determining and addressing potential or actual conflicts of interest that may be presented by a particular proxy; and (5) voting proxies. The Investment Stewardship Team also prepares periodic and special reports to the Board, and proposes amendments to the procedures and guidelines. In addition, at any time, the Board may elect to exercise its discretionary authority to vote proxies.
II. Investment Stewardship Oversight Committee
The Board, including a majority of the independent trustees, appoints the members of the Committee (which is comprised primarily of fund officers). The Committee works with the Investment Stewardship Team to provide reports and other guidance to the Board regarding proxy voting by the funds. The Committee has an obligation to exercise its decision-making authority in accordance with the Board’s instructions as set forth in the funds’ proxy voting procedures
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and guidelines and subject to the fiduciary standards of good faith, fairness, and Vanguard's Code of Ethics. The Committee may advise the Investment Stewardship Team on how to best apply the Board’s instructions as set forth in the guidelines or refer the matter to the Board, which has ultimate decision-making authority for the funds. The Board reviews the procedures and guidelines annually and modifies them from time to time upon the recommendation of the Committee and in consultation with the Investment Stewardship Team.
III. Proxy Voting Principles
Vanguard's investment stewardship activities are grounded in four principles of good governance:
1) Board composition: We believe good governance begins with a great board of directors. Our primary interest is to ensure that the individuals who represent the interests of all shareholders are independent, committed, capable, and appropriately experienced.
2) Oversight of strategy and risk: We believe that boards are responsible for effective oversight of a company's long-term strategy and any relevant and material risks.
3) Executive compensation: We believe that performance-linked compensation (or remuneration) policies and practices are fundamental drivers of sustainable, long-term value.
4) Governance structures: We believe that companies should have in place governance structures to ensure that boards and management serve in the best interests of the shareholders they represent.
IV. Evaluation of Proxies
For ease of reference, the procedures and guidelines often refer to all funds. However, the processes and practices seek to ensure that proxy voting decisions are suitable for individual funds. For most proxy proposals, particularly those involving corporate governance, the evaluation could result in the funds having a common interest in the matter and, accordingly, each fund casting votes in the same manner. In other cases, however, a fund may vote differently from other funds if doing so is in the best interest of the individual fund.
The guidelines do not permit the Board to delegate voting discretion to a third party that does not serve as a fiduciary for the funds. Because many factors bear on each decision, the guidelines incorporate factors that should be considered in each voting decision. A fund may refrain from voting some or all of its shares or vote in a particular way if doing so would be in the fund's and its shareholders' best interests. These circumstances may arise, for example, if the expected cost of voting exceeds the expected benefits of voting, if exercising the vote would result in the imposition of trading or other restrictions, or if a fund (or all Vanguard funds in the aggregate) were to own more than the permissible maximum percentage of a company's stock (as determined by the company's governing documents or by applicable law, regulation, or regulatory agreement).
In evaluating proxy proposals, we consider information from many sources, which could include, but is not limited to, an investment advisor unaffiliated with Vanguard that has investment and proxy voting authority with respect to Vanguard funds that hold shares in the applicable company, the management or shareholders of a company presenting a proposal, and independent proxy research services. We will give substantial weight to the recommendations of the company's board, absent guidelines or other specific facts that would support a vote against management. Additionally, data and recommendations from proxy advisors serve as one of many inputs into our research process. The funds may utilize automated voting for matters that are clearly addressed by the fund's procedures and guidelines.
While serving as a framework, the guidelines cannot contemplate all possible proposals with which a fund may be presented. In the absence of a specific guideline for a particular proposal (e.g., in the case of a transactional issue or contested proxy), the Investment Stewardship Team, under the supervision of the Committee, will evaluate the matter and cast the fund's vote in a manner that is in the fund's best interest, subject to the individual circumstances of the fund.
V. Conflicts of Interest
Vanguard takes seriously its commitment to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Vanguard funds invest in thousands of publicly listed companies worldwide. Those companies may include clients, potential clients, vendors, or competitors. Some companies may employ Vanguard trustees, former Vanguard executives, or family members of Vanguard personnel who have direct involvement in Vanguard's Investment Stewardship program.
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Vanguard's approach to mitigating conflicts of interest begins with the funds' proxy voting procedures. The procedures require that voting personnel act as fiduciaries, and must conduct their activities at all times in accordance with the following standards: (i) fund shareholders' interests come first; (ii) conflicts of interest must be avoided; (iii) and compromising situations must be avoided.
We maintain an important separation between Vanguard's Investment Stewardship Team and other groups within Vanguard that are responsible for sales, marketing, client service, and vendor/partner relationships. Proxy voting personnel are required to disclose potential conflicts of interest, and must recuse themselves from all voting decisions and engagement activities in such instances. In certain circumstances, Vanguard may refrain from voting shares of a company, or may engage an independent third-party fiduciary to vote proxies.
Each externally managed fund has adopted the proxy voting guidelines of its advisor(s) and votes in accordance with the external advisors' guidelines and procedures. Each advisor has its own procedures for managing conflicts of interest in the best interests of fund shareholders.
VI. Environmental and Social Proposals
Proposals in this category, initiated primarily by shareholders, typically request that a company enhance its disclosure or amend certain business practices. These resolutions are evaluated in the context of the general corporate governance principle that a company's board has ultimate responsibility for providing effective ongoing oversight of relevant sector- and company-specific risks, including those related to environmental and social matters. Each proposal is evaluated on its merits and supported when there is a logically demonstrable linkage between the specific proposal and long-term shareholder value of the company. Some of the factors considered when evaluating these proposals include the materiality of the issue, the quality of the current disclosures/business practices, and any progress by the company toward the adoption of best practices and/or industry norms.
VII. Voting in Markets Outside the United States
Corporate governance standards, disclosure requirements, and voting mechanics vary greatly among the markets outside the United States in which the funds may invest. Each fund’s votes will be used, where applicable, to support improvements in governance and disclosure by each fund’s portfolio companies. Matters presented by non-U.S. portfolio companies will be evaluated in the foregoing context, as well as in accordance with local market standards and best practices. Votes are cast for each fund in a manner philosophically consistent with the guidelines, taking into account differing practices by market.
In many other markets, voting proxies will result in a fund being prohibited from selling the shares for a period of time due to requirements known as “share-blocking” or reregistration. Generally, the value of voting is unlikely to outweigh the loss of liquidity imposed by these requirements on the funds. In such instances, the funds will generally abstain from voting.
The costs of voting (e.g., custodian fees, vote agency fees) in other markets may be substantially higher than for U.S. holdings. As such, the fund may limit its voting on foreign holdings in instances in which the issues presented are unlikely to have a material impact on shareholder value.
VIII. Voting Shares of a Company Subject to an Ownership Limitation
Certain companies have provisions in their governing documents or other agreements that restrict stock ownership in excess of a specified limit. Typically, these ownership restrictions are included in the governing documents of real estate investment trusts, but may be included in other companies' governing documents. A company's governing documents normally allow the company to grant a waiver of these ownership limits, which would allow a fund to exceed the stated ownership limit. Sometimes a company will grant a waiver without restriction. From time to time, a company may grant a waiver only if a fund (or funds) agrees to not vote the company's shares in excess of the normal specified limit. In such a circumstance, a fund may refrain from voting shares if owning the shares beyond the company's specified limit is in the best interests of the fund and its shareholders.
In addition, applicable law may require prior regulatory approval to permit ownership of certain regulated issuers’ voting securities above certain limits or may impose other restrictions on owners of more than a certain percentage of a regulated issuer's voting shares. The Board has authorized the funds to vote shares above these limits in the same
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proportion as votes cast by the issuer's entire shareholder base (i.e., mirror vote), or to refrain from voting excess shares. Further, the Board has adopted policies that will result in certain funds mirror voting a higher proportion of the shares they own in a regulated issuer in order to permit certain other funds (generally advised by managers not affiliated with Vanguard) to mirror vote none, or a lower proportion, of their shares in such regulated issuer.
IX. Voting on a Fund's Holdings of Other Vanguard Funds
Certain Vanguard funds (owner funds) may, from time to time, own shares of other Vanguard funds (underlying funds). If an underlying fund submits a matter to a vote of its shareholders, votes for and against such matters on behalf of the owner funds will be cast in the same proportion as the votes of the other shareholders in the underlying fund.
X. Securities Lending
There may be occasions when Vanguard needs to restrict lending of and/or recall securities that are out on loan in order to vote in a shareholder meeting. Vanguard has processes to monitor securities on loan and to evaluate any circumstances that may require us to restrict and/or recall the stock. In making this decision, we consider:
■ The subject of the vote and whether, based on our knowledge and experience, we believe the topic is potentially material to the corporate governance and/or long-term performance of the company;
■ The Vanguard funds' individual and/or aggregate equity investment in a company, and whether we estimate that voting Vanguard funds' shares would affect the shareholder meeting outcome; and
■ The long-term impact to our fund shareholders, evaluating whether we believe the benefits of voting a company's shares would outweigh the benefits of stock lending revenues in a particular instance.
Appendix B
Baillie Gifford Proxy Voting Guidelines
Baillie Gifford has adopted the Governance and Sustainability Principles and Guidelines (the Guidelines) to vote proxies related to securities held by the funds.
The Guidelines are developed and administered by the Governance & Sustainability Team of the Baillie Gifford Group. This Governance & Sustainability Team sits alongside the investment teams and is responsible for the voting of proxies. The head of this Governance & Sustainability Team jointly reports to an investment partner of Baillie Gifford & Co., the parent of Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd., and to the senior investment committee of the Investment Management Group of the Baillie Gifford Group.
The Guidelines cover Baillie Gifford’s approach to governance and sustainability matters including the following areas:
— Board Effectiveness and Composition
— Capital Allocation
— Governance Processes and Disclosure
— Remuneration
— Sustainability
Baillie Gifford recognizes that given the range of markets in which the Funds invest, one set of standards is unlikely to be appropriate. The Guidelines consequently take an issues based approach covering standards from a global perspective.
Pragmatic & Flexible Approach
Baillie Gifford recognizes that companies within particular markets operate under significantly differing conditions. The Guidelines are intended to provide an insight into how Baillie Gifford approaches voting and engagement on behalf of clients with it important to note that Baillie Gifford assesses every company individually. With respect to voting, Baillie Gifford will evaluate proposals on a case-by-case basis, based on what it believes to be in the best long-term interests of the clients, rather than rigidly applying a policy.
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In evaluating each proxy, the Governance & Sustainability Team follows the Guidelines, while also considering third party analysis, Baillie Gifford’s and its affiliates own research and discussions with company management.
The Governance & Sustainability Team oversees voting analysis and execution in conjunction with the investment managers. Baillie Gifford may elect not to vote on certain proxies. While Baillie Gifford endeavors to vote a fund’s shares in all markets, on occasion this may not be possible due to a practice known as share blocking, whereby voting shares would result in Baillie Gifford being prevented from trading for a certain period of time. When voting in these markets, Baillie Gifford assesses the benefits of voting clients’ shares against the relevant restrictions. Baillie Gifford may also not vote where it has sold out of a stock following the record date.
Conflicts of Interest
Baillie Gifford recognizes the importance of managing potential conflicts of interest that may exist when voting a proxy solicited by a company with whom the Baillie Gifford Group has a material business or personal relationship. The Governance & Sustainability Team of the Baillie Gifford Group is responsible for monitoring possible material conflicts of interest with respect to proxy voting.
For proxy votes that involve a potential conflict of interest that is not managed in line with the Conflicts of Interest policy, the Governance & Sustainability team report the conflict to the Investment Management Group (IMG) for discussion. The Governance & Sustainability team reports into the IMG which is comprised of several senior Baillie Gifford partners. These individuals review the voting rationale, consider whether business relationships between Baillie Gifford and the company have influenced the proposed vote and decide the course of action to be taken in the best interest of clients.
COOKE & BIELER, L.P.
PROXY POLICY
Cooke & Bieler, L.P. has a fiduciary obligation to vote client proxies in the best interest of our clients – to protect and enhance the economic interests of the beneficial owner of the securities which are under our supervision. In determining how to vote on an issue, the firm will consider the opinion of management and the effect on the issuer's business practices as part of analyzing the effect on shareholder value. In addition, Cooke & Bieler will consider the voting recommendations of third parties, such as proxy services firms or other organizations or associations (e.g., the AFL-CIO, RMG or Glass Lewis), but these recommendations are not determinative. The firm will also consider the views of third parties when revising its proxy voting policies, procedures or guidelines.
Cooke & Bieler utilizes the services of an outside proxy firm, currently Broadridge, to act as agent for the proxy process and to maintain records of proxy votes for our clients. In addition, Glass Lewis provides the firm research on proxy votes. In the rare situation where a custodian does not have a relationship with Broadridge, we may use a different proxy voting vendor but continue to use Glass Lewis as the research provider. Proxy statements are thoroughly reviewed by the portfolio manager most familiar with the company to ensure that proxies are voted in the best interest of our clients. Cooke & Bieler defines the best interest of the client to mean the best economic interest of the shareholders of the company.
The following guidelines have been established to ensure voting which is consistent with our fiduciary responsibility. While we follow the guidelines listed below, each vote is ultimately cast on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration all the relevant facts and circumstances at the time of the vote.
I. The Board of Directors
A. Voting on Director Nominees in Elections
Votes on director nominees are made on a case-by-case basis, examining the following factors:
• long-term corporate performance and stock price
• composition of board and key board committees
• nominee’s attendance at meetings
• track record
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• if contested—background of proxy contest, qualifications of both slates of nominees, what they are offering and
likelihood objectives can be met
B. Separation of Chairman and CEO
We believe in most cases, an independent chairman is better suited to oversee the board and the company’s management, assess performance and ensure that shareholder interests are being served. However sometimes we believe that the individual is capable of fulfilling both roles especially when the company’s performance has been strong under the leadership of this individual. We vote case-by-case on shareholder proposals asking that the chairman and CEO positions be separated (independent chairman).
C. Majority of Independent Directors
We generally vote for shareholder proposals that request that the board be comprised of a majority of independent directors. We believe that a majority of independent directors helps to facilitate objective decision making and enhances accountability to shareholders.
D. Stock Ownership Requirements
We typically vote against shareholder proposals requiring directors to own a minimum amount of company stock in order to qualify as a director, or to remain on the board. Requiring stock ownership may limit the number of persons qualified to be on the board. We believe a director can serve the company well regardless of the extent of his or her ownership.
E. Term of Office
We vote against shareholder proposals to limit the tenure of outside directors because this may result in prohibiting the service of directors who significantly contribute to the company’s success and represent shareholders’ interest effectively.
F. Director and Officer Indemnification and Liability Protection
Proposals concerning director and officer indemnification and liability protection are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
We vote against proposals to limit or eliminate entirely director and officer liability for monetary damages for violating the duty of care.
We vote against indemnification proposals that would expand coverage beyond legal expenses to include acts, such as negligence, that are more serious violations of fiduciary obligations than mere carelessness.
We vote for only those proposals that provide such expanded coverage in cases when a director’s or officer’s legal defense was unsuccessful if: (1) the director was found to have acted in good faith and in a manner that he reasonably believed was in the best interests of the company; and (2) only if the director’s legal expenses would be covered.
G. Requiring Majority Voting for Election of Directors
We typically vote for requiring majority voting for election of directors.
II. Proxy Contests
A. Reimburse Proxy Solicitation Expenses
Decisions to provide full reimbursement for dissidents waging a proxy contest are made on a case-by-case basis. We believe reimbursement of solicitation expenses may encourage abuse by special interests at the expense of the majority of shareholders.
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III. Auditors
A. Ratifying Auditors
We generally vote for ratifying auditors unless they have a financial interest in or association with the company, and are therefore not independent; or there is reason to believe that the independent auditor has rendered an opinion which is neither accurate nor indicative of the company’s financial position; or finally if non-audit service fees are excessive.
IV. Proxy Contest Defenses
A. Board Structure: Staggered vs. Annual Elections
We vote against proposals to classify the board.
We vote for proposals to repeal classified boards and to elect all directors annually.
B. Cumulative Voting
We review on a case-by-case basis proposals to permit/eliminate cumulative voting. We weigh the positive of enhancing the ability of minority shareholders to concentrate support with the negative that this may be used destructively by a minority of shareholders with extreme points of view. We consider:
• Historical shareholder-friendliness of said corporation;
• Past dealings with minority shareholders;
• Conflicts of interest
C. Shareholder Ability to Call Special Meetings
We review on a case-by-case basis proposals to permit/eliminate shareholder’s ability to call special meetings. We consider how shareholder friendly the company is as we believe this right may be abused by special interests at the expense of the majority of shareholders.
V. Tender Offer Defenses
A. Poison Pills
We vote for shareholder proposals that ask a company to submit its poison pill for shareholder ratification.
We review on a case-by-case basis shareholder proposal to redeem or ratify a company’s poison pill. We consider the trigger, value of the NOLs, terms and conditions, and shareholder protection mechanisms.
B. Fair Price Provisions
We review on a case-by-case basis fair price proposals. We evaluate vote required to approve the proposed acquisition, the vote required to repeal the fair price provisions, and the mechanism for determining the fair price.
C. Supermajority Shareholder Vote Requirement
We vote against management proposals to require a supermajority shareholder vote.
We vote for shareholder proposals to lower supermajority shareholder vote requirements.
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VI. Capital Structure
A. Common Stock Authorization
We review on a case-by-case basis proposals to increase the number of shares of common stock authorized for issue.
We will make an assessment regarding:
• the need for the increase;
• the percentage increase with respect to the existing authorization;
• voting rights of the stock;
• overall capitalization structures;
• board’s governance structure and practices;
• whether company is in danger of being de-listed or if going concern is an issue.
B. Stock Splits
We will vote for management proposals to implement a stock split.
C. Reverse Stock Splits
We vote for management’s proposals to implement a reverse stock split. We will generally support a reverse stock split if management provides a reasonable justification for the split and if the reverse stock split would proportionately reduce number of authorized shares.
D. Preemptive Rights
We review on a case-by-case basis proposals to create or abolish preemptive rights. In evaluating proposals on preemptive rights, we look at the size of a company, the characteristics of its shareholder base, and the liquidity of the stock.
E. Share Repurchase Programs
We vote for management proposals to institute open-market share repurchase plans in which all shareholders may participate on equal terms.
F. Approve Distribution of Dividend
We typically vote for management proposals to distribute a dividend in which the financial stability of the company will not be affected.
VII. Compensation
We analyze executive and director compensation plans on a case-by-case basis. Viable compensation programs are designed to attract, retain and motivate talented executives and outside directors, but are also subject to abuse by entrenched managements. In evaluating a pay plan, we weigh the need to attract and retain qualified people against the implications for dilution and transfer of shareholder wealth.
A. Shareholder Proposals to Limit Executive and Directors Pay
We review all shareholder proposals that seek additional disclosure of executive and director pay information on a case-by-case basis.
We review on a case-by-case basis all other shareholder proposals that seek to limit executive and director pay.
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B. Golden and Tin Parachutes
We vote for shareholder proposals to have golden and tin parachutes submitted for shareholder ratification.
We review on a case-by-case basis all proposals to ratify or cancel golden or tin parachutes.
C. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOPs)
We vote review on a case-by-case basis proposals that request shareholder approval in order to implement an ESOP or to increase authorized shares for existing ESOPs.
D. 401(k) Employee Benefit Plans
We vote for proposals to implement a 401(k) savings plan for employees since this will help attract and retain quality personnel.
E. Pay for Superior Performance
We vote for proposals that reward executives for performance. We typically consider the following factors:
• type of industry
• stage of business cycle
• appropriateness of current incentive programs
• performance of company with current incentive program
F. Restrictions on Golden Coffin Compensations
We vote for proposals calling companies to adopt policies that require obtaining shareholder approval for payments after the death of a senior executive.
We typically vote for proposals that reduce the use of golden coffin type payments.
G. Limit Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERPs)
We generally vote for proposals that require putting extraordinary benefits contained in SERP agreements to shareholder vote.
We also generally vote for shareholder proposals requesting to limit extraordinary executive benefits provided under company’s SERP.
H. Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation
We generally vote for shareholder proposals that call for non-binding shareholder ratification of compensation of executive officers.
I. Stock Retention/Holding Period Requirements
We evaluate on a case by case basis shareholder proposals asking companies to adopt policies requiring executive officers to retain a certain percentage of shares acquired while employed at the company. We consider the following factors:
• actual officer stock ownership
• degree to which current requirements differ from proponent’s suggested holding period/retention ratio
• current and past problematic pay practices
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J. Tax Gross-Up Proposals
We generally vote against proposals calling for companies to adopt a policy providing tax gross-up payments to executives.
K. Frequency of Advisory Votes on Executive Compensation
We generally vote for proposals modifying the frequency to annually for advisory votes on executive compensation.
VIII. State of Incorporation
A. Voting on State Takeover Statutes
We review on a case-by-case basis proposals to opt out of state takeover statutes. We consider the following factors:
• the power the statute vests with the issuer’s board;
• the potential for the statute to empower the board to negotiate a better deal for shareholders;
• provisions incorporated.
B. Voting on Reincorporation Proposals
Proposals to change a company’s state of incorporation are examined on a case-by-case basis. A company may choose to reincorporate under the laws of a different state for many reasons, including:
• taxation;
• comparison of corporation laws of original state and destination state;
• the level of corporate experience of the state court;
• reason for reincorporation;
• comparison of company’s governance practices and provisions prior to and following reincorporation.
IX. Mergers and Corporate Restructurings
A. Mergers and Acquisitions
Votes on mergers and acquisitions are considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the following:
• anticipated financial and operating benefits;
• offer price (cost vs. premium);
• prospects of the combined companies;
• how the deal was negotiated; and
• changes in corporate governance and their impact on shareholder rights.
B. Corporate Restructuring
Votes on corporate restructuring proposals, including minority squeezeouts, leveraged buyout, spin-offs, liquidations and asset sales are considered on a case-by-case basis with the following considerations:
• dilution of existing shareholder’s position
• terms of the offer
• financial and control issues
• conflicts of interest
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C. Spin-offs
Votes on spin-offs are considered on a case-by-case basis depending on:
• tax and regulatory advantages
• planned use of sale proceeds
• market focus
• managerial incentives
• corporate governance changes
• capital structure changes
• conflicts of interest
X. Lobbying and Political Donations
Votes on lobbying and political donations are considered on a case-by-case basis depending on:
• the polity in question
• the expenses of the operation
• the possibility of corruption
• the type of business
XI. Social and Environmental Issues
We believe companies face real financial, regulatory and reputational risks from their environmental and social practices and thoughtful management of these issues is important for the creation of shareholder value over the long-term. We expect the managements and boards of the companies in which we invest to address these issues as part of their overall risk control and firm management responsibilities.
We will typically vote for disclosure reports that seek additional information that is not available elsewhere and that is not proprietary, particularly when it appears that companies have not adequately addressed shareholder’s social and environmental concerns. We will generally vote against proposals we deem duplicative, overly burdensome or unlikely to further the long-term economic interests of shareholders.
In determining our vote on shareholder social and environmental proposals, we also analyze the following factors:
• whether adoption of the proposal would have either a positive or negative impact on the company’s short-term or
long-term share value;
• whether the company has already responded in some appropriate manner to the request embodied in the proposal;
• whether the proposal itself is well framed and reasonable;
• whether implementation of the proposal would achieve the objectives sought in the proposal;
• what other companies have done in response to the issue;
• any recent related fines, controversies, or litigations.
XII. Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts between the firm and its clients on proxy-related issues are rare. If Cooke & Bieler, L.P. has a material conflict of interest, the following four-step process will be used to address the conflict. The first step is to identify those issuers where Cooke & Bieler has a significant business or personal/family relationship that could give rise to a conflict of interest. The second step is to identify those proxy proposals where the conflict of interest may be material. The third
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step is to identify whether Glass Lewis also has a conflict of interest. If Glass Lewis does not have a conflict of interest, we will vote according to Glass Lewis. If Glass Lewis does have a conflict of interest we will identify another unaffiliated third party to vote the proposals according to. The fourth step is to document the conflict of interest and the resolution of the conflict.
(1) Identifying Those Issuers with which Cooke & Bieler May Have a Conflict of Interest
Cooke & Bieler will identify issuers with which it may have a conflict of interest and maintain a list of such issuers.
a.) Significant Business Relationships – Cooke & Bieler will maintain a list of issuers with which we may have a significant business relationship, for example, where we also manage a pension plan whose management is soliciting proxies. For this purpose, a “significant business relationship” is one that: (1) represents 5% or $1,000,000 of Cooke & Bieler’s revenues for the most recent fiscal year, whichever is less, or is reasonably expected to represent this amount for the current fiscal year; or (2) may not directly involve revenue to Cooke & Bieler but is otherwise determined by us to be significant, for example:
• Cooke & Bieler has a significant relationship with a particular company which may create an incentive for Cooke & Bieler to vote in favor of management.
b.) Significant Personal/Family Relationships – Cooke & Bieler will identify issuers with which its employees who are involved in the proxy voting process may have a significant personal/family relationship. For this purpose, a “significant personal/family relationship” is one that would be reasonably likely to influence how Cooke & Bieler votes proxies. To identify any such relationships, we will obtain information on an annual basis about any significant personal/family relationship between any employees of Cooke & Bieler who is involved in the proxy voting process.
c.) Contact with Proxy Voting Employees – Cooke & Bieler will attempt to prevent employees who are not involved in the proxy voting process from trying to influence how Cooke & Bieler votes any proxy. If a person employed by Cooke & Bieler and not involved in the proxy voting process contacts anyone for the purpose of influencing how a proxy is voted, the member will immediately contact the Compliance Officer who will determine: (1) whether Cooke & Bieler should now treat the proxy in question as one involving a material conflict of interest; and (2) if so, anyone who was contacted should remove himself/herself from all further matters regarding the proxy.
d.) Duties of the Proxy Voting Employees – Cooke & Bieler has a duty to make reasonable investigation of information relating to conflicts of interest. Absent actual knowledge, we are not required to investigate possible conflicts involving Cooke & Bieler where the information is non-public or otherwise not readily available.
In connection with the consideration of any proxy voting matters under this policy, employees who vote proxies have a duty to disclose any material conflicts of interest of which the member has actual knowledge but which have not been identified pursuant to this policy.
(2) Identifying Those Proxy Proposals Where Cooke & Bieler’s Conflict is Material
If Cooke & Bieler receives a proxy relating to an issuer with which it has a conflict of interest (as determined above), Cooke & Bieler will then determine whether the conflict is “material” to any specific proposal included within the proxy. If not, then Cooke & Bieler can vote the proxy in accordance with its proxy voting procedures; if so, Cooke & Bieler will vote according to an independent third party, currently Glass Lewis, after confirming that they do not have a conflict of interest.
a.) Routine Proxy Proposals – Proxy proposals that are “routine” shall be presumed not to involve a material conflict of interest for Cooke & Bieler, unless they have actual knowledge that a routine proposal should be treated as material. For this purpose, “routine” proposals would typically include matters such as the selection of an accountant, uncontested election of directors, meeting formalities, and approval of an annual report/financial statements.
b.) Non-Routine Proxy Proposals – Proxy proposals that are “non-routine” shall be presumed to involve a material conflict of interest for Cooke & Bieler, unless the firm determines that Cooke & Bieler’s conflict is unrelated to the proposal in question. For this purpose, “non-routine” proposals would typically include any contested matter, including a contested election of directors, a merger or sale of substantial assets, a change in the articles of incorporation that materially affects the rights of shareholders, and compensation matters for management (e.g., stock option plans, retirement plans, profit sharing or other special remuneration plans).
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c.) Determining that a Non-Routine Proposal is Not Material – As discussed above, although non-routine proposals are presumed to involve a material conflict of interest, the firm may determine on a case-by-case basis that particular non-routine proposals do not involve a material conflict of interest. To make this determination, they must conclude that a proposal is not directly related to Cooke & Bieler’s conflict with the issuer. The firm shall record in writing the basis for any such determination.
(3) Determining How to Vote Proxies Involving a Material Conflict of Interest
For any proposal where Cooke & Bieler has a material conflict of interest, we will vote according to an independent third party, currently Glass Lewis, to vote the specific proposals that involve a conflict. If it is determined that the independent third party also has a conflict, we will identify another unaffiliated third party to vote the specific proposals.
These procedures are designed to ensure that all proxies are voted in the best interests of clients and not the product of the conflict.
(4) Proxy Voting Process
1. Broadridge will reroute proxy materials for our clients that were historically sent to custodian banks and incorporate that information onto the ProxyEdge system.
2. Broadridge will determine client accounts that receive ballots and match the ballots to the correct account.
3. The designated proxy person forwards all meeting material, including agenda items and Glass Lewis research as well as Taft Hartley research, to the responsible analyst for review.
4. Absent material conflicts, the responsible analyst will determine how the firm should vote the proxy in the best interest of our clients.
5. The designated proxy person will vote the proxy according to the analyst’s directions on a secure proprietary website, ProxyEdge.
6. If any physical ballots are received at our offices on behalf of our clients, these ballots will be forwarded to the designated proxy person and voted accordingly through www.proxyvote.com.
(5) Responsibilities
Broadridge is responsible for notifying Cooke & Bieler in advance of the meeting; providing the appropriate proxies to be voted; and for maintaining records of proxy statements received and votes cast.
The compliance officer is responsible for: maintaining the proxy policies and procedures; determining when a potential conflict of interest exists (see examples above); maintaining records of all communications received from clients requesting information on how their proxies were voted; and notifying clients how they can obtain voting records and policies and procedures.
The operations department is responsible for: determining which accounts Cooke & Bieler has proxy voting responsibilities for; obtaining the appropriate guidance from the portfolio manager on how to vote; and maintaining documents created that were material to the voting.
Donald Smith & Co., Inc.
Proxy Voting Policy & Procedures
I. ADOPTION OF NEW PROXY VOTING POLICY.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted rule 206(4)-6 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, effective March 10, 2003. This new rule addresses an investment adviser’s fiduciary obligation to its clients when the adviser has authority to vote their proxies. The rule requires an investment adviser that exercises voting authority over client proxies to adopt policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure that the adviser votes proxies in the best interest of clients, to disclose to clients information about these policies and procedures, and to disclose to clients how they may obtain information on how the adviser has voted their proxies. There are also amendments to Rule 204-2 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 that require advisers to maintain certain records relating to proxy voting.
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We are a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) under the 1940 Act and are therefore subject to the above referenced rules promulgated by the SEC.
These written policies and procedures adopted July 1, 2003, and all amendments thereafter, are designed to ensure our compliance with these rules. Additionally, these policies and procedures are designed to enable us to vote in the best interests of our clients.
Our clients have full discretion over who votes proxies on behalf of their account(s). Presently, we vote proxies on behalf of the majority of our clients.
II. GENERAL VOTING POLICY.
As our primary goal is to maximize the value of our clients’ investment portfolios, we maintain a proxy voting policy that best serves the interest of our clients in their capacity as shareholders of a company. We believe this policy is in accordance with the SEC Guidelines that an investment adviser’s primary responsibility as a fiduciary is to vote in the best interest of its clients.
We normally vote in support of company management on “routine” proposals, but vote against proposals that we believe would negatively impact the long-term value of our clients’ share of a company. We vote against almost all proposals that would hinder the realization of maximum value for shareholders.
More specifically we vote for:
1. Confidential voting.
2. Shareholders must approve any poison pills or rights plan.
3. Shareholders’ right to exercise an annual non-binding approval vote on executive compensation.
4. Annual election of Directors and against staggered Boards.
5. Cumulative voting.
6. Maintaining liability of Directors for gross negligence and malfeasance.
7. Vote against large dilution of shareholders, except company specific exceptions.
8. To review carefully all mergers. We will specifically focus on mergers that dilute tangible book value and vote against those managements that engage in such acquisitive activity.
9. Proxy access for shareholders, or groups of shareholders, of significant size and length of ownership.
The examples above are provided to give a general indication on how we vote our proxies on certain issues. Thus, these examples do not address all potential voting issues or the intricacies that may surround individual proxy votes. Therefore, actual proxy votes may differ from the guidelines presented. In 2013 we initiated a subscription to ISS proxy research to aid in our research process and to use as a reference when casting our proxy votes.
III. DISCLOSURE.
This new proxy voting policy has been provided to all of our clients to satisfy certain disclosure rules imposed by Rule 206(4)-6. Additionally, any client can request and we would make available any and all details on specific proxy votes. They may contact us via any form of communication, oral or written.
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IV. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.
We are very sensitive to conflicts of interest that could possibly arise in the proxy voting process. We remain committed to resolving any and all conflicts in the best interest of our clients. Accordingly, this proxy voting policy is adopted to serve the best interest of our clients and we will generally vote pursuant to this policy when conflicts arise.
Resolving Potential Conflicts of Interest:
Our compliance officer is responsible for identifying potential conflicts of interest in regard to the proxy voting process. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include:
• Adviser manages a pension plan, administers employee benefit plans or provides brokerage, underwriting, insurance, or banking services to a company whose manage- ment is soliciting proxies;
• Adviser has a material business relationship with a proponent of a proxy proposal and this business relationship may influence how the proxy vote is cast;
• Adviser or principals have a business or personal relationship with participants in a proxy contest, corporate directors or candidates for directorships.
In instances where a potential conflict of interest exists, the compliance officer will obtain client consent before voting. The compliance officer will provide the client with sufficient information regarding the shareholder vote and the adviser’s potential conflict so that the client can make an informed decision whether or not to consent.
V. RECORD KEEPING.
Our record keeping procedures ensure compliance with the amendments made to Rule 204-2 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. We retain all proxy statements received regarding client securities. We capture voting data for all clients, including a description of each proposal for which a vote was cast, identification of each proposal as either proposed by management or by shareholders, and related documents prepared by us that were material in making a decision how to vote or that memorializes the basis for that decision. Additionally, we also document all client requests for proxy voting information.
All of the above-mentioned data will be maintained in our office for a period of not less than 5 years from the end of the fiscal year during which the last entry was made or recorded.
Frontier Capital Management Company, LLC
Proxy Voting Statement and Guidelines
As an investment adviser and fiduciary of client assets, Frontier utilizes proxy voting policies and procedures intended to pursue its clients’ best interest by protecting the value of clients’ investments. Frontier recognizes that proxies have an economic value. In voting proxies, we seek to both maximize the long-term value of our clients’ assets and to cast votes that we believe to be fair and in the best interest of the affected client(s). Proxies are considered client assets and are managed with the same care, skill and diligence as all other client assets. These written proxy policies and procedures are designed to reasonably ensure that Frontier votes proxies in the best interest of clients for whom Frontier has voting authority.
Frontier’s authority to vote proxies does not extend to taking any legal action with regard to class action suits relating to securities purchased by Frontier for its clients. Frontier provides instructions to custodians and brokers regarding tender offers and rights offerings for securities in client accounts. However, Frontier does not provide legal advice to clients and, accordingly, does not determine whether a client should join, opt out of or otherwise submit a claim with respect to any legal proceedings, including bankruptcies or class actions, involving securities held or previously held by the client. Frontier generally does not have authority to submit claims or elections on behalf of clients in legal proceedings. Should a client, however, wish to retain legal counsel and/or take action regarding any class action suit proceeding, Frontier will provide the client or the client’s legal counsel with information that may be needed upon the client’s reasonable request.
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Arrangements with Outside Firms
Frontier has contracted with a third-party vendor (the “proxy vendor”) to provide vote recommendations according to a set of pre-determined proxy voting policy guidelines. Frontier has also contracted with the proxy vendor to act as agent for the proxy voting process and to maintain records on proxy voting for our clients. The vendor has represented to Frontier that it uses its best efforts to ensure that its proxy voting recommendations are in accordance with these policies as well as relevant requirements of the ERISA and the U.S. Department of Labor’s interpretations thereof.
There may be occasional circumstances in which Frontier exercises its voting discretion to deviate from the proxy vendor’s recommendation. Frontier’s action in these cases is described in the Conflicts of Interest section of these policies and procedures.
Proxy Voting Committee
Frontier has a Proxy Voting Committee (the “Committee”) that is responsible for deciding what is in the best interest of clients when determining how proxies are voted. The Committee is comprised of the Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”), the Operations Manager, and one or more Portfolio Managers. The Committee performs the following tasks in satisfying its responsibility:
■ Reviews annually, and revises as necessary, this Proxy Voting Statement and Guidelines (the “Proxy Statement”);
■ Reviews annually all proxy votes taken to determine if those votes were consistent with the Proxy Statement, including any votes where Frontier determined it had a material conflict of interest;
■ Reviews annually the proxy vendor’s proxy voting policies to determine that they continue to be consistent with the Proxy Statement and reasonably designed to be in the best interests of Frontier’s clients; and
■ Reviews and approves as necessary any changes to the proxy vendor’s proxy voting policies.
Determination and Execution of Discretionary Authority
Except where the contract is silent, each client will designate in its investment management contract whether it would like to retain proxy voting authority or delegate that authority to Frontier. If a client contract is silent on whether the client delegates proxy voting authority to Frontier, Frontier will be implied to have proxy voting authority.
Frontier will not neglect its proxy voting responsibilities, but Frontier may abstain from voting if it deems that abstaining is in its Clients’ best interests. For example, Frontier may be unable to vote securities that have been lent by the custodian or may choose not to vote where doing so would prevent transacting in those securities for a certain period of time (referred to as “share blocking”).
Proxy Voting Process
Frontier’s Operations team (“Operations”) manages the proxy voting process. The proxy vendor provides an online portal that shows all ballots received, together with the company’s voting recommendation and the proxy vendor’s voting recommendation. Operations distributes this information, as well as any additional proxy soliciting materials (such as a company’s response to the proxy vendor’s recommendation) received by Frontier at least three days prior to the voting date, to an investment professional for deliberation. Prior to the voting date, Operations submits Frontier’s vote via the online portal, a record of which is maintained by the proxy vendor.
Investment professionals determine how Frontier votes client proxies. Absent specific client instructions, or in the event that no determination is made by the investment professional, Frontier generally votes client proxies according to recommendations made by the proxy vendor. Investment professionals wishing to deviate from these recommendations must provide the CCO with a written explanation of the reason for the deviation, and the CCO will consider potential conflicts of interest as described in greater detail below.
Any attempt to influence the proxy voting process by Issuers or others not identified in these policies and procedures must also be promptly reported to the CCO. Similarly, any Client’s attempt to influence proxy voting with respect to other Clients’ securities should be promptly reported to the CCO.
Conflicts of Interest
As noted, Frontier has adopted the proxy vendor’s proxy voting guidelines. The adoption of these proxy voting guidelines provides pre-determined policies for voting proxies and is thus designed to remove conflicts of interest.
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Examples of such conflicts are when we vote a proxy solicited by an issuer who is a client of ours or with whom we have another business or personal relationship that may affect how we vote on the issuer’s proxy. The intent of this policy is to remove any discretion that Frontier may have to interpret how to vote proxies in cases where Frontier has a material conflict of interest or the appearance of a material conflict of interest.
Although under normal circumstances Frontier is not expected to deviate from the proxy vendor’s recommendation, the CCO will monitor any situation where Frontier wishes to do so. In these situations, the CCO will consider whether Frontier has a material conflict of interest. If the CCO determines that a material conflict exists, Frontier will vote the proxy using either of the following two methods: (a) we will follow the recommendations of the proxy vendor; or (b) we will not take into consideration the relationship that gave rise to the conflict and will vote the proxy in the best interest of our clients. If the CCO determines that a material conflict does not exist, then we may vote the proxy in our discretion. The Committee reviews annually all votes cast where Frontier determined it had a material conflict of interest.
Proxy Vendor Oversight
Changes to Proxy Vendor Proxy Voting Policies and Guidelines
The proxy vendor notifies Frontier of any material changes to its proxy voting policies and guidelines. On an annual basis, the proxy vendor distributes its updated guidelines to Frontier.
New Account Setup
As part of the account setup process, Client Services will review a new investment advisory agreement to determine if Frontier has voting authority. If voting authority has been granted, Operations will provide the proxy vendor with the required instructions to set up the new account. On the following business day, Operations will review the proxy vendor’s systems to confirm the account was setup in accordance with Frontier’s instructions.
Account Reconciliations
On a periodic basis, the proxy vendor will provide Frontier with a list of Frontier clients for which the proxy vendor is voting. This is designed to ensure that the proxy vendor is voting for all clients for whom Frontier retains voting authority. In that regard, Frontier will conduct a periodic reconciliation between its records and the proxy vendor’s records.
Initial and Periodic Due Diligence of Proxy Vendors
When considering whether to retain or continue retaining Frontier’s proxy vendor to provide research or voting recommendations, Frontier will consider factors such as the following:
■ The proxy vendor’s capacity and competency to adequately analyze the matters for which the investment adviser is responsible for voting;
■ The adequacy and quality of the proxy vendor’s personnel, processes, and technology;
■ The adequacy of the proxy vendor’s process for seeking timely input from issuers and proxy vendor clients with respect to proxy voting policies, methodologies, and peer group constructions, including for “say-on-pay” votes;
■ The proxy vendor’s engagement with issuers, including the firm’s process for ensuring that it has complete and accurate information about the issuer and each particular matter, and the firm’s process, if any, for investment advisers to access the issuer’s views about the firm’s voting recommendations in a timely and efficient manner;
■ The adequacy of the proxy vendor’s disclosures regarding its sources of information and methodologies for formulating voting recommendations and, in making such recommendations;
■ The proxy vendor’s consideration of factors unique to a specific issuer or proposal when evaluating a matter subject to a shareholder vote;
■ The proxy vendor’s policies and procedures for identifying and addressing conflicts of interest;
■ The proxy vendor to update the investment adviser regarding business changes that may affect the proxy vendor’s capacity and competency to provide independent proxy voting advice or carry out voting instructions;
■ Whether the proxy vendor appropriately updates its methodologies, guidelines, and voting recommendations on an ongoing basis, including in response to feedback from issuers and their shareholders; and
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■ The proxy voting vendor’s policies and procedures to keep confidential Frontier’s non-public information, including Frontier’s intention to proxy votes.
Votes Cast Other than According to the Proxy Vendor’s Pre-Determined Policies
Frontier’s CCO, who is also the General Counsel, will periodically confirm that all documentation regarding any decisions to vote other than according to the proxy vendor’s pre-determined policies is accurate and complete.
Client Disclosure
Frontier includes a description of its policies and procedures regarding proxy voting and class actions in Part 2 of Form ADV, along with a statement that Clients can contact Frontier at 617-261-0777 to obtain a copy of these policies and procedures and information about how Frontier voted with respect to the Client’s securities. Any request for information about proxy voting or class actions should be promptly forwarded to the CCO, who will respond to any such requests.
Upon a client’s request, the proxy agent will provide Frontier with the following information:
■ the name of the issuer of the portfolio security
■ the ticker symbol of the security
■ the CUSIP of the security
■ the shareholder meeting date
■ a description of the matter voted on
■ whether the matter was proposed by the issuer or by a security holder
■ whether the account voted on the matter
■ how each proxy proposal was voted (e.g., for or against the proposal, abstain; for or withhold authority regarding election of directors)
■ whether the vote that was cast was for or against management’s recommendation
As a matter of policy, Frontier does not disclose to companies or clients how it expects to vote on upcoming proxies. Additionally, Frontier does not disclose the way it voted proxies to unaffiliated third parties without a legitimate need to know such information.
Recordkeeping
Frontier will maintain in an easily accessible place for a period of six years, the first two years in an appropriate Frontier office, the following documents (except documents maintained on Frontier’s behalf by the proxy agent as specifically noted below):
■ Frontier’s proxy voting policies and procedures and the proxy voting guidelines;
■ Proxy statements received regarding client securities, which Frontier may satisfy by relying on the proxy agent, on Frontier’s behalf, to retain a copy of each proxy statement;
■ Records of votes cast on behalf of its clients, which Frontier may satisfy by relying on the proxy agent to retain, on Frontier’s behalf, a record of the vote cast;
■ A copy of any document created by Frontier personnel that was material to making a decision on how to vote proxies on behalf of a client or that memorialized the basis for that decision; and
■ A copy of each written client request for information on how Frontier voted proxies on behalf of the client, and a copy of any written response by Frontier to any written or oral client request for information on how Frontier voted proxies on behalf of the requesting client.
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Pzena Investment Management, LLC Proxy Voting
INTRODUCTION
As a registered investment adviser and fiduciary, Pzena Investment Management, LLC (“PIM”) exercises our responsibility, where applicable, to vote in a manner that, in our judgement, is in the client’s best interest and will maximize shareholder value. The following policies and procedures have been established to ensure decision making consistent with PIM’s fiduciary responsibilities and applicable regulations under the Investment Company Act and Advisers Act.
GENERAL APPROACH
Each proxy that comes to PIM to be voted shall be evaluated in terms of what is in the best interest of our clients. We deem the best interest of clients to be that which maximizes shareholder value and yields the best economic results (e.g., higher stock prices, long-term financial health, and stability).
PIM’s standard Investment Advisory Agreement provides that until notified by the client to the contrary, PIM shall have the right to vote all proxies for securities held in that client’s account. Where PIM has voting responsibility on behalf of a client, and absent any client specific instructions, we generally follow the Voting Guidelines set forth below. These Guidelines, however, are not intended as rigid rules and do not cover all possible proxy topics. Each proxy issue will be considered individually and PIM reserves the right to evaluate each proxy vote on a case-by-case basis, as long as voting decisions reflect what is in the best interest of our clients.
In those instances where PIM does not have proxy voting responsibility, we shall forward any proxy materials to the client or to such other person as the client designates.
Proxy Voting Limitations
While PIM uses our best efforts to vote proxies, in certain circumstances it may be impractical or impossible to do so. Such instances include but are not limited to share blocking, securities lending, if PIM concludes that abstention is in our clients’ economic interests and/or the value of the portfolio holding is indeterminable or insignificant.
VOTING GUIDELINES
The following Voting Guidelines summarize PIM’s positions on various issues of concern to investors and give an indication of how portfolio securities generally will be voted. These Guidelines are not exhaustive and do not cover all potential voting issues or the intricacies that may surround individual proxy votes. Actual proxy votes may also differ from the Guidelines presented, as we will evaluate each individual proxy on its own merit.
It is also worth noting that PIM considers the reputation, experience and competence of a company’s management and board when it researches and evaluates the merits of investing in a particular security. In general, PIM has confidence in the abilities and motives of the board and management of the companies in which we invest.
1) ROUTINE BUSINESS
PIM will typically vote in accordance with the board and management on the items below and other routine issues when adequate information on the proposal is provided.
i. Change in date and place of annual meeting (if not associated with a takeover)
ii. Change in company name
iii. Approval of financial statements
iv. Reincorporation (unless to prevent takeover attempts)
v. Stock splits
vi. Amend bylaws/articles of association to bring in line with changes in local laws and regulations
PIM will oppose vague, overly broad, open-ended, or general “other business” proposals for which insufficient detail or explanation is provided or risks or consequences of a vote in favor cannot be ascertained.
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2) CAPITAL STRUCTURE
Stock Issuance
PIM will consider on a case-by-case basis all proposals to increase the issuance of common stock, considering company-specific factors that include, at a minimum:
i. Past board performance (use of authorized shares during the prior 3 years)
ii. Stated purpose for the increase
iii. Risks to shareholders of not approving the request
iv. Potential dilutive impact
PIM will generally vote for such proposals (without preemptive rights) up to a maximum of 20% more than currently issued capital over a specified period, while taking into account management’s prior use of these preemptive rights. PIM will, however, vote against such proposals if restrictions on discounts are inadequate and/or the limit on the number of times the mandate may be refreshed are not in line with local market practices.
3) AUDIT SERVICES
PIM is likely to support the approval of auditors unless,
i. Independence is compromised
ii. Non-audit (“other”) fees are greater than the sum of the audit fees1, audit-related fees2 and permissible tax fees3
iii. There is reason to believe the independent auditor has rendered an opinion which is neither accurate nor indicative of the company’s financial position
iv. Serious concerns about accounting practices are identified such as fraud, misapplication of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) and material weaknesses identified in Section 404 disclosures of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
PIM will also apply a case-by-case assessment to shareholder proposals asking companies to prohibit their auditors from engaging in non-audit services (or capping the level of non-audit services), taking into account whether the non-audit fees are excessive (per the formula above) and whether the company has policies and procedures in place to limit non-audit services or otherwise prevent conflicts of interest.
4) COMPENSATION
PIM supports reasonable incentive programs designed to attract and retain key talent. PIM typically supports management’s discretion to set compensation for executive officers, so long as the plan aligns management and shareholder interests. PIM evaluates each plan in detail to assess whether the plan provides adequate incentive to reward long-term performance and the impact on shareholder value (e.g. dilution).
Say on Pay
PIM prefers a shareholder vote on compensation plans to provide a mechanism to register discontent with the plan itself or management team performance. As long as such proposals are non-binding and worded in a generic manner (unrestrictive to actual company plans), PIM will support them. In evaluating these proposals, PIM will generally consider, at minimum: company performance, pay practices relative to industry peers, potentially problematic pay practices and/or past unresponsive behavior.
Circumstances where PIM may oppose these proposals include:
i. Restricts the company’s ability to hire new, suitable management
ii. Restricts an otherwise responsible management team in some other way harmful to the company
Pay for Performance
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PIM generally will support plans under which 50% or more of the shares awarded to top executives are tied to performance goals. Maintaining appropriate pay-for-performance alignment means executive pay practices must be designed to attract, retain, and appropriately motivate the key employees who drive shareholder value creation over the long term. Our evaluation of this issue will take into consideration, among other factors, the link between pay and performance; the mix between fixed and variable pay; performance goals; equity-based plan costs; and dilution.
Incentive Options
PIM is generally supportive of incentive options that provide the appropriate degree of pay-for-performance alignment (as per the above) and are therefore in shareholder best interest. PIM will vote case-by-case depending on certain plan features and equity grant practices, where positive factors may counterbalance negative factors, and vice versa.
However, the following would generally cause PIM to vote against a management incentive arrangement:
i. The proposed plan is in excess of 10% of shares
ii. Company has issued 3% or more of outstanding shares in a single year in the recent past
iii. The new plan replaces an existing plan before the existing plan’s termination date and some other terms of the new plan are likely to be adverse to the maximization of investment returns
iv. The proposed plan resets options, or similarly compensates executives, for declines in a company’s stock price. This includes circumstances where a plan calls for exchanging a lower number of options with lower strike prices for an existing larger volume of options with high strike prices, even when the option valuations might be considered the same total value. However, this would not include instances where such a plan seeks to retain key executives who have been undercompensated in the past.
Golden Parachutes / Severance Agreements
PIM will vote on a case-by-case basis, considering at minimum existing change-in-control arrangements maintained with named executive officers and new or extended arrangements.
PIM will generally vote against such proposals if:
i. The proposed arrangement is excessive or not reasonable in light of similar arrangements for other executives in the company or in the company’s industry
ii. The proposed parachute or severance arrangement is considerably more financially attractive than continued employment. Although PIM will apply a case-by-case analysis of this issue, as a general rule, a proposed severance arrangement which is 3 or more times greater than the affected executive’s then current compensation shall be voted against
iii. The triggering mechanism in the proposed arrangement is solely within the recipient’s control (e.g., resignation).
Tax Deductibility
Votes to amend existing plans to increase shares reserved and to qualify for tax deductibility under the provisions of Section 162(m) should be considered on a case-by-case basis, considering the overall impact of the amendment(s).
Pay Peer Groups
PIM prefers that compensation peer groups are based on the industry not size, revenue or balance sheet.
5) BOARD
Director Elections
PIM generally will evaluate director nominees individually and as a group based on our assessment of record and reputation, business knowledge and background, shareholder value mindedness, accessibility, corporate governance abilities, time commitment, attention and awareness, independence, and character. PIM will apply a case-by-case approach to determine whether to vote for or against directors nominated by outside parties whose interests may conflict with our interests as shareholders, regardless of whether management agrees with the nomination.
Board Independence
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PIM generally will withhold votes from or vote against any insiders on audit, compensation or nominating committees, and from any insiders and affiliated outsiders on boards that are not at least majority independent. PIM also prefers companies to have compensation and audit committees composed of entirely independent directors.
PIM may vote in favor of any such directors in exceptional circumstances where the company has shown significant improvement.
Board Size
PIM believes there is no optimal size or composition that fits every company. However, PIM prefers that the number of directors cannot be altered significantly without shareholder approval; otherwise potentially allowing the size of the board to be use as an anti-takeover defense.
Board Tenure
PIM believes that any restrictions on a director's tenure, such as a mandatory retirement age or length of service limits, could harm shareholder interests by forcing experienced and knowledgeable directors off the board. However, PIM prefers that boards do not have more than 50% of members serving for longer than 10 years to avoid board entrenchment and ‘group-think’.
Chairman/CEO
PIM will evaluate and vote proposals to separate the Chairman and CEO positions in a company on a case-by-case basis based on our assessment of the strength of the company’s governing structure, the independence of the board and compliance with NYSE and NASDAQ listing requirements. When the positions of Chairman and CEO are combined, PIM prefers that the company has a lead independent director to provide some independent oversight.
Cumulative Voting
PIM will generally vote against proposals to establish cumulative voting, as this leads to misaligned voting and economic interest in a company. The one exception being PIM will vote for proposals for cumulative voting at controlled companies where insider voting power is > 50%.
Director Over-Boarding
PIM will vote such proposals on a case-by-case basis but prefers that directors do not sit on more than 3 additional boards. In evaluating these proposals PIM will consider, at minimum, management tenure, director business expertise and director performance.
Classified Boards
PIM generally opposes classified boards because this makes a change in board control more difficult and hence may reduce the accountability of the board to shareholders. However, these proposals will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and will consider, at minimum, company and director performance.
Board Diversity
PIM is generally supportive of a diverse board (age, race, gender etc.) that is representative of its customers and stakeholders. That said, PIM does not believe in board quotas or any restrictions on director tenure that could harm shareholder interests by preventing qualified board candidates from being nominated or forcing experienced or knowledgeable directors off the board.
6) SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS
In general PIM does not support any proposals designed to limit shareholder rights; below we have outlined some of the issues we consider most important.
Special Meetings
PIM generally supports proposals enabling shareholders to call a special meeting of a company so long as at least a 15% threshold with a 1-year holding period is necessary for shareholders to do so. However, on a case-by-case basis, a 10% threshold may be deemed more appropriate should particular circumstances warrant; for example, in instances where executive compensation or governance has been an issue for a company.
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One Share, One Vote
PIM is generally opposed to proposals to create dual-class capitalization structures as these provide disparate voting rights to different groups of shareholders with similar economic investments. However, PIM will review proposals to eliminate a dual-class structure on a case-by-case basis, considering, at minimum, management’s prior record.
Supermajority
PIM does not support supermajority voting provisions with respect to corporate governance issues unless it would be in the best interest of shareholders. In general, vesting a minority with veto power over shareholder decisions could deter tender offers and hence adversely affect shareholder value.
Proxy Access
PIM will assess these proposals on a case-by-case basis but generally support proxy access proposals that include an ownership level and holding period of at least 3% for 3 years or 10% for 1 year.
7) SOCIAL/ENVIRONMENTAL
PIM will consider environmental and social proposals on their own merits and make a case-by-case assessment. PIM will consider supporting proposals that address material issues if the we believe they will protect and/or enhance the long-term value of the company.
8) ANTI-TAKEOVER
PIM generally supports anti-takeover measures that are in the best interest of shareholders and does not support anti-takeover measures such as poison pills that entrench management and/or thwart maximization of investment returns.
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Role of ISS
PIM has engaged Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) to provide a proxy analysis with research and a vote recommendation for each shareholder meeting of the companies in our client portfolios. They also vote, record and generate a voting activity report for our clients and assist us with recordkeeping and the mechanics of voting. In no circumstance shall ISS have the authority to vote proxies except in accordance with standing or specific instructions given to it by PIM. PIM retains responsibility for instructing ISS how to vote, and we still apply our own Voting Guidelines as set forth herein. If PIM does not issue instructions for a particular vote, the default is for ISS to mark the ballots in accordance with these Voting Guidelines (when they specifically cover the item being voted on), and to refer all other items back to PIM for instruction (when there is no PIM policy covering the vote).
Where a new client has funded its account by delivering a portfolio of securities for PIM to liquidate and the record date to vote a proxy for one of those securities falls on a day when we are temporarily holding the position (because we were still executing or waiting for settlement), we will vote the shares. For these votes only, we will defer to ISS’ recommendations, since we will not have firsthand knowledge of the companies and cannot devote research time to them.
Role of Analyst
The analyst who is responsible for covering the company also votes the associated proxies since they have first-hand in-depth knowledge of the company. In evaluating proxy issues, the analyst will utilize a variety of sources to help come to a decision:
i. Information gathered through in-depth research and on-going company analyses performed by our investment team in making buy, sell and hold decisions for our client portfolios. This process includes regular external engagements with senior management of portfolio companies and internal discussions with Portfolio Managers (“PMs”) and the Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”), as needed.
ii. ISS reports to help identify and flag factual issues of relevance and importance.
iii. Information from other sources, including the management of a company presenting a proposal, shareholder groups, and other independent proxy research services.
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iv. Where applicable, any specific guidelines designated in writing by a client.
Proxy Voting Committee
To help make sure that PIM votes client proxies in accordance with our fiduciary obligation to maximize shareholder value, we have established a Proxy Voting Committee (“the Committee”) which is responsible for overseeing the Voting Guidelines. The Committee consists of representatives from Legal and Research, including our Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”), Director of Research (“DOR”), and at least one PM (who represents the interests of all PIM’s portfolio managers and is responsible for obtaining and expressing their opinions at committee meetings). The Committee will meet at least once annually and as often as necessary to oversee our approach to proxy voting.
The DOR is responsible for monitoring the analyst’s compliance with the Voting Guidelines, the CCO is responsible for monitoring overall compliance with these procedures and an internally-designated “Proxy Coordinator” is responsible for day-to-day proxy voting activities.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
PIM is sensitive to conflicts of interest that may arise in the proxy voting process. PIM believes that application of the Voting Guidelines should, in most cases, adequately address any potential conflicts of interest. However, if an actual or potential conflict of interest has been identified, PIM has put in place a variety of different mitigation strategies as outlined below.
Role of ISS
In the following instances, PIM will have no discretion to vote any portion of the proxy, but will instead defer to the recommendations of ISS and will vote strictly according to those recommendations:
i. PIM manages any pension or other assets affiliated with a publicly traded company, and also holds that company’s or an affiliated company’s securities in one or more client portfolios.
ii. PIM has a client relationship with an individual who is a corporate director, or a candidate for a corporate directorship of a public company whose securities are in one or more client portfolios
iii. A PIM officer, director or employee, or an immediate family member thereof is a corporate director, or a candidate for a corporate directorship of a public company whose securities are in one or more client portfolios. For purposes hereof, an immediate family member shall be a spouse, child, parent, or sibling.
On an annual basis, we will review the conflicts policies and Code of Conduct that ISS posts on its website.
In the extraordinary event that it is determined – by unanimous vote of the DOR, the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), and the analyst covering a particular company – the ISS recommendation on a particular proposal is materially adverse to the best interest of the clients, then the following alternative conflict resolution procedures will be followed:
i. A designated member of PIM’s client service team will notify each client who holds the securities of the company soliciting the vote on such proposal, and for whom PIM has authority to vote proxies, and disclose all of the facts pertaining to the vote (including, PIM’s conflict of interest, the ISS recommendation, and PIM’s recommendation).
ii. The client then will be asked to direct PIM how to vote on the issue. If a client does not give any direction to PIM within 3 business days of delivery of such disclosure, PIM will be free to vote such client’s proxy in the manner it deems to be in the best interest of the client.
Other Situations
Client Conflict
Where PIM manages the assets of a proponent of a shareholder proposal for a company whose securities are in one or more client portfolios, the following guidance should be followed:
i. The identity of the proponent of a shareholder proposal shall not be given any substantive weight (either positive or negative) and shall not otherwise influence an analyst’s determination whether a vote for or against a proposal is in the best interest of our clients.
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ii. Where PIM determines that it is in the best interest of our clients to vote against that proposal, a designated member of PIM’s client service team will notify the client-proponent and give that client the option to direct PIM in writing to vote the client’s proxy differently than it is voting the proxies of our other clients.
iii. If the proponent of a shareholder proposal is a PIM client whose assets under management with PIM constitute 30% or more of PIM’s total assets under management, and PIM has determined that it is in the best interest of our clients to vote for that proposal, PIM will disclose its intention to vote for such proposal to each additional client who also holds the securities of the company soliciting the vote on such proposal and for whom PIM has authority to vote proxies. If a client does not object to the vote within 3 business days of delivery of such disclosure, PIM will be free to vote such client’s proxy as stated in such disclosure.
Analyst Conflict
If the analyst voting the proxy also beneficially owns shares of the company in his/her personal trading accounts, they must notify the Proxy Coordinator and the DOR must sign off on the analyst’s votes for that company. It is the responsibility of each analyst to disclose such personal interest and obtain such approval. Any other owner, partner, officer, director, or employee of the PIM who has a personal or financial interest in the outcome of the vote is prohibited from attempting to influence the proxy voting decision of PIM personnel responsible for voting client securities.
VOTING PROCEDURES
If an analyst desires to vote contrary to the Voting Guidelines set forth in this proxy voting policy or the written proxy voting policy designated by a specific client, the analyst will discuss the vote with the CIO, and/or DOR and/or a PM for the strategy in which the security is held. The CIO, DOR and/or the PM, shall, in turn, determine how to vote the proxy based on the analyst’s recommendation and the long-term economic impact such vote will have on the securities held in client accounts. If the CIO, DOR and/or the PM agree with the analyst’s recommendation and determine that a contrary vote is advisable the analyst will provide written documentation of the reasons for the vote.
Vote Processing
It is understood that PIM’s and ISS’ ability to commence voting proxies for new or transferred accounts is dependent upon the actions of custodian’s and banks in updating their records and forwarding proxies. PIM will not be liable for any action or inaction by any Custodian or bank with respect to proxy ballots and voting.
Client Communication
PIM will include a copy of these proxy voting policies and procedures, as they may be amended from time to time, in each new account pack sent to prospective clients. We also will update our ADV disclosures regarding these policies and procedures to reflect any material additions or other changes to them, as needed. Such ADV disclosures will include an explanation of how to request copies of these policies and procedures as well as any other disclosures required by Rule 206(4)-6 of the Advisers Act.
Return Proxies
The CCO or designee shall send or cause to be sent (or otherwise communicate) all votes to the company or companies soliciting the proxies within the applicable time period designated for return of such votes.
CORPORATE ACTIONS
PIM is responsible for monitoring both mandatory (e.g. calls, cash dividends, exchanges, mergers, spin-offs, stock dividends and stock splits) and voluntary (e.g. rights offerings, exchange offerings, and tender offers) corporate actions. Operations personnel will ensure that all corporate actions received are promptly reviewed and recorded in PIM’s portfolio accounting system, and properly executed by the custodian banks for all eligible portfolios. On a daily basis, a file of PIM’s security database is sent to a third-party service, Vantage, via an automated upload which then provides corporate action information for securities included in the file. This information is received and acted upon by the Operations personnel responsible for corporate action processing. In addition, PIM receives details on voluntary and mandatory corporate actions from the custodian banks via email or online system and all available data is used to properly understand each corporate event.
Voluntary Corporate Actions
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The Portfolio Management team is responsible for providing guidance to Operations on the course of action to be taken for each voluntary corporate action received. In some instances, the Portfolio Management team may maintain standing instructions on particular event types. As appropriate, Legal and Compliance may be consulted to determine whether certain clients may participate in certain corporate actions. Operations personnel will then notify each custodian bank, either through an online interface, via email, or with a signed faxed document of the election selected. Once all necessary information is received and the corporate action has been vetted, the event is processed in the portfolio accounting system and filed electronically. A log of holdings information related to the corporate action is maintained for each portfolio in order to confirm accuracy of processing.
CLASS ACTIONS
PIM shall not have any responsibility to initiate, consider or participate in any bankruptcy, class action or other litigation against or involving any issue of securities held in or formerly held in a client account or to advise or take any action on behalf of a client or former client with respect to any such actions or litigation.
RECORD KEEPING
PIM or ISS, on PIM’s behalf, maintains (i) copies of the proxy materials received by PIM for client securities; (ii) records of proxies that were not received and what actions were taken to obtain them; (iii) votes cast on behalf of clients by account; (iv) records of any correspondence made regarding specific proxies and the voting thereof; (v) client requests for proxy voting information (including reports to mutual fund clients for whom PIM has proxy voting authority containing information they need to satisfy their annual reporting obligations under Rule 30b-1-4 and to complete Form N-PX); (vi) documents prepared by PIM to inform and/or memorialize a voting decision, including these policies and procedures and any documentation related to a material conflict of interest; (vii) records of any deviations from broad Voting Guidelines. Such records will be maintained for a minimum of five years.
POLICY REVIEW
The Proxy Voting Committee reviews these Voting Guidelines and procedures at least annually and makes such changes as it deems appropriate, considering current trends and developments in corporate governance and related issues, as well as operational issues facing PIM.
1 Audit fees shall mean fees for statutory audits, comfort letters, attest services, consents, and review of filings with the SEC
2 Audit-related fees shall mean fees for employee benefit plan audits, due diligence related to M&A, audits in connection with acquisitions, internal control reviews, consultation on financial accounting and reporting standards
3 Tax fees shall mean fees for tax compliance (tax returns, claims for refunds and tax payment planning) and tax consultation and planning (assistance with tax audits and appeals, tax advice relating to M&A, employee benefit plans and requests for rulings or technical advice from taxing authorities)
Schroders Proxy Voting Policy Summary
Proxy Voting General Principles
Schroders will evaluate and usually vote for or against all proxy requests relating to securities held in any account managed by Schroders (unless this responsibility has been retained by the client).
Proxies will be treated and evaluated with the same attention and investment skill as the trading of securities in the accounts.
Proxies will be voted in a manner that is deemed most likely to protect and enhance the longer-term value of the security as an asset to the account.
Corporate Governance Committee
The Corporate Governance Committee for the Schroders Group consists of investment professionals and other officers and coordinates with Schroders to ensure compliance with this proxy voting policy. The Committee meets on a periodic basis to review proxies voted, policy guidelines and to examine any issues raised, including a review of any votes cast in connection with controversial issues.
The procedure for evaluating proxy requests is as follows:
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The Schroders’ Group Corporate Governance Team (the “Team”) provides an initial evaluation of the proxy request, seeks advice where necessary, especially from the U.S. small cap and mid cap product heads, and consults with portfolio managers who have invested in the company should a controversial issue arise.
When coordinating proxy-voting decisions, the Team generally adheres to the Group Environmental, Social & Governance Policy (the “Policy”), as revised from time to time. The Policy, which has been approved by the Corporate Governance Committee, sets forth Schroder Group positions on recurring issues and criteria for addressing non-recurring issues. The Corporate Governance Committee exercises oversight to assure that proxies are voted in accordance with the Policy and that any votes inconsistent with the Policy or against management are appropriately documented.
The Team uses Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. (“ISS”) to assist in voting proxies. ISS provides proxy research, voting and vote-reporting services. ISS’s primary function is to apprise the Team of shareholder meeting dates of all securities holdings, translate proxy materials received from companies, provide associated research and provide considerations and recommendations for voting on particular proxy proposals. Although Schroders may consider ISS’s and others’ recommendations on proxy issues, Schroders bears ultimate responsibility for proxy voting decisions.
Schroders may also consider the recommendations and research of other providers, including the National Association of Pension Funds’ Voting Issues Service.
Conflicts
From time to time, proxy voting proposals may raise conflicts between the interests of Schroders’ clients and the interests of Schroders and/or its employees. Schroders has adopted this policy and procedures to ensure that decisions to vote the proxies are based on the clients’ best interests.
For example, conflicts of interest may arise when:
• Proxy votes regarding non-routine matters are solicited by an issuer that, directly or indirectly, has a client relationship with Schroders;
• A proponent of a proxy proposal has a client relationship with Schroders;
• A proponent of a proxy proposal has a business relationship with Schroders;
• Schroders has business relationships with participants in proxy contests, corporate directors or director candidates.
Schroders is responsible for identifying proxy voting proposals that may present a material conflict of interest. If Schroders receives a proxy relating to an issuer that raises a conflict of interest, the Team shall determine whether the conflict is “material” to any specific proposal included within the proxy. Schroders (or the Team on behalf of Schroders) will determine whether a proposal is material as follows:
• Routine Proxy Proposals: Proxy proposals that are “routine” shall be presumed not to involve a material conflict of interest unless Schroders has actual knowledge that a routine proposal should be treated as material. For this purpose, “routine” proposals would typically include matters such as uncontested election of directors, meeting formalities, and approval of an annual report/financial statements.
• Non-Routine Proxy Proposals: Proxy proposals that are “non-routine” will be presumed to involve a material conflict of interest, unless Schroders determines that neither Schroders nor its personnel have a conflict of interest or the conflict is unrelated to the proposal in question. For this purpose, “non -routine” proposals would typically include any contested matter, including a contested election of directors, a merger or sale of substantial assets, a change in the articles of incorporation that materially affects the rights of shareholders, and compensation matters for management (e.g., stock, option plans, retirement plans, profit-sharing or other special remuneration plans). If Schroders determines that there is, or may be perceived to be, a conflict of interest when voting a proxy, Schroders will address matters involving such conflicts of interest as follows:
A. If a proposal is addressed by the Policy, Schroders will vote in accordance with such Policy;
B. If Schroders believes it is in the best interests of clients to depart from the Policy, Schroders will be subject to the requirements of C or D below, as applicable;
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C. If the proxy proposal is (1) not addressed by the Policy or (2) requires a case-by-case determination, Schroders may vote such proxy as it determines to be in the best interest of clients, without taking any action described in D below, provided that such vote would be against Schroders’ own interest in the matter (i.e., against the perceived or actual conflict). The rationale of such vote will be memorialized in writing; and
D. If the proxy proposal is (1) not addressed by the Policy or (2) requires a case-by-case determination, and Schroders believes it should vote in a way that may also benefit, or be perceived to benefit, its own interest, then Schroders must take one of the following actions in voting such proxy: (a) vote in accordance with ISS’ recommendation; (b) in exceptional cases, inform the client(s) of the conflict of interest and obtain consent to vote the proxy as recommended by Schroders; or (c) obtain approval of the decision from the Chief Compliance Officer and the Chief Investment Officer (the rationale of such vote will be memorialized in writing). Where the director of a company is also a director of Schroders plc, Schroders will vote in accordance with ISS’ recommendation.
Voting Coverage
Schroders recognizes its responsibility to make considered use of voting rights. The overriding principle governing our approach to voting is to act in line with its fiduciary responsibilities in what we deem to be the interests of its clients.
Schroders normally hopes to support company management; however, it will withhold support or oppose management if it believes that it is in the best interests of its clients to do so.
Schroders votes on a variety of resolutions; however, the majority of resolutions target specific corporate governance issues which are required under local stock exchange listing requirements, including but not limited to: approval of directors, accepting reports and accounts, approval of incentive plans, capital allocation, reorganizations and mergers. Schroders does vote on both shareholder and management resolutions.
Schroders Corporate Governance specialists assess resolutions, applying its voting policy and guidelines (as outlined in its Environmental, Social and Governance Policy) to each agenda item. These specialists draw on external research, such as the Investment Association’s Institutional Voting Information Services, the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), and public reporting.
Schroders’ own research is also integral to our process and this will be conducted by both our investment and ESG analysts. Corporate Governance specialists will consult with the relevant analysts and portfolio managers to seek their view and better understand the corporate context. The final decision will reflect what investors and Corporate Governance specialists believe to be in the best long-term interest of their client. When voting, where there is insufficient information with which to make a voting decision Schroders may not vote.
In order to maintain the necessary flexibility to meet client needs, local offices of Schroders may determine a voting policy regarding the securities for which they are responsible, subject to agreement with clients as appropriate, and/or addressing local market issues. Both Japan and Australia have these.
Schroders UK Stewardship Code Statement outlines its approach in this area in more detail for all of its international holdings and is publicly available.
TimesSquare Capital Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures
Responsibility:
1. Chief Compliance Officer
2. Proxy Voting Committee
3. Analysts and Portfolio Managers
4. Third-Party Proxy Service Provider
Discussion:
1. Compliance identifies those clients for which TimesSquare Capital has been instructed to vote proxies. Each client typically identifies in their investment management contract whether they would like to retain proxy voting authority or delegate that authority to TimesSquare Capital. However, if requested, TimesSquare Capital will also honor a client’s written direction on voting proxies. As described below, TimesSquare Capital has developed pre-determined proxy
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voting guidelines that are executed by an independent, third-party proxy voting service. Certain clients direct TimesSquare Capital to vote proxies using pre-determined guidelines provided by organizations such as the AFL-CIO. TimesSquare Capital coordinates the use of such guidelines with its third-party proxy voting service.
2. TimesSquare Capital has a Proxy Voting Committee, which meets at least annually to review and consider the third-party voting service’s performance and review potential changes to TimesSquare Capital’s own policies. The Committee also meets on an as needed basis to review any material conflicts of interest or any special factors or circumstances that require the Committee’s review. The Committee will also periodically review a list of clients for which TimesSquare Capital is not responsible to vote. The Proxy Voting Committee is comprised of the Chief Executive Officer, the Senior Vice President of Operations, the Chief Compliance Officer and a Senior Investment Analyst.
3. As noted above, TimesSquare Capital has developed pre-determined proxy voting guidelines that are executed by an independent, third-party proxy voting service. The pre-determined guidelines are developed through consultation with the key proxy voting decision makers, that is, analysts and portfolio managers, and are reviewed and approved annually by the Proxy Voting Committee.
To address potential material conflicts of interest between the interests of TimesSquare Capital and its affiliates and the interests of TimesSquare Capital's clients, TimesSquare Capital adheres to pre-determined proxy voting guidelines that are approved by the Proxy Voting Committee. Proposals to vote in a manner inconsistent with the pre-determined guidelines must be approved by the Proxy Voting Committee. The Guidelines are available from the Chief Compliance Officer.
4. Proxy voting guidelines have been developed to protect/improve shareholder value through protection of shareholder rights, and prevention of excessive and unwarranted compensation for companies' directors, management, and employees.
5. Compliance is responsible for ensuring that all proxy ballots are voted, and are voted in accordance with policies and procedures described in this policy. The mechanics, administration, and record keeping of proxy voting are handled by an independent, third-party proxy voting service. All proxy materials are directed to an independent, third-party proxy voting service by the portfolios' custodians. The independent, third-party proxy voting service votes proxies in accordance with voting guidelines and instructions provided or used by TimesSquare Capital, reconciles all ballots held on record date to shares voted, and maintains records of, and upon request provides, quarterly or annual reports on how each portfolio has voted its proxies.
6. TimesSquare Capital will make reasonable efforts to vote client proxies in accordance with the Proxy Voting Committee’s recommendation. TimesSquare Capital will generally decline to vote a proxy if voting the proxy would cause a restriction to be placed on TimesSquare Capital’s ability to trade securities held in client accounts in “share blocking” countries. Accordingly, TimesSquare Capital may abstain from votes in a share blocking country in favor of preserving its ability to trade any particular security at any time. In addition, TimesSquare Capital may own Participation Notes (“P- notes”) which represent securities listed on the Indian stock market that are available to non-India based investors. Such securities do not have proxy voting rights as the underlying securities are held with the broker, not TimesSquare Capital. TimesSquare Capital will also be unable to vote proxies for any securities on loan in a client’s securities lending program.
7. Using voting guidelines provided by TimesSquare Capital, the independent, third-party proxy voting service alerts Compliance of proxy ballot issues for consideration on a case-by-case basis. After consulting with analysts and portfolio managers, Compliance presents voting recommendations on such ballots to the Proxy Voting Committee, which reviews and approves/disapproves recommendations.
8. Compliance is responsible for reporting exceptions and/or non-routine or new matters to the Proxy Voting Committee. Compliance also provides the Committee with reports that provide an overview of voting results.
9. In the case of sub-advised accounts, TimesSquare Capital shall, unless otherwise directed by the account, be responsible for voting proxies.
10. Oversight
On a periodic basis, TimesSquare Capital monitors the third-party voting service to ensure that it continues to vote according to its guidelines and continues to monitor for any potential material conflicts of interest. TimesSquare Capital will also periodically verify that the third-party voting service is voting for those clients for which TimesSquare Capital has communicated to the third-party voting service that it has voting authority.
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TimesSquare Capital will also periodically conduct due diligence over the third-party voting service’s operations, including evaluating any relationship the third-party voting service has with issuers, reviewing the third-party voting service’s conflict resolution procedures, and otherwise reviewing its practices to ensure the integrity of the Proxy Voting process, and to ensure that TimesSquare Capital has a thorough understanding of the third-party voting service’s business.
On a periodic basis, TimesSquare Capital will confirm that clients’ custodians are timely alerting the third-party voting service when accounts are set up at the custodian for the third-party voting service to begin voting TimesSquare Capital’s clients’ securities and that they are forwarding all proxy materials pertaining to the clients’ portfolios to the third-party voting service for execution.
11. Clients may obtain information about how TimesSquare Capital voted proxies for securities held in their account(s) by contacting TimesSquare Capital.
12. Upon request, TimesSquare Capital will provide its clients with a description of TimesSquare Capital’s proxy voting policy and procedures. In addition, TimesSquare Capital also discloses information regarding its proxy voting procedures in its Form ADV Part 2A.
Victory Capital’s Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures
To assist Victory Capital in making proxy-voting decisions, Victory Capital has adopted a Proxy Voting Policy (“Policy”) that establishes voting guidelines (“Proxy Voting Guidelines”) with respect to certain recurring issues. The Policy is reviewed on an annual basis by Victory Capital’s Proxy Committee (“Proxy Committee”) and revised when the Committee determines that a change is appropriate. The Board annually reviews the Trust’s Proxy Voting Policy and Victory Capital’s Policy and determines whether amendments are necessary or advisable.
Voting under Victory Capital’s Policy may be executed through administrative screening per established guidelines with oversight by the Proxy Committee or upon vote by a quorum of the Proxy Committee. Victory Capital delegates to Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”), an independent service provider, the non-discretionary administration of proxy voting for the Trust, subject to oversight by Victory Capital’s Proxy Committee. In no circumstances shall ISS have the authority to vote proxies except in accordance with standing or specific instructions given to it by Victory Capital.
Victory Capital votes proxies in the best interests of the Funds and their shareholders. This entails voting client proxies with the objective of increasing the long-term economic value of Fund assets. Victory Capital’s Proxy Committee determines how proxies are voted by following established guidelines, which are intended to assist in voting proxies and are not considered to be rigid rules. The Proxy Committee is directed to apply the guidelines as appropriate. On occasion, however, a contrary vote may be warranted when such action is in the best interests of the Funds or if required by the Board or the Funds’ Proxy Voting Policy. In such cases, Victory Capital may consider, among other things:
• the effect of the proposal on the underlying value of the securities
• the effect on marketability of the securities
• the effect of the proposal on future prospects of the issuer
• the composition and effectiveness of the issuer’s board of directors
• the issuer’s corporate governance practices
• the quality of communications from the issuer to its shareholders
Victory Capital may also take into account independent third-party, general industry guidance or other corporate governance review sources when making decisions. It may additionally seek guidance from other senior internal sources with special expertise on a given topic where it is appropriate. The investment team’s opinion concerning the management and prospects of the issuer may be taken into account in determining whether a vote for or against a proposal is in a Fund’s best interests. Insufficient information, onerous requests or vague, ambiguous wording may indicate that a vote against a proposal is appropriate, even when the general principal appears to be reasonable.
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The following examples illustrate Victory Capital’s policy with respect to some common proxy votes. This summary is not an exhaustive list of all the issues that may arise or of all matters addressed in the Guidelines, and whether Victory Capital supports or opposes a proposal will depend upon the specific facts and circumstances described in the proxy statement and other available information.
Directors
• Victory Capital generally supports the election of directors in uncontested elections, except when there are issues of accountability, responsiveness, composition, and/or independence.
• Victory Capital generally supports proposals for an independent chair taking into account factors such as the current board leadership structure, the company’s governance practices, and company performance.
• Victory Capital generally supports proxy access proposals that are in line with the market standards regarding the ownership threshold, ownership duration, aggregation provisions, cap on nominees, and do not contain any other unreasonably restrictive guidelines.
• Victory Capital reviews contested elections on a case-by-case basis taking into account such factors as the company performance, particularly the long-term performance relative to the industry; the management track record; the nominee qualifications and compensatory arrangements; the strategic plan of the dissident and its critique of the current management; the likelihood that the proposed goals and objectives can be achieved; the ownership stakes of the relevant parties; and any other context that is particular to the company and the nature of the election.
Capitalization & Restructuring
• Victory Capital generally supports capitalization proposals that facilitate a corporate transaction that is also being supported and for general corporate purposes so long as the increase is not excessive and there are no issues of superior voting rights, company performance, previous abuses of capital, or insufficient justification for the need for additional capital.
Mergers and Acquisitions
• Victory Capital reviews mergers and acquisitions on a case-by-case basis to balance the merits and drawbacks of the transaction and factors such as valuation, strategic rationale, negotiations and process, conflicts of interest, and the governance profile of the company post-transaction.
Compensation
• Victory Capital reviews all compensation proposals for pay-for-performance alignment, with emphasis on long-term shareholder value; arrangements that risk pay for failure; independence in the setting of compensation; inappropriate pay to non-executive directors, and the quality and rationale of the compensation disclosure.
• Victory Capital will generally vote FOR advisory votes on executive compensation (“say on pay”) unless there is a pay-for-performance misalignment; problematic pay practice or non-performance based element; incentive for excessive risk-taking, options backdating; or a lack of compensation committee communication and/or responsiveness to shareholder concerns.
• Victory Capital will vote case-by-case on equity based compensation plans taking into account factors such as the plan cost; the plan features; and the grant practices as well as any overriding factors that may have a significant negative impact on shareholder interests.
Social and Environmental Issues
• Victory Capital will vote case-by-case on topics such as consumer and product safety; environment and energy; labor standards and human rights; workplace and board diversity; and corporate and political issues, taking into account factors such as the implementation of the proposal is likely to enhance or protect shareholder value; whether the company has already responded in an appropriate and sufficient manner to the issue raised; whether the request is unduly burdensome; and whether the issue is more appropriately or effectively handled through legislation or other regulations.
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Victory Capital may also take into account independent third-party, general industry guidance or other corporate governance review sources when making decisions. It may additionally seek guidance from other senior internal sources with special expertise on a given topic where it is appropriate. The investment team’s opinion concerning the management and prospects of the issuer may be taken into account in determining whether a vote for or against a proposal is in a Fund’s best interests. Insufficient information, onerous requests or vague, ambiguous wording may indicate that a vote against a proposal is appropriate, even when the general principal appears to be reasonable.
Occasionally, conflicts of interest arise between Victory Capital’s interests and those of a Fund or another client. When this occurs, the Proxy Committee must document the nature of the conflict and vote the proxy in accordance with the Proxy Voting Guidelines unless such guidelines are judged by the Proxy Committee to be inapplicable to the proxy matter at issue. In the event that the Proxy Voting Guidelines are inapplicable or do not mitigate the conflict, Victory Capital will seek the opinion of Victory Capital’s Chief Compliance Officer or consult with an external independent adviser. In the case of a Proxy Committee member having a personal conflict of interest (e.g. a family member is on the board of the issuer), such member will abstain from voting. Finally, Victory Capital reports to the Board annually any proxy votes that took place involving a conflict, including the nature of the conflict and the basis or rationale for the voting decision made.
Wellington Management Global Proxy Policy and Procedures
Wellington Management has adopted and implemented policies and procedures that it believes are reasonably designed to ensure that proxies are voted in the best interests of clients for whom it exercises proxy-voting discretion.
Wellington Management’s Proxy Voting Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) set forth broad guidelines and positions on common proxy issues that Wellington Management uses in voting on proxies. In addition, Wellington Management also considers each proposal in the context of the issuer, industry and country or countries in which the issuer’s business is conducted. The Guidelines are not rigid rules and the merits of a particular proposal may cause Wellington Management to enter a vote that differs from the Guidelines. Wellington Management seeks to vote all proxies with the goal of increasing long-term client value and, while client investment strategies may differ, applying this common set of guidelines is consistent with the investment objective of achieving positive long-term investment performance for each client.
Statement of Policy
Wellington Management:
1) Votes client proxies for which clients have affirmatively delegated proxy-voting authority, in writing, unless it has arranged in advance with the client to limit the circumstances in which it would exercise voting authority or determines that it is in the best interest of one or more clients to refrain from voting a given proxy.
2) Votes all proxies in the best interests of the client for whom it is voting.
3) Identifies and resolves all material proxy-related conflicts of interest between the firm and its clients in the best interests of the client.
Responsibility and Oversight
The Investment Research Group (“Investment Research”) monitors regulatory requirements with respect to proxy voting and works with the firm’s Legal and Compliance Group and the Investment Stewardship Committee to develop practices that implement those requirements. Investment Research also acts as a resource for portfolio managers and research analysts on proxy matters as needed. Day-to-day administration of the proxy voting process is the responsibility of Investment Research. The Investment Stewardship Committee is responsible for oversight of the implementation of the Global Proxy Policy and Procedures, review and approval of the Guidelines, identification and resolution of conflicts of interest, and for providing advice and guidance on specific proxy votes for individual issuers. The Investment Stewardship Committee reviews the Global Proxy Policy and Procedures annually.
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Procedures
Use of Third-Party Voting Agent
Wellington Management uses the services of a third-party voting agent for research, voting recommendations, and to manage the administrative aspects of proxy voting. The voting agent processes proxies for client accounts, casts votes based on the Guidelines and maintains records of proxies voted. Wellington Management complements the research received by its primary voting agent with research from another voting agent.
Receipt of Proxy
If a client requests that Wellington Management votes proxies on its behalf, the client must instruct its custodian bank to deliver all relevant voting material to Wellington Management or its voting agent.
Reconciliation
Each public security proxy received by electronic means is matched to the securities eligible to be voted and a reminder is sent to any custodian or trustee that has not forwarded the proxies as due. This reconciliation is performed at the ballot level. Although proxies received for private securities, as well as those received in non- electronic format, are voted as received, Wellington Management is not able to reconcile these ballots, nor does it notify custodians of non-receipt.
Research
In addition to proprietary investment research undertaken by Wellington Management investment professionals, Investment Research conducts proxy research internally, and uses the resources of a number of external sources including third-party voting agents to keep abreast of developments in corporate governance and of current practices of specific companies.
Proxy Voting
Following the reconciliation process, each proxy is compared against the Guidelines, and handled as follows:
■ Generally, issues for which explicit proxy voting guidance is provided in the Guidelines (i.e., “For”, “Against”, “Abstain”) are voted in accordance with the Guidelines.
■ Issues identified as “case-by-case” in the Guidelines are further reviewed by Investment Research. In certain circumstances, further input is needed, so the issues are forwarded to the relevant research analyst and/or portfolio manager(s) for their input.
■ Absent a material conflict of interest, the portfolio manager has the authority to decide the final vote. Different portfolio managers holding the same securities may arrive at different voting conclusions for their clients' proxies.
Wellington Management reviews a subset of the voting record to ensure that proxies are voted in accordance with these Global Proxy Policy and Procedures and the Guidelines; and ensures that documentation and reports, for clients and for internal purposes, relating to the voting of proxies are promptly and properly prepared and disseminated.
Material Conflict of Interest Identification and Resolution Processes
Wellington Management’s broadly diversified client base and functional lines of responsibility serve to minimize the number of, but not prevent, material conflicts of interest it faces in voting proxies. Annually, the Investment Stewardship Committee sets standards for identifying material conflicts based on client, vendor, and lender relationships, and publishes those standards to individuals involved in the proxy voting process. In addition, the Investment Stewardship Committee encourages all personnel to contact Investment Research about apparent conflicts of interest, even if the apparent conflict does not meet the published materiality criteria. Apparent conflicts are reviewed by designated members of the Investment Stewardship Committee to determine if there is a conflict and if so whether the conflict is material.
If a proxy is identified as presenting a material conflict of interest, the matter must be reviewed by designated members of the Investment Stewardship Committee, who will resolve the conflict and direct the vote. In certain circumstances, the designated members may determine that the full Investment Stewardship Committee should convene.
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Other Considerations
In certain instances, Wellington Management may be unable to vote or may determine not to vote a proxy on behalf of one or more clients. While not exhaustive, the following are potential instances in which a proxy vote might not be entered.
Securities Lending
In general, Wellington Management does not know when securities have been lent out pursuant to a client’s securities lending program and are therefore unavailable to be voted. Efforts to recall loaned securities are not always effective, but, in rare circumstances, Wellington Management may determine voting would outweigh the benefit to the client resulting from use of securities for lending and recommend that a client attempt to have its custodian recall the security to permit voting of related proxies.
Share Blocking and Re-registration
Certain countries impose trading restrictions or requirements regarding re-registration of securities held in omnibus accounts in order for shareholders to vote a proxy. The potential impact of such requirements is evaluated when determining whether to vote such proxies.
Lack of Adequate Information, Untimely Receipt of Proxy Materials, or Excessive Costs
Wellington Management may abstain from voting a proxy when the proxy statement or other available information is inadequate to allow for an informed vote, when the proxy materials are not delivered in a timely fashion or when, in Wellington Management's judgment, the costs exceed the expected benefits to clients (such as when powers of attorney or consularization are required).
Additional Information
Wellington Management maintains records related to proxies pursuant to Rule 204-2 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”), the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), and other applicable laws. In addition, Wellington Management discloses annually how it has exercised its voting rights for significant votes, as required by the EU Shareholder Rights Directive II (“SRD II”).
Wellington Management provides clients with a copy of its Global Proxy Policy and Procedures, including the Guidelines, upon written request. In addition, Wellington Management will provide specific client information relating to proxy voting to a client upon written request.
SAI 934 022021
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PART C
VANGUARD WHITEHALL FUNDS
OTHER INFORMATION
Item 28. Exhibits  
(a)
Articles of Incorporation, Amended and Restated Agreement and Declaration of Trust, to be filed by amendment.
(b)
(c)
Instruments Defining Rights of Security Holders, reference is made to Articles III and V of the Registrant’s
Amended and Restated Agreement and Declaration of Trust, refer to Exhibit (a) above.
(d)
Investment Advisory Contracts, for Donald Smith & Co., Inc., filed with Post-Effective Amendment No. 44 dated
February 27, 2012; for Schroder Investment Management North America Inc., filed with Post-Effective Amendment
No. 16 on June 27, 2002; for Pzena Investment Management, LLC, filed with Post-Effective Amendment No. 56 on
March 31, 2014; for Victory Capital Management Inc., filed with Post-Effective Amendment No. 70 dated
February 23, 2017; TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC, filed with Post-Effective Amendment No. 74 dated
Post-Effective Amendment No. 81 dated February 26, 2019; and for Cooke & Bieler L.P., and Schroder Investment
Limited), filed with Post-Effective Amendment No. 85 dated February 27, 2020 are hereby incorporated by
reference. For Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd., is filed herewith. The Vanguard Group, Inc., provides investment
advisory services to Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund, Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index
Fund, Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund, and
Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund pursuant to the Fifth Amended and Restated Funds’
Service Agreement, refer to Exhibit (h) below.
(e)
Underwriting Contracts, not applicable.
(f)
Bonus or Profit Sharing Contracts, reference is made to the section entitled “Management of the Funds” in Part B
of this Registration Statement.
(g)
Custodian Agreements, for The Bank of New York Mellon, filed with Post-Effective Amendment No. 81 dated
February 27, 2019, is hereby incorporated by reference. For JPMorgan Chase Bank, to be filed by amendment. For
(h)
Other Material Contracts, Fifth Amended and Restated Funds’ Service Agreement, filed with Post-Effective
Amendment No. 85 dated February 27, 2020, is hereby incorporated by reference. Form of Authorized Participant
Agreement, filed with Post-Effective Amendment No. 42 dated February 24, 2011, is hereby incorporated by
reference.
(i)
Legal Opinion, not applicable.
(j)
(k)
Omitted Financial Statements, not applicable.
(l)
Initial Capital Agreements, not applicable.
(m)
Rule 12b-1 Plan, not applicable.
(n)
Rule 18f-3 Plan, is filed herewith.
(o)
Reserved.
(p)
Code of Ethics, for Cooke & Bieler, L.P., filed with Post-Effective Amendment No. 85 dated February 27, 2020, are
hereby incorporated by reference. For Donald Smith & Co., Inc., to be filed by amendment. For Pzena Investment
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Item 29. Persons Controlled by or under Common Control with Registrant
None.
Item 30. Indemnification
The Registrant’s organizational documents contain provisions indemnifying Trustees and officers against liability incurred in their official capacities. Article VII, Section 2 of the Amended and Restated Agreement and Declaration of Trust provides that the Registrant may indemnify and hold harmless each and every Trustee and officer from and against any and all claims, demands, costs, losses, expenses, and damages whatsoever arising out of or related to the performance of his or her duties as a Trustee or officer. Article VI of the By-Laws generally provides that the Registrant shall indemnify its Trustees and officers from any liability arising out of their past or present service in that capacity. Among other things, this provision excludes any liability arising by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence, or the reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of the Trustee’s or officer’s office with the Registrant.
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act) may be permitted for directors, officers, or persons controlling the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, the Registrant has been informed that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.
Item 31. Business and Other Connections of Investment Adviser
Cooke & Bieler, L.P., (Cooke & Bieler) is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the Advisers Act). The list required by this Item 31 of officers and directors of Cooke & Bieler, together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation, or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and directors during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by Frontier pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801-60411).
Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd. (Baillie Gifford) is an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act. The list required by this Item 31 of officers and directors of Baillie Gifford, together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation, or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and directors during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by Baillie Gifford pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801-21051).
Frontier Capital Management Co., LLC, (Frontier) is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the Advisers Act). The list required by this Item 31 of officers and directors of Frontier, together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation, or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and directors during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by Frontier pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801-15724).
Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. (Schroders), is an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act. The list required by this Item 31 of officers and directors of Schroders together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation, or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and directors during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by Schroders pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801-15834).
Schroder Investment Management North America Limited (Schroder Limited), is an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act. The list required by this Item 31 of officers and directors of Schroder Limited, together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation, or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and directors during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by Schroder Limited pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801-37163).
Donald Smith & Co., Inc. (Donald Smith & Co.), is an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act. The list required by this Item 31 of officers and directors of Donald Smith & Co., together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation, or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and directors during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by Donald Smith & Co. pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801-10798).
Pzena Investment Management, LLC (Pzena), is an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act. The list required by this Item 31 of officers and directors of Pzena, together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation,
C-2
or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and directors during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by Pzena pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801-50838).
TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC (TimesSquare Capital), is an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act. The list required by this Item 31 of officers and directors of TimesSquare Capital, together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation, or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and directors during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by TimesSquare Capital pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801-63492).
Victory Capital Management Inc. (Victory Capital), is an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act. The list required by this Item 31 of officers and directors of Victory Capital, together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation, or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and directors during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by Victory Capital pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801-46878).
Wellington Management Company LLP (Wellington Management) is an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act. The list required by this Item 31 of officers and partners of Wellington Management, together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation, or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and partners during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by Wellington Management pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801-15908).
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard), is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the Advisers Act). The list required by this Item 31 of officers and directors of Vanguard, together with any information as to any business, profession, vocation, or employment of a substantial nature engaged in by such officers and directors during the past two years, is incorporated herein by reference from Form ADV filed by Vanguard pursuant to the Advisers Act (SEC File No. 801- 11953).
Item 32. Principal Underwriters  
(a)
Vanguard Marketing Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Vanguard Group, Inc., is the principal underwriter
of each fund within the Vanguard group of investment companies, a family of over 200 funds.
(b)
The principal business address of each named director and officer of Vanguard Marketing Corporation is 100
Vanguard Boulevard, Malvern, PA 19355.
 
Name
Positions and Office with Underwriter
Positions and Office with Funds
Matthew Benchener
Chairman, Director, Principal, and Chief
Executive Officer Designee
None
Karin A. Risi
Director and Principal
None
Scott A. Conking
Director and Principal
None
Thomas M. Rampulla
Director and Principal
None
Michael Rollings
Director and Principal
Finance Director
Caroline Cosby
Director, Principal, General Counsel, and
Assistant Secretary
None
Matthew C. Brancato
Director and Principal
None
Mortimer J. Buckley
President
Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief
Executive Officer, and President
John E. Schadl
Assistant Vice President
Chief Compliance Officer
Beth Morales Singh
Secretary
None
Erica Green
Chief Compliance Officer
None
John T. Marcante
Chief Information Officer
None
Alonzo Ellis
Chief Information Security Officer
None
Salvatore L. Pantalone
Financial and Operations Principal and
Treasurer
None
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Name
Positions and Office with Underwriter
Positions and Office with Funds
Celeste Hagerty
Financial and Operations Principal
None
Danielle Corey
Annuity and Insurance Officer
None
Jeff Seglem
Annuity and Insurance Officer
None
John Bendl
Principal
Chief Financial Officer
Barbara Bock
Principal
None
Saundra K. Cusumano
Principal
None
James M. Delaplane Jr.
Principal
None
Andrew Kadjeski
Principal
None
Michael V. Lucci
Principal
None
Brian P. McCarthy
Principal
None
Matthew P. McCarthy
Principal
None
Douglas R. Mento
Principal
None
Jim O’Rourke
Principal
None
David Petty
Principal
None
Monica Verma
Principal
None
 
(c)
Not applicable.
Item 33. Location of Accounts and Records
The books, accounts, and other documents required to be maintained by Section 31(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the rules promulgated thereunder will be maintained at the offices of the Registrant, 100 Vanguard Boulevard, Malvern, PA 19355; the Registrant’s Transfer Agent, The Vanguard Group, Inc., 100 Vanguard Boulevard, Malvern, PA 19355; the Registrant’s Custodians, State Street Bank and Trust Company, One Lincoln Street, Boston, MA 02111, The Bank of New York Mellon, 240 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10286, and JPMorgan Chase Bank, 383 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10179; and the Registrant’s investment advisors at their respective locations identified in this Registration Statement.
Item 34. Management Services
Other than as set forth in the section entitled “Management of the Funds” in Part B of this Registration Statement, the Registrant is not a party to any management-related service contract.
Item 35. Undertakings
Not applicable.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Registrant hereby certifies that it meets all requirements for effectiveness of this Registration Statement pursuant to Rule 485(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the Town of Valley Forge and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on the 25th day of February, 2021.
Vanguard Whitehall Funds
BY:
/s/ Mortimer J. Buckley*
Mortimer J. Buckley
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Post-Effective Amendment to the Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the date indicated:  
Signature
Title
Date
/s/ Mortimer J. Buckley*

Mortimer J. Buckley
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
February 25, 2021
/s/ Emerson U. Fullwood*

Emerson U. Fullwood
Trustee
February 25, 2021
/s/ Amy Gutmann*

Amy Gutmann
Trustee
February 25, 2021
/s/ Joseph Loughrey*

Joseph Loughrey
Trustee
February 25, 2021
/s/ Mark Loughridge*

Mark Loughridge
Trustee
February 25, 2021
/s/ Scott C. Malpass*

Scott C. Malpass
Trustee
February 25, 2021
/s/ Deanna Mulligan*

Deanna Mulligan
Trustee
February 25, 2021
/s/ André F. Perold*

André F. Perold
Trustee
February 25, 2021
/s/ Sarah Bloom Raskin*

Sarah Bloom Raskin
Trustee
February 25, 2021
/s/ Peter F. Volanakis*

Peter F. Volanakis
Trustee
February 25, 2021
/s/ John Bendl*

John Bendl
Chief Financial Officer
February 25, 2021
*By: /s/ Anne E. Robinson
Anne E. Robinson, pursuant to a Power of Attorney filed on December 18, 2020 (see File Number 33-64845), Incorporated by Reference.

AMENDED AND RESTATED

BY-LAWS

OF

VANGUARD WHITEHALL FUNDS

These By-Laws of Vanguard Whitehall Funds, a Delaware statutory trust, are subject to the Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust of the Trust dated as of November 19, 2008, as from time to time amended, supplemented or restated (the "Declaration of Trust"). In the event of any conflict between the provisions of these By- Laws and the provisions of the Declaration of Trust, the provisions of the Declaration of Trust will control. Capitalized terms used herein which are defined in the Declaration of Trust are used as therein defined.

ARTICLE I

Fiscal Year and Offices

Section 1. Fiscal Year. Unless otherwise provided by resolution of the Board of Trustees, the fiscal year of the Trust shall begin on the 1st day of November and end on the last day of October.

Section 2. Delaware Office. The Board of Trustees shall establish a registered office in the State of Delaware and shall appoint as the Trust's registered agent for service of process in the State of Delaware an individual resident of the State of Delaware or a Delaware corporation or a foreign corporation authorized to transact business in the State of Delaware; in each case the business office of such registered agent for service of process shall be identical with the registered Delaware office of the Trust.

Section 3. Principal Office. The principal office of the Trust shall be located at 100 Vanguard Boulevard, Malvern, Pennsylvania 19355, or such other location s the Trustees may from time to time determine.

Section 4. Other Offices. The Board of Trustees may at any time establish branch or subordinate offices at any place or places where the Trust intends to do business.

ARTICLE II

Meetings of Shareholders

Section 1. Place of Meeting. Meetings of the Shareholders for the election of Trustees or for any other purpose shall be held in such place (including that

the meeting will be held by remote communication, as applicable) as shall be fixed by resolution of the Board of Trustees and stated in the notice of the meeting.

Section 2. Annual Meetings. An annual meeting of Shareholders will not be held unless the 1940 Act requires the election of Trustees to be acted upon.

Section 3. Special Meetings. Special meetings of the Shareholders may be called at any time by the chairman, or president, or by the Board of Trustees, and shall be called by the secretary upon written request of the holders of Shares entitled to cast not less than twenty percent of all the votes entitled to be cast at such meeting provided that

(a)such request shall state the purposes of such meeting and the matters proposed to be acted on, (b) the Shareholders requesting such meeting shall have paid to the Trust the reasonable estimated cost of preparing and mailing the notice thereof, which the secretary shall determine and specify to such Shareholders, and (c) the Shareholders requesting such meeting must provide ninety (90) days advance notice of business to be brought to a vote at a shareholder meeting and for nomination of directors, unless such notice runs counter to the proxy rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. No special meeting need be called upon the request of Shareholders entitled to cast less than a majority of all votes entitled to be cast at such meeting to consider any matter which is substantially the same as a matter voted on at any meeting of the Shareholders held during the preceding twelve months. The foregoing provisions of this Section 3 notwithstanding a special meeting of Shareholders shall be called upon the request of the holders of at least ten percent of the votes entitled to be cast for the purpose of consideration removal of a Trustee from office as provided in section 16(c) of the 1940 Act.

Section 4. Notice. Not less than ten, nor more than one hundred (100) days before the date of every annual or special meeting, the secretary shall cause to be delivered to each Shareholder entitled to vote at such meeting a written notice in accordance with Article IV, Section 1 of these By-Laws stating the time and place of the meeting (including that the meeting will be held by remote communication, as applicable) and, in the case of a special meeting of Shareholders, shall state the purposes of the meeting and the matters to be acted on and the purposes of such special meeting and matters to be acted on shall be limited to those stated in such written notice. Notice of adjournment of a Shareholders meeting to another time or place (including that the meeting will be held by remote communication, as applicable) need not be given, if such time and place are announced at the meeting. No notice need be given to any Shareholder who shall have failed to inform the Trust of his or her current address or if a written waiver of notice, executed before or after the meeting by the Shareholder or his or her attorney thereunto authorized, is filed with the records of the meeting.

Section 5. Record Date for Meetings. The Board of Trustees may fix in advance a date not more than one hundred (100), nor less than ten, days prior to the date of any annual or special meeting of the Shareholders as a record date for the determination of the Shareholders entitled to receive notice of, and to vote at any meeting and any adjournment thereof; and in such case such Shareholders and only such

2

Shareholders as shall be Shareholders of record on the date so fixed shall be entitled to receive notice of and to vote at such meeting and any adjournment thereof as the case may be, notwithstanding any transfer of any stock on the books of the Trust after any such record date fixed as aforesaid.

Section 6. Quorum. Except as otherwise provided by the 1940 Act or in the Trust's Declaration of Trust, at any meeting of Shareholders, the presence in person or by proxy of the holders of record of Shares issued and outstanding and entitled to vote representing more than thirty-three and one-third percent (33 1/3%) of the total combined net asset value of all Shares issued and outstanding and entitled to vote shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business at the meeting.

If, however, a quorum shall not be present or represented at any meeting of the Shareholders, either the chairman of the meeting (without a Shareholder vote) or the holders of a majority of the votes present or in person or by proxy shall have the power to adjourn the meeting from time to time, without notice other than announcement at the meeting, until a quorum shall be present or represented. At such adjourned meeting at which a quorum shall be present or represented, any business may be transacted which might have been transacted at the meeting as originally notified. The Shareholders of record entitled to vote at a Shareholders' meeting that has been postponed or reconvened after one or more adjournments shall be deemed to be the Shareholders on the original record date, unless the Trustees have fixed a new record date.

Section 7. Voting. Each Shareholder shall have one vote for each dollar (and a fractional vote for each fractional dollar) of the net asset value of each share (including fractional Shares) held by such Shareholder on the record date set pursuant to Section 5 on each matter submitted to a vote at a meeting of Shareholders. For purposes of this section and Section 6 of this Article II, net asset value shall be determined pursuant to Section 3, Article VIII of these By-Laws as of the record date for such meeting set pursuant to Section 5. There shall be no cumulative voting in the election of Trustees. At any meeting of Shareholders, any Shareholder entitled to vote thereat may vote either in person or by written proxy signed by the Shareholder, provided that no proxy shall be voted at any meeting unless it shall have been placed on file with the secretary, or with such other officer or agent of the Trust as the secretary may direct, for verification prior to the time at which such vote shall be taken; provided, however, that notwithstanding any other provision of this Section 7 to the contrary, the Trustees or any officer of the Trust with responsibility for such matters may at any time adopt one or more electronic, telecommunication, telephonic, computerized or other alternatives to execution of a written instrument that will enable Shareholders entitled to vote at any meeting to appoint a proxy to vote such Shareholders' Shares at such meeting; provided, further, that, until the Trustees or such officer adopt such electronic, telecommunication, telephonic, computerized or other alternatives, no Shareholder may act to appoint a proxy to vote such holder's Shares at a meeting by any such alternatives and if the Trustees or such officer do adopt such electronic, telecommunication, telephonic, computerized or other alternatives, then Shareholders may only act in the manner prescribed by the

3

Trustees. Proxies may be solicited in the name of one or more Trustees or one or more of the officers of the Trust. Only Shareholders of record shall be entitled to vote. When any share is held jointly by several persons, any one of them may vote at any meeting in person or by proxy in respect of such share, but if more than one of them shall be present at such meeting in person or by proxy, and such joint owners or their proxies so present disagree as to any vote to be cast, such vote shall not be received in respect of such share. Unless otherwise specifically limited by their terms, proxies shall entitle the holder thereof to vote at any adjournment of a meeting. A proxy purporting to be executed by or on behalf of a Shareholder shall be deemed valid unless challenged at or prior to its exercise, and the burden of proving invalidity shall rest on the challenger. If the holder of any such share is a minor or a person of unsound mind, and subject to guardianship or the legal control of any other person as regards the charge or management of such share, he or she may vote by his or her guardian or such other person appointed or having such control, and such vote may be given in person or by proxy. Except as otherwise provided herein or in the Declaration of Trust or the Delaware Act, all matters relating to the giving, voting or validity of proxies shall be governed by the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware relating to proxies, and judicial interpretations thereunder, as if the Trust were a Delaware corporation and the Shareholders were Shareholders of a Delaware corporation.

At all meetings of the Shareholders, a quorum being present, the Trustees shall be elected by the vote of a plurality of the votes cast by Shareholders present in person or by proxy and all other matters shall be decided by majority of the votes cast by Shareholders present in person or by proxy, unless the question is one for which by express provision of the 1940 Act or the Declaration of Trust, a different vote is required, in which case such express provision shall control the decision of such question. There shall be no cumulative voting for Trustees. At all meetings of Shareholders, unless the voting is conducted by inspectors, all questions relating to the qualification of voters and the validity of proxies and the acceptance or rejection of votes shall be decided by the Chairman of the meeting.

Section 8. Inspectors. At any election of Trustees, the Board of Trustees prior thereto may, or, if they have not so acted, the chairman of the meeting may appoint one or more inspectors of election who shall first subscribe an oath of affirmation to execute faithfully the duties of inspectors at such election with strict impartiality and according to the best of their ability, and shall after the election make a certificate of the result of the vote taken.

Section 9. Stock Ledger and List of Shareholders. It shall be the duty of the secretary or assistant secretary of the Trust to cause an original or duplicate share ledger to be maintained at the office of the Trust's transfer agent. Such share ledger may be in written form or any other form capable of being converted into written form within a reasonable time for visual inspection.

Section 10. Action Without Meeting. Any action to be taken by Shareholders may be taken without a meeting if (a) all Shareholders entitled to vote on

4

the matter consent to the action in writing, (b) all Shareholders entitled to notice of the meeting but not entitled to vote at it sign a written waiver of any right to dissent, and (c) the written consents are filed with the records of the meeting of Shareholders. Such consent shall be treated for all purposes as a vote at a meeting.

Section 11. Meetings by Remote Communication. The Board of Trustees may, in their sole discretion, determine that any meeting of Shareholders (whether annual or special) may be held solely by means of remote communication. If authorized by the Board of Trustees, in their sole discretion, and subject to such guidelines and procedures as the Board of Trustees may adopt, Shareholders and proxyholders not physically present at a meeting of Shareholders may, by means of remote communication: (a) participate in a meeting of Shareholders; and (b) be deemed present in person and vote at a meeting of Shareholders whether such meeting is to be held at a designated place or solely by means of remote communication, provided that: (i) the Trust shall implement such measures as the Board of Trustees deem to be reasonable

(A)to verify that each person deemed present and permitted to vote at the meeting by means of remote communication is a Shareholder or proxyholder; and (B) to provide such Shareholders and proxyholders a reasonable opportunity to participate in the meeting and to vote on matters submitted to the Shareholders; and (ii) if any Shareholder or proxyholder votes or takes other action at the meeting by means of remote communication, a record of such vote or other action shall be maintained by the Trust. The Board of Trustees may, in their sole discretion, notify Shareholders of any postponement, adjournment or a change of the place of a meeting of Shareholders (including a change to hold the meeting solely by means of remote communication) by a document publicly filed by the Trust with the Securities and Exchange Commission without the requirement of any further notice hereunder.

ARTICLE III

Trustees

Section 1. Place of Meeting. Meetings of the Board of Trustees, regular or special, may be held at any place as the Board may from time to time determine.

Section 2. Quorum. At all meetings of the Board of Trustees, one-third of the Trustees then in office shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business provided that in no case may a quorum be fewer than two persons (unless there is only one Trustee then in office, in which case such Trustee shall constitute a quorum). The action of a majority of the Trustees present at any meeting at which a quorum is present shall be the action of the Board of Trustees unless the concurrence of a greater proportion is required for such action by the 1940 Act or the Declaration of Trust. If a quorum shall not be present at any meeting of Trustees, the Trustees present thereat may by a majority vote adjourn the meeting from time to time without notice other than announcement at the meeting, until a quorum shall be present.

Section 3. Regular Meetings. Regular meetings of the Board of Trustees

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may be held without additional notice at such time and place as shall from time to time be determined by the Board of Trustees provided that notice of any change in the time or place of such meetings shall be sent promptly to each Trustee not present at the meeting at which such change was made in the manner provided for notice of special meetings.

Section 4. Special Meetings. Special meetings of the Board of Trustees may be called by the chairman or president on one day's notice to each Trustee; special meetings shall be called by the chairman or president or secretary in like manner and on like notice on the written request of two Trustees.

Section 5. Telephone Meeting. Members of the Board of Trustees or a committee of the Board of Trustees may participate in a meeting by means of a conference telephone or similar communications equipment if all persons participating in the meeting can hear each other at the same time.

Section 6. Informal Actions. Any action required or permitted to be taken at any meeting of the Board of Trustees or of any committee thereof may be taken without a meeting, if a written consent to such action is signed by a majority of the Trustees then in office or by a majority of the members of such committee, as the case may be (unless, in either case, the question is one for which by express provision of the 1940 Act or the Declaration of Trust, a different vote is required, in which case such express provision shall control the decision of such question). Any such written consent shall be filed with the minutes of proceedings of the Board or committee, as applicable.

Section 7. Committees. The Board of Trustees may appoint from among its members an Executive Committee and other committees composed of two or more Trustees, and may delegate to such committees any or all of the powers of the Board of Trustees in the management of the business and affairs of the Trust.

Section 8. Action of Committees. In the absence of an appropriate resolution of the Board of Trustees, each committee may adopt such rules and regulations governing its proceedings, quorum and manner of acting as it shall deem proper and desirable, provided that the quorum shall not be fewer than two Trustees. The committees shall keep minutes of their proceedings and shall report the same to the Board of Trustees at the meeting next succeeding, and any action by the committee shall be subject to revision and alteration by the Board of Trustees, provided that no rights of third persons shall be affected by any such revision or alteration. In the absence of any member of such committee, the members thereof present at any meeting, whether or not they constitute a quorum, may appoint a member of the Board of Trustees to act in the place of such absent member.

Section 9. Election of Chairman. The Board of Trustees shall choose a Chairman. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees shall hold his post for such term and shall perform and execute such duties and administrative powers as the Board of Trustees shall prescribe from time to time.

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Section 10. Other Executive Posts. The Board of Trustees from time to time may appoint such other Executive Posts as it shall deem advisable, who shall hold their posts for such terms and shall perform and execute such executive duties and administrative powers as the Board of Trustees shall from time to time prescribe.

ARTICLE IV

Notices

Section 1. Form. Subject to the 1940 Act, notices and all other communications to Shareholders shall be in writing and delivered personally, or sent by electronic transmission to an electronic mail address provided by the Shareholder or mailed to the Shareholders at their addresses appearing on the books of the Trust or given as otherwise provided herein. Notices to Trustees shall be oral or by telephone or in writing delivered personally or mailed to the Trustees at their addresses appearing on the books of the Trust or by electronic transmission to an electronic mail address provided by the Trustee. Notice by mail shall be deemed to be given at the time when the same shall be mailed, notice by electronic transmission shall be deemed given at the time when sent, and notice by a document publicly filed by with the Securities and Exchange Commission shall be deemed given at the time the Trust files such document. Subject to the provisions of the 1940 Act, notice to Trustees need not state the purpose of a regular or special meeting.

Section 2. Waiver. Whenever any notice of the time, place or purpose of any meeting of Shareholders, Trustees or a committee is required to be given under the provisions of the Declaration of Trust or these By-Laws, a waiver thereof in writing, signed by the person or persons entitled to such notice and filed with the records of the meeting, whether before or after the holding thereof, or actual attendance at the meeting of Shareholders in person or by proxy, or at the meeting of Trustees or a committee in person, shall be deemed equivalent to the giving of such notice to such persons.

ARTICLE V

Officers

Section 1. Executive Officers. The officers of the Trust shall be chosen by the Board of Trustees and shall include a president, a secretary and a treasurer. The Board of Trustees may, from time to time, elect or appoint a controller, one or more vice presidents, assistant secretaries, assistant treasurers, and assistant controllers. The same person may hold two or more offices, except that no person shall be both president and vice president and no officer shall execute, acknowledge or verify any instrument in more than one capacity, if such instrument is required by law, the Declaration of Trust or these By-Laws to be executed, acknowledged or verified by two or more officers.

Section 2. Election. The Board of Trustees shall choose a president, a secretary and a treasurer.

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Section 3. Other Officers. The Board of Trustees from time to time may appoint such other officers and agents as it shall deem advisable, who shall hold their offices for such terms and shall exercise powers and perform such duties as shall be determined from time to time by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees from time to time may delegate to one or more officers or agents the power to appoint any such subordinate officers or agents and to prescribe their respective rights, terms of office, authorities and duties.

Section 4. Compensation. The salaries or other compensation of all officers and agents of the Trust shall be fixed by the Board of Trustees, except that the Board of Trustees may delegate to any person or group of persons the power to fix the salary or other compensation of any subordinate officers or agents appointed pursuant to Section 3 of this Article V.

Section 5. Tenure. The officers of the Trust shall serve at the pleasure of the Board of Trustees. Any officer or agent may be removed by the affirmative vote of the Board of Trustees with or without cause whenever, in its judgment, the best interests of the Trust will be served thereby. In addition, any officer or agent appointed pursuant to Section 3 may be removed, either with or without cause, by any officer upon whom such power of removal shall have been conferred by the Board of Trustees. Any vacancy occurring in any office of the Trust by death, resignation, removal or otherwise shall be filled by the Board of Trustees, unless pursuant to Section 3 the power of appointment has been conferred by the Board of Trustees on any other officer.

Section 6. President and Chief Executive Officer. The president shall be the chief executive officer of the Trust, unless the Board of Trustees designates the chairman as chief executive officer. The chief executive officer shall see that all orders and resolutions of the Board of Trustees are carried into effect. The chief executive officer shall also be the chief administrative officer of the Trust and shall perform such other duties and have such other powers as the Board of Trustees may from time to time prescribe.

Section 7. Vice President. The vice presidents, in order of their seniority, shall, in the absence or disability of the chief executive officer, perform the duties and exercise the powers of the chief executive officer and shall perform such other duties as the Board of Trustees or the chief executive officer may from time to time prescribe.

Section 8. Secretary. The secretary shall attend all meetings of the Board of Trustees and all meetings of the Shareholders and record all the proceedings thereof and shall perform like duties for any committee when required. He shall give, or cause to be given, notice of meetings of the Shareholders and of the Board of Trustees, shall have charge of the records of the Trust, including the stock books, and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the Board of Trustees or chief executive officer, under whose supervision he shall be. He shall keep in safe custody the seal of the

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Trust and, when authorized by the Board of Trustees, shall affix and attest the same to any instrument requiring it. The Board of Trustees may give general authority to any other officer to affix the seal of the Trust and to attest the affixing by his signature.

Section 9. Assistant Secretaries. The assistant secretaries in order of their seniority, shall, in the absence or disability of the secretary, perform the duties and exercise the powers of the secretary and shall perform such other duties as the Board of Trustees or the chief executive officer shall prescribe.

Section 10. Treasurer. The treasurer, unless another officer has been so designated, shall be the chief financial officer of the Trust. He shall have general charge of the finances and books of account of the Trust. Except as otherwise provided by the Board of Trustees, he shall have general supervision of the funds and property of the Trust and of the performance by the custodian of its duties with respect thereto. He shall render to the Board of Trustees, whenever directed by the Board of Trustees, an account of the financial condition of the Trust and of all his transactions as treasurer. He shall cause to be prepared annually a full and correct statement of the affairs of the Trust, including a balance sheet and a statement of operations for the preceding fiscal year. He shall perform all of the acts incidental to the office of treasurer, subject to the control of the Board of Trustees or the chief executive officer.

Section 11. Assistant Treasurer. The assistant treasurer shall in the absence or disability of the treasurer, perform the duties and exercise the powers of the treasurer and shall perform such other duties as the Board of Trustees or the chief executive officer may from time to time prescribe.

ARTICLE VI

Indemnification and Insurance

Section 1. Agents, Proceedings and Expenses. For the purpose of this Article, "agent" means any person who is or was a Trustee or officer of this Trust and any person who, while a Trustee or officer of this Trust, is or was serving at the request of this Trust as a Trustee, director, officer, partner, employee, or agent of another foreign or domestic corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise; "Trust" includes any domestic or foreign predecessor entity of this Trust in a merger, consolidation, or other transaction in which the predecessor's existence ceased upon consummation of the transaction; "proceeding" means any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative, or investigative; and "expenses" includes without limitation attorney's fees and any expenses of establishing a right to indemnification under this Article.

Section 2. Actions Other Than by Trust. This Trust shall indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any proceeding (other than an action by or in the right of this Trust) by reason of the fact that such person is or was an agent of this Trust, against expenses, judgments, fines, settlements and other

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amounts actually and reasonably incurred in connection with such proceeding, if it is determined that person acted in good faith and reasonably believed: (a) in the case of conduct in his official capacity as an agent of the Trust, that his conduct was in the Trust's best interests and (b) in all other cases, that his conduct was at least not opposed to the Trust's best interests and (c) in the case of a criminal proceeding, that he had no reasonable cause to believe the conduct of that person was unlawful. The termination of any proceeding by judgment, order or settlement shall not of itself create a presumption that the person did not meet the requisite standard of conduct set forth in this Section. The termination of any proceeding by conviction, or a plea of nolo contendere or its equivalent, or an entry of an order of probation prior to judgment, creates a rebuttable presumption that the person did not meet the requisite standard of conduct set forth in this Section.

Section 3. Actions by the Trust. This Trust shall indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any proceeding by or in the right of this Trust to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact that that person is or was an agent of this Trust, against expenses actually and reasonably incurred by that person in connection with the defense or settlement of that action if that person acted in good faith, in a manner that person believed to be in the best interests of this Trust and with such care, including reasonable inquiry, as an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances.

Section 4. Exclusion of Indemnification. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained herein, there shall be no right to indemnification for any liability arising by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence, or the reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of the agent's office with this Trust.

No indemnification shall be made under Sections 2 or 3 of this Article:

(a)In respect of any proceeding as to which that person shall have been adjudged to be liable on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received by him, whether or not the benefit resulted from an action taken in the person's official capacity; or

(b)In respect of any proceeding as to which that person shall have been adjudged to be liable in the performance of that person's duty to this Trust, unless and only to the extent that the court in which that action was brought shall determine upon application that in view of all the relevant circumstances of the case, that person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for the expenses which the court shall determine; however, in such case, indemnification with respect to any proceeding by or in the right of the Trust or in which liability shall have been adjudged by reason of the disabling conduct set forth in the preceding paragraph shall be limited to expenses; or

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(c)Of amounts paid in settling or otherwise disposing of a proceeding, with or without court approval, or of expenses incurred in defending a proceeding which is settled or otherwise disposed of without court approval, unless the required approval set forth in Section 6 of this Article is obtained.

Section 5. Successful Defense by Agent. To the extent that an agent of this Trust has been successful, on the merits or otherwise, in the defense of any proceeding referred to in Sections 2 or 3 of this Article before the court or other body before whom the proceeding was brought, the agent shall be indemnified against expenses actually and reasonably incurred by the agent in connection therewith, provided that the Board of Trustees, including a majority who are disinterested, non-party Trustees, also determines that based upon a review of the facts, the agent was not liable by reason of the disabling conduct referred to in Section 4 of this Article.

Section 6. Required Approval. Except as provided in Section 5 of this Article, any indemnification under this Article shall be made by this Trust only if authorized in the specific case on a determination that indemnification of the agent is proper in the circumstances because the agent has met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in Sections 2 or 3 of this Article and is not prohibited from indemnification because of the disabling conduct set forth in Section 4 of this Article, by:

(a)A majority vote of a quorum consisting of Trustees who are not parties to the proceeding and are not interested persons of the Trust (as defined in the 1940 Act);

(b)A written opinion by an independent legal counsel; or

(c)The Shareholders; however, Shares held by agents who are parties to the proceeding may not be voted on the subject matter under this Sub-Section.

Section 7. Advance of Expenses. Expenses incurred in defending any proceeding may be advanced by this Trust before the final disposition of the proceeding if (a) receipt of a written affirmation by the agent of his good faith belief that he has met the standard of conduct necessary for indemnification under this Article and a written undertaking by or on behalf of the agent, such undertaking being an unlimited general obligation to repay the amount of the advance if it is ultimately determined that he has not met those requirements, and (b) a determination that the facts then known to those making the determination would not preclude indemnification under this Article. Determinations and authorizations of payments under this Section must be made in the manner specified in Section 6 of this Article for determining that the indemnification is permissible.

Section 8. Other Contractual Rights. Nothing contained in this Article

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shall affect any right to indemnification to which persons other than Trustees and officers of this Trust or any subsidiary hereof may be entitled by contract or otherwise.

Section 9. Limitations. No indemnification or advance shall be made under this Article, except as provided in Sections 5 or 6 in any circumstances where it appears:

(a)That it would be inconsistent with a provision of the Agreement and Declaration of Trust of the Trust, a resolution of the Shareholders, or an agreement in effect at the time of accrual of the alleged cause of action asserted in the proceeding in which the expenses were incurred or other amounts were paid which prohibits or otherwise limits indemnification; or

(b)That it would be inconsistent with any condition expressly imposed by a court in approving a settlement.

Section 10. Insurance. Upon and in the event of a determination by the Board of Trustees of this Trust to purchase such insurance, this Trust shall purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any agent or employee of this Trust against any liability asserted against or incurred by the agent or employee in such capacity or arising out of the agent's or employee's status as such to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Section 11. Fiduciaries of Employee Benefit Plan. This Article does not apply to any proceeding against any Trustee, investment manager or other fiduciary of an employee benefit plan in that person's capacity as such, even though that person may also be an agent of this Trust as defined in Section 1 of this Article. Nothing contained in this Article shall limit any right to indemnification to which such a Trustee, investment manager, or other fiduciary may be entitled by contract or otherwise which shall be enforceable to the extent permitted by applicable law other than this Article.

ARTICLE VII

Shares of Beneficial Interest

Section 1. Certificates. A certificate or certificates representing and certifying the series or class and the full, but not fractional, number of Shares of beneficial interest owned by each Shareholder in the Trust shall not be issued except as the Board of Trustees may otherwise determine from time to time. Any such certificate issued shall be signed by facsimile signature or otherwise by the chairman or president or a vice president and counter-signed by the secretary or an assistant secretary or the treasurer or an assistant treasurer.

Section 2. Signature. In case any officer who has signed any certificate ceases to be an officer of the Trust before the certificate is issued, the certificate may nevertheless be issued by the Trust with the same effect as if the officer had not ceased to

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be such officer as of the date of its issue.

Section 3. Recording and Transfer Without Certificates. The Trust shall have the full power to participate in any program approved by the Board of Trustees providing for the recording and transfer of ownership of the Trust's Shares by electronic or other means without the issuance of certificates.

Section 4. Lost Certificates. The Board of Trustees may direct a new certificate or certificates to be issued in place of any certificate or certificates theretofore issued by the Trust alleged to have been stolen, lost or destroyed, upon the making of an affidavit of that fact by the person claiming the certificate of stock to have been stolen, lost or destroyed, or upon other satisfactory evidence of such theft, loss or destruction and may in its discretion and as a condition precedent to the issuance thereof, require the owner of such stolen, lost or destroyed certificate or certificates, or his legal representative, to give the Trust a bond with sufficient surety, to the Trust to indemnify it against any loss or claim that may be made by reason of the issuance of a new certificate.

Section 5. Transfer of Shares. Transfers of Shares of beneficial interest of the Trust shall be made on the books of the Trust by the holder of record thereof (in person or by his attorney thereunto duly authorized by a power of attorney duly executed in writing and filed with the secretary of the Trust) (i) if a certificate or certificates have been issued, upon the surrender of the certificate or certificates, properly endorsed or accompanied by proper instruments of transfer, representing such Shares, or (ii) as otherwise prescribed by the Board of Trustees. Every certificate exchanged, surrendered for redemption or otherwise returned to the Trust shall be marked "Canceled" with the date of cancellation.

Section 6. Registered Shareholders. The Trust shall be entitled to recognize the exclusive right of a person registered on its books as the owner of Shares to receive dividends, and to vote as such owner, and to hold liable for calls and assessments a person registered on its books as the owner of Shares, and shall not be bound to recognize any equitable or other claim to or interest in such share or Shares on the part of any other person, whether or not it shall have express or other notice thereof, except as otherwise provided by applicable law or the Declaration of Trust.

Section 7. Transfer Agents and Registrars. The Board of Trustees may, from time to time, appoint or remove transfer agents and or registrars of the Trust, and they may appoint the same person as both transfer agent and registrar. Upon any such appointment being made, all certificates representing Shares of beneficial interest thereafter issued shall be countersigned by such transfer agent and shall not be valid unless so countersigned.

Section 8. Stock Ledger. The Trust shall maintain an original stock ledger containing the names and addresses of all Shareholders and the number and series or class of Shares held by each Shareholder. Such stock ledger may be in written form or any other form capable of being converted into written form within reasonable time for

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visual inspection.

ARTICLE VIII

General Provisions

Section 1. Custodianship. Except as otherwise provided by resolution of the Board of Trustees, the Trust shall place and at all times maintain in the custody of a custodian (including any sub-custodian for the custodian) all funds, securities and similar investments owned by the Trust. Subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees, the custodian may enter into arrangements with securities depositories, provided such arrangements comply with the provisions of the 1940 Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

Section 2. Execution of Instruments. All deeds, documents, transfers, contracts, agreements and other instruments requiring execution by the Trust may be signed by the chairman or president or a vice president or the treasurer or the secretary or any other duly authorized officer or agent of the Trust, which authority may be general or specific.

Section 3. Net Asset Value. Subject to Section 1 of Article VI of the Declaration of Trust, the net asset value per Share shall be determined separately as to each series or class of the Trust's Shares, by dividing the sum of the total market value of the series' or class's investments and other assets, less any liabilities, by the total outstanding Shares of such series or class, subject to the 1940 Act and any other applicable Federal securities law or rule or regulation currently in effect.

Section 4. Forum for Actions Under the Securities Act of 1933, as

amended. Unless the Trust consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Federal District Courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring Shares or holding any interest in Shares shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the provisions of this Section.

ARTICLE IX

Amendments

The Board of Trustees, without a vote by the Shareholders, shall have the power to make, alter and repeal the By-Laws of the Trust.

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INVESTMENT ADVISORY AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT is made as of this 24th day of August, 2020, between Vanguard Whitehall Funds, a Delaware statutory trust (the "Trust"), and Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited, a corporation organized under the laws of Scotland, United Kingdom (the "Advisor").

W I T N E S S E T H

WHEREAS, the Trust is an open-end, diversified management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"); and

WHEREAS, the Trust offers a series of shares known as Vanguard International Explorer Fund (the "Fund"); and

WHEREAS, the Trust desires to retain the Advisor to render investment advisory services to the Fund, and the Advisor is willing to render such services.

NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises and undertakings set forth in this "Agreement," the Trust and the Advisor hereby agree as follows:

1.Appointment of Advisor. The Trust hereby employs the Advisor as investment advisor, on the terms and conditions set forth herein, for the portion of the assets of the Fund that the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board of Trustees") determines in its sole discretion to assign to the Advisor from time to time (referred to in this Agreement as the "Baillie Gifford Portfolio"), as communicated to the Advisor on behalf of the Board of Trustees by The Vanguard Group, Inc. ("Vanguard"). The Board of Trustees may, from time to time, make additions to, and withdrawals from, the assets of the Fund assigned to the Advisor. The Advisor accepts such employment and agrees to render the services herein set forth, for the compensation herein provided.

2.Duties of Advisor. The Trust employs the Advisor to manage the investment and reinvestment of the assets of the Baillie Gifford Portfolio; to continuously review, supervise, and administer an investment program for the Baillie Gifford Portfolio; to determine in its discretion the securities to be purchased or sold and the portion of such assets to be held uninvested; to provide the Fund with all records concerning the activities of the Advisor that the Fund is required to maintain; and to render regular reports to the Trust's officers and the Board of Trustees concerning the discharge of the foregoing responsibilities. The Advisor will discharge the foregoing responsibilities subject to the supervision and oversight of the Trust's officers and the Board of Trustees, and in compliance with the objective, policies, and limitations set forth in the Fund's prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, any additional operating policies or procedures that the Fund communicates to the Advisor in writing, and applicable laws and regulations. The Advisor agrees to provide, at its own expense, the office space, furnishings and equipment, and personnel required by it to perform the services on the terms and for the compensation provided herein.

3.Securities Transactions. The Advisor is authorized to select the brokers or dealers that will execute purchases and sales of securities for the Baillie Gifford Portfolio, and is directed to seek to obtain best execution for such transactions, consistent with Section 28(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In selecting brokers or dealers to execute trades for the Baillie Gifford Portfolio, the Advisor will comply with all applicable statutes, rules, interpretations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff, other applicable law, and the written policies and procedures established by the Board of Trustees and communicated to the Advisor in writing.

4.Compensation of Advisor. For services to be provided by the Advisor pursuant to this Agreement, the Fund will pay to the Advisor, and the Advisor agrees to accept as full compensation

therefor, an investment advisory fee consisting of a base fee plus a performance adjustment at the rates specified in Schedule A to this Agreement, payable quarterly in arrears.

5.Reports. The Fund and the Advisor agree to furnish to each other current prospectuses, proxy statements, reports to shareholders, certified copies of their financial statements, and such other information with regard to their affairs as each may reasonably request, including, but not limited to, information about changes in investment officers of the Advisor who are responsible for managing the Baillie Gifford Portfolio.

6.Compliance. The Advisor agrees to comply with all Applicable Law and all policies, procedures or reporting requirements that the Board of Trustees reasonably adopts and communicates to the Advisor in writing, including, without limitation, any such policies, procedures, or reporting requirements relating to soft dollar or other brokerage arrangements. "Applicable Law" means (i) the "federal securities laws" as defined in Rule 38a-1(e)(1) under the 1940 Act, as amended from time to time, and (ii) any and all other laws, rules, and regulations, whether foreign or domestic, in each case applicable at any time and from time to time to the investment management operations of the Advisor in relation to the Baillie Gifford Portfolio.

7.Status of Advisor. The services of the Advisor to the Fund are not to be deemed exclusive, and the Advisor will be free to render similar services to others so long as its services to the Fund are not impaired thereby. The Advisor will be deemed to be an independent contractor and will, unless otherwise expressly provided or authorized, have no authority to act for or represent the Fund in any way or otherwise be deemed an agent of the Fund or the Trust.

8.Liability of Advisor. No provision of this Agreement will be deemed to protect the Advisor against any liability to the Fund or its shareholders to which it might otherwise be subject by reason of any willful misfeasance, bad faith, or negligence in the performance of its duties or the reckless disregard of its obligations under this Agreement.

9.Limitations on Consultations. The Advisor is prohibited from consulting with other advisors of the Fund, except Vanguard, concerning transactions for the Fund in securities or other assets.

10.Duration; Termination; Notices; Amendment. This Agreement will become effective on the date hereof and will continue in effect for a period of two years thereafter, and shall continue in effect for successive twelve-month periods thereafter, only so long as each such continuance specifically is approved at least annually by the Board of Trustees, including a majority of those Trustees who are not parties to such Agreement or interested persons of any such party, cast at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval; such meeting shall be in person as required under Section 15(c) of the 1940 Act unless the Board of Trustees otherwise complies with the terms of an order or other guidance issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission granting an exemption from the in-person meeting requirement ("In- Person Exemptive Order"). In addition, the question of continuance of the Agreement may be presented to the shareholders of the Fund; in such event, such continuance will be effected only if approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, (i) this Agreement may at any time be terminated without payment of any penalty either by vote of the Board of Trustees or by vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund, on thirty days' written notice to the Advisor, (ii) this Agreement will automatically terminate in the event of its assignment, and (iii) this Agreement may be terminated by the Advisor on ninety days' written notice to the Fund. Any notice under this Agreement will be given in writing and is deemed to have been provided upon receipt of the same at their respective addresses set forth below. All written notices required or permitted to be given under this Agreement will be delivered by personal service, by postage mail return receipt requested or by facsimile machine, e-mail or a similar

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means of same delivery which provides evidence of receipt (with a confirming copy by mail as set forth herein).

If to the Fund, at:

Vanguard International Explorer Fund 400 Devon Park Drive

Wayne, PA 19087

Attention: Kaitlyn Caughlin, V11

Telephone: 610-669-4603

Facsimile: 610-503-5855

Email: kaitlyn_caughlin@vanguard.com

If to the Advisor, at:

Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited

Calton Square, 1 Greenside Row

Edinburgh EH1 3AN

Attention: John Carnegie/Nick Thomas

Telephone: 011 44 131 275 2781/011 44 131 275 2828

Email: VanguardClientServiceGroup@bailliegifford.com

This Agreement may be amended by mutual consent, but the consent of the Trust must be approved

(i)by a majority of those members of the Board of Trustees who are not parties to this Agreement or interested persons of any such party, cast in person (or as otherwise permitted under the terms of an In- Person Exemptive Order) at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such amendment, and (ii) to the extent required by the 1940 Act, by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund.

As used in this Section 10, the terms "assignment," "interested persons," and "vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities" will have the respective meanings set forth in Section 2(a)(4), Section 2(a)(19) and Section 2(a)(42) of the 1940 Act.

11.Severability. If any provision of this Agreement will be held or made invalid by a court decision, statute, rule, or otherwise, the remainder of this Agreement will not be affected thereby.

12.Confidentiality. The Advisor shall keep confidential any and all information obtained in connection with the services rendered hereunder and relating directly or indirectly to the Fund, the Trust, or Vanguard and shall not disclose any such information to any person other than the Trust, the Board of Trustees, Vanguard, and any director, officer, or employee of the Trust or Vanguard, except (i) with the prior written consent of the Trust, (ii) as required by law, regulation, court order or the rules or regulations of any self-regulatory organization, governmental body, or official having jurisdiction over the Advisor, or

(iii)for information that is publicly available other than due to disclosure by the Advisor or its affiliates or becomes known to the Advisor from a source other than the Trust, the Board of Trustees, or Vanguard.

13.Proxy Policy. The Advisor shall have full power and authority to exercise or direct the exercise of all voting rights attaching to securities held in the Baillie Gifford Portfolio from time to time, including (without limitation) voting proxies solicited by or with respect to the issuers of such securities:

(i)in accordance with the Advisor's proxy voting policies and procedures; and (ii) in a manner that complies with applicable law and regulations and any additional operating policies or procedures that the Trust communicates to the Advisor in writing.

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14.Miscellaneous. The services provided under this Agreement are provided on the basis that the Trust qualifies as a per se professional client. Under the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority, although the Advisor is obliged to inform the Trust that it can request a different categorization, namely opting for "retail client" status, the Advisor is not permitted to accept retail clients.

In accordance with relevant requirements of The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (as re- cast) and Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (together, "MiFID II") and based on information provided by the Trust, the Advisor shall be responsible for assessing the suitability of investments and the Baillie Gifford Portfolio in line with its regulatory obligations. The reason for this assessment is to enable the Advisor to act in the Trust's best interest. Where the Adviser is instructed by the Trust to follow a particular investment strategy for the Baillie Gifford Portfolio, the Advisor will manage the Baillie Gifford Portfolio in accordance with the Trust's instructions and the terms of the mandate agreed with the Trust. The Trust accordingly acknowledges that it is important that any information about the Trust provided to the Advisor is up-to-date, accurate, and complete. As the Trust is a professional client, the Advisor is entitled to assume that the Trust has the necessary level of experience and knowledge in order to understand the risks involved in the transaction in the management of the Trust. The Trust acknowledges that it should not deal in investments unless it understands the nature and extent of its exposure to risk.

The Trust confirms that it has received from the Advisor:

(a)a copy of Part II of the Advisor's Form ADV and that it consents to receipt of the same electronically to such email addresses as it may notify from time to time;

(b)a copy of the Advisor's notice entitled "Nature of Investments and Risk Disclosures Notice," which includes a general description of the nature and risks of investments which may be held in the Baillie Gifford Portfolio;

(c)a copy of the Advisor's Conflicts of Interest Disclosure, which sets out its policy in relation to identifying conflicts of interest that are potentially detrimental to its clients, and specifying the procedures put in place to help prevent and manage such conflicts, as well as some examples of the types of conflicts that are managed by the Advisor; and

(d)a copy of the Advisor's Order Execution and Trade Handling Policy dated 2018. The Trust confirms that it has read, understood, and agrees to the Order Execution and Trade Handling Policy and in particular that, for instruments admitted to trading on a regulated market or multilateral trading facility or organized trading facility ("MTF" and "OTF" respectively), it consents to the Advisor arranging for the execution of an order in such instruments outside a regulated market or MTF or OTF.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Trust and any professional tax adviser of the Trust or the Fund remain responsible for the management of the Trust's affairs for tax purposes. The Advisor acknowledges and confirms that the Trust is subject to regulatory and other requirements that may, consistent with Sections 2 and 6 of the Agreement, restrict what securities the Advisor can hold in the Baillie Gifford Portfolio and may require the Advisor, at the discretion of the Trust, to dispose of certain securities previously purchased for the Baillie Gifford Portfolio. The Trust acknowledges and confirms that the Advisor is otherwise under no obligation to take into account tax issues when managing assets attributable to the Baillie Gifford Portfolio and the Advisor may otherwise use its complete discretion when deciding on when to buy and sell securities and is under no obligation to report to the Trust on the tax consequences of buying or selling assets in the Baillie Gifford Portfolio.

15.Governing Law. All questions concerning the validity, meaning, and effect of this Agreement shall be determined in accordance with the laws (without giving effect to the conflict-of-law principles thereof) of the State of Delaware applicable to contracts made and to be performed in that state.

4

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Investment Advisory Agreement to be executed as of the date first set forth herein.

Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited

Vanguard Whitehall Funds

______________________________

______________________________

Signature

Signature

 

Mortimer J. Buckley

5


Amended and Restated Master Custodian Agreement 

  

This Agreement is made as of September 15, 2017 by and among each management investment company identified on Appendix A hereto (each such management investment company made subject to this Agreement in accordance with Section 19.5 below, shall hereinafter be referred to as the “Fund”), and State Street Bank and Trust Company, a Massachusetts trust company (the “Custodian”).  Each Fund and the Custodian agree that this Agreement merges, integrates and supersedes all prior agreements, side letters and understandings between the parties with respect to the matters contained herein; provided, however, that the continuation of any other agreements that may reference the Master Custodian Agreement between the Custodian and the Fund dated prior to the date hereof (“Prior Agreement”) is not intended to be affected by the fact of this amendment and restatement of the Master Custodian Agreement, and reference in such other agreements to a Prior Agreement shall be considered to be a reference to this Agreement effective as of the date of this Agreement (provided that matters relating to the time period prior to the date of this Agreement are governed by the terms of the Prior Agreement). 

  

Witnesseth: 

  

Whereas, each Fund is authorized to issue shares of common stock or shares of beneficial interest in separate series (“Shares”), with each such series representing interests in a separate portfolio of securities and other assets; 

  

Whereas, each Fund so authorized intends that this Agreement be applicable to each of its series set forth on Appendix A hereto (such series together with all other series subsequently established by the Fund and made subject to this Agreement in accordance with Section 19.6 below, shall hereinafter be referred to as the “Portfolio(s)”). 

  

Whereas, each Fund not so authorized intends that this Agreement be applicable to it and all references hereinafter to one or more “Portfolio(s)” shall be deemed to refer to such Fund(s); and 

  

Now, Therefore, in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements hereinafter contained, the parties hereto intending to be legally bound hereby agree as follows:  

  

Section 1.Employment of Custodian and Property to be Held by It 

  

Each Fund hereby employs the Custodian as a custodian of assets of the Portfolios, including securities which the Fund, on behalf of the applicable Portfolio, desires to be held in places within the United States (“domestic securities”) and securities which the Fund, on behalf of the applicable Portfolio desires to be held outside the United States (“foreign securities”). Each Fund, on behalf of its Portfolio(s), agrees to deliver to the Custodian all securities, other financial assets and cash of the Portfolios, and all payments of income, payments of principal or capital distributions received by it with respect to all securities or other financial assets owned by the Portfolio(s) from time to time, and the cash consideration received by it for such Shares as may be issued or sold from time to time. The Custodian shall not be responsible for any property of a Portfolio which is not received by it or which is delivered out in accordance with Proper Instructions (as such term is defined in Section 8 hereof) including, without limitation, Portfolio property (i) held by brokers, private bankers or other entities on behalf of the Portfolio (each a “Local Agent”), (ii) held by Special Sub-Custodians (as such term is defined in Section 6 hereof), (iii) held by entities which have advanced monies to or on behalf of the Portfolio and which have received Portfolio property as security for such advance(s) (each a “Pledgee

”), or (iv) delivered or otherwise removed from the custody of the Custodian (a) in connection with any Free Trade (as such term is defined in Sections 2.2(14) and 2.6(7) hereof) or (b) pursuant to Special Instructions (as such term is defined in Section 8 hereof). With respect to uncertificated shares (the “Underlying Shares”) of (i) registered “investment companies” (as defined in Section 3(a)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended from time to time (the “1940 Act”)), whether in the same “group of investment companies” (as defined in Section 12(d)(1)(G)(ii) of the 1940 Act) or otherwise, including pursuant to Section 12(d)(1)(F) of the 1940 Act or (ii) investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles that are not registered pursuant to the 1940 Act (the entities listed in clauses (i) and (ii) being hereinafter sometimes referred to as the “Underlying Portfolios”) the holding of confirmation statements that identify the shares as being recorded in the Custodian’s name on behalf of the Portfolios will be deemed custody for purposes hereof. 

  

Upon receipt of Proper Instructions, the Custodian shall from time to time employ one or more sub-custodians located in the United States for a Fund on behalf of the applicable Portfolio(s. The Custodian may place and maintain each Fund’s foreign securities with foreign banking institution sub-custodians employed by the Custodian and/or foreign securities depositories, all as designated in Schedules A and B hereto, but only in accordance with the applicable provisions of Sections 3 and 4 hereof.  

  

Section 2.

Duties of the Custodian with Respect to Property of the Portfolios to be Held in the United States 

  

Section 2.1Holding Securities. The Custodian shall hold and physically segregate for the account of each Portfolio all non‑cash property, to be held by it in the United States, including all domestic securities owned by such Portfolio other than (a) securities which are maintained pursuant to Section 2.8 in a clearing agency which acts as a securities depository or in a book‑entry system authorized by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (each, a “U.S. Securities System”) and (b) Underlying Shares owned by each Fund which are maintained pursuant to Section 2.10 hereof in an account with State Street Bank and Trust Company or such other entity which may from time to time act as a transfer agent for the Underlying Portfolios and with respect to which the Custodian is provided with Proper Instructions (the “Underlying Transfer Agent”). Except as precluded by Section 8-501(d) of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”), the Custodian shall hold all securities and other financial assets, other than cash, of a Portfolio that are delivered to it in a “securities account” with the Custodian for and in the name of such Portfolio and shall treat all such assets other than cash as “financial assets” as those terms are used in the UCC. The Custodian shall identify on its books and records as belonging to a Portfolio the securities and other financial assets, constituting Portfolio assets held by (a) the Custodian, its delegates and sub-custodians, (b) a U.S. Securities System, or (c) an Underlying Transfer Agent in accordance with Section 2.10. To the extent that the Custodian or any of its sub-custodians holds securities constituting the Portfolio’s assets in an omnibus account that is identified as belonging to the Custodian for the benefit of its customers, the records of the Custodian shall identify which of such securities constitute a Portfolio’s assets.  

  

Section 2.2Delivery of Securities. The Custodian shall release and deliver domestic securities and other financial assets owned by a Portfolio held by the Custodian, in a U.S. Securities System account of the Custodian or in an account at the Underlying Transfer Agent, only upon receipt of Proper Instructions on behalf of the applicable Portfolio, which may be continuing instructions when deemed appropriate by the parties, and only in the following cases: 

  

1)

Upon sale of such securities for the account of the Portfolio in accordance with customary or established market practices and procedures, including, without limitation, delivery to the purchaser thereof or to a dealer therefor (or an agent of such purchaser or dealer) against expectation of receiving later payment; 

  

2)Upon the receipt of payment in connection with any repurchase agreement related to such securities entered into by the Portfolio; 

  

3)In the case of a sale effected through a U.S. Securities System, in accordance with the provisions of Section 2.8 hereof; 

  

4)To the depository agent in connection with tender or other similar offers for securities of the Portfolio; 

  

5)To the issuer thereof or its agent when such securities are called, redeemed, retired or otherwise become payable; provided that, in any such case, the cash or other consideration is to be delivered to the Custodian; 

  

6)To the issuer thereof, or its agent, for transfer into the name of the Portfolio or into the name of any nominee or nominees of the Custodian or into the name or nominee name of any agent appointed pursuant to Section 2.7 or into the name or nominee name of any sub‑custodian appointed pursuant to Section 1; or for exchange for a different number of bonds, certificates or other evidence representing the same aggregate face amount or number of units; provided that, in any such case, the new securities are to be delivered to the Custodian; 

  

7)Upon the sale of such securities for the account of the Portfolio, to the broker or its clearing agent, against a receipt, for examination in accordance with “street delivery” custom; provided that in any such case, the Custodian shall have no responsibility or liability for any loss arising from the delivery of such securities prior to receiving payment for such securities except as may arise from the Custodian’s own negligence or willful misconduct; 

  

8)For exchange or conversion pursuant to any plan of merger, consolidation, recapitalization, reorganization or readjustment of the securities of the issuer of such securities, or pursuant to provisions for conversion contained in such securities, or pursuant to any deposit agreement; provided that, in any such case, the new securities and cash, if any, are to be delivered to the Custodian; 

  

9)In the case of warrants, rights or similar securities, the surrender thereof in the exercise of such warrants, rights or similar securities or the surrender of interim receipts or temporary securities for definitive securities; provided that, in any such case, the new securities and cash, if any, are to be delivered to the Custodian; 

  

10)For delivery in connection with any loans of securities made by the Portfolio (a) against receipt of collateral as agreed from time to time by the Fund on behalf of the Portfolio, except that in connection with any loans for which collateral is to be credited to the Custodian’s account in the book‑entry system authorized by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Custodian will not be held liable or responsible for the delivery of securities owned by the Portfolio prior to the receipt of such collateral or (b) to the lending agent, or the lending agent’s custodian, in accordance with written Proper Instructions (which need not provide for the receipt by the Custodian of collateral therefor) agreed upon from time to time by the Custodian and the Fund; 

  

11)For delivery as security in connection with any borrowing by a Fund on behalf of a Portfolio requiring a pledge of assets by the Fund on behalf of such Portfolio; 

  

12)For delivery in accordance with the provisions of any agreement among the Fund on behalf of the Portfolio, the Custodian and a broker‑dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”), relating to compliance with the rules of The Options Clearing Corporation and of any registered national securities exchange, or of any similar organization or organizations, regarding escrow or other arrangements in connection with transactions by the Fund on behalf of a Portfolio; 

  

13)For delivery in accordance with the provisions of any agreement among a Fund on behalf of the Portfolio, the Custodian, and a futures commission merchant registered under the Commodity Exchange Act, relating to compliance with the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and/or any contract market, or any similar organization or organizations, regarding account deposits in connection with transactions by the Fund on behalf of a Portfolio; 

  

14)Upon the sale or other delivery of such investments (including, without limitation, to one or more (a) Special Sub-Custodians or (b) additional custodians appointed by the Fund, and communicated to the Custodian from time to time via a writing duly executed by an authorized officer of the Fund, for the purpose of engaging in repurchase agreement transactions(s), each a “Repo Custodian”), and prior to receipt of payment therefor, as set forth in written Proper Instructions (such delivery in advance of payment, along with payment in advance of delivery made in accordance with Section 2.6(7), as applicable, shall each be referred to herein as a “Free Trade”), provided that such Proper Instructions shall set forth (a) the securities of the Portfolio to be delivered and (b) the person(s) to whom delivery of such securities shall be made;  

  

15)Upon receipt of instructions from the Fund’s transfer agent (the “Transfer Agent”) for delivery to such Transfer Agent or to the holders of Shares in connection with distributions in kind, as may be described from time to time in the currently effective prospectus and statement of additional information of the Fund related to the Portfolio (the “Prospectus”), in satisfaction of requests by holders of Shares for repurchase or redemption; 

  

16)

In the case of a sale processed through the Underlying Transfer Agent of Underlying Shares, in accordance with Section 2.10 hereof;  

  

17)

For delivery as initial or variation margin in connection with futures or options on futures contracts entered into by the Fund on behalf of the Portfolio; and 

  

18)For any other purpose, but only upon receipt of Proper Instructions from the Fund on behalf of the applicable Portfolio specifying (a) the securities of the Portfolio to be delivered and (b) the person or persons to whom delivery of such securities shall be made. 

  

Section 2.3Registration of Securities

. Domestic securities or other financial assets held by the Custodian (other than bearer securities) shall be registered in the name of the Portfolio or in the name of any nominee of a Fund on behalf of the Portfolio or of any nominee of the Custodian which nominee shall be assigned exclusively to the Portfolio, unless the Fund has authorized in writing the appointment of a nominee to be used in common with other registered management investment companies having the same investment adviser as the Portfolio, or in the name or nominee name of any agent appointed pursuant to Section 2.7 or in the name or nominee name of any sub‑custodian appointed pursuant to Section 1. All securities accepted by the Custodian on behalf of the Portfolio under the terms of this Agreement shall be in “street name” or other good delivery form. If, however, a Fund directs the Custodian to maintain securities in “street name”, the Custodian shall utilize its best efforts to timely collect income due the Fund on such securities and shall utilize its best efforts to timely notify the Fund of relevant corporate actions including, without limitation, pendency of calls, maturities, tender or exchange offers. 

  

Section 2.4Bank Accounts. The Custodian shall open and maintain a separate bank account or accounts in the United States in the name of each Portfolio of each Fund, subject only to draft or order by the Custodian acting pursuant to the terms of this Agreement, and shall hold in such account or accounts, subject to the provisions hereof, all cash received by it from or for the account of the Portfolio, other than cash maintained by the Portfolio in a bank account established and used in accordance with Rule 17f‑3 under the 1940 Act. Funds held by the Custodian for a Portfolio may be deposited by it to its credit as Custodian in the banking department of the Custodian or in such other banks or trust companies as it may in its discretion deem necessary or desirable; provided, however, that every such bank or trust company shall be qualified to act as a custodian under the 1940 Act and that each such bank or trust company and the funds to be deposited with each such bank or trust company shall on behalf of each applicable Portfolio be approved by vote of a majority of the Board of Trustees or the Board of Directors of the Fund (as appropriate, and in each case, the “Board”). Such funds shall be deposited by the Custodian in its capacity as Custodian and shall be withdrawable by the Custodian only in that capacity. 

  

Section 2.5Collection of Income. Except with respect to Portfolio property released and delivered pursuant to Section 2.2(14) or purchased pursuant to Section 2.6(7), and subject to the provisions of Section 2.3, the Custodian shall collect on a timely basis all income and other payments with respect to registered domestic securities and other financial assets held hereunder to which each Portfolio shall be entitled either by law or pursuant to custom in the securities business, and shall collect on a timely basis all income and other payments with respect to bearer domestic securities if, on the date of payment by the issuer, such securities are held by the Custodian or its agent. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Custodian shall detach and present for payment all coupons and other income items requiring presentation as and when they become due and shall collect interest when due on securities held hereunder. The Custodian shall credit income to the Portfolio as such income is received or in accordance with the Custodian’s then current payable date income schedule. The Custodian may reverse any income credited by the Custodian to a Portfolio after the Custodian reasonably determines that actual payment of income will not occur in due course, and the Custodian may charge the Portfolio a rate agreed upon by the parties for the amount of unpaid income credited to the Portfolio. Income due each Portfolio on securities loaned pursuant to the provisions of Section 2.2 (10) shall be the responsibility of the applicable Fund. The Custodian will have no duty or responsibility in connection therewith, other than to provide the Fund with such information or data as may be necessary to assist the Fund in arranging for the timely delivery to the Custodian of the income to which the Portfolio is properly entitled. 

  

The Custodian shall notify a Fund, at the frequency agreed upon by the parties, in writing by facsimile transmission, electronic communication, or in such other manner as the Fund and the Custodian may agree in writing, if any amount payable with respect to portfolio securities or other assets of the Portfolios of a Fund is not received by the Custodian when due. In the event that extraordinary measures are required to collect such income, the Fund and the Custodian shall consult as to such measures and agree upon any compensation and expenses payable to the Custodian as a result of taking such measures. The Custodian shall not be responsible for the collection of amounts due and payable with respect to portfolio securities or other assets that are in default.   

  

Section 2.6Payment of Fund Monies. The Custodian shall pay out monies of a Portfolio as provided in Section 5 and otherwise upon

receipt of Proper Instructions on behalf of the applicable Portfolio, which may be continuing instructions when deemed appropriate by the parties, the Custodian shall pay out monies of a Portfolio in the following cases only: 

  

1)

Upon the purchase of domestic securities, options, futures contracts or options on futures contracts for the account of the Portfolio but only (a) in accordance with customary or established market practices and procedures, including, without limitation, delivering money to the seller thereof or to a dealer therefor (or an agent for such seller or dealer) against expectation of receiving later delivery of such securities or evidence of title to such options, futures contracts or options on futures contracts to the Custodian (or any bank, banking firm or trust company doing business in the United States or abroad which is qualified under the 1940 Act to act as a custodian and has been designated by the Custodian as its agent for this purpose) registered in the name of the Portfolio or in the name of a nominee of the Custodian referred to in Section 2.3 hereof or in proper form for transfer; (b) in the case of a purchase effected through a U.S. Securities System, in accordance with the conditions set forth in Section 2.8 hereof; (c) in the case of a purchase of Underlying Shares, in accordance with the conditions set forth in Section 2.10 hereof; (d) in the case of repurchase agreements entered into between the applicable Fund on behalf of a Portfolio and the Custodian, or another bank, or a broker‑dealer which is a member of FINRA, (i) against delivery of the securities either in certificate form or through an entry crediting the Custodian’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank with such securities or (ii) against delivery of the receipt evidencing purchase by the Portfolio of securities owned by the Custodian along with written evidence of the agreement by the Custodian to repurchase such securities from the Portfolio; or (e) for transfer to a time deposit account of the Fund in any bank, whether domestic or foreign; such transfer may be effected prior to receipt of a confirmation from a broker and/or the applicable bank pursuant to Proper Instructions from the Fund as defined herein; 

  

2)In connection with conversion, exchange or surrender of securities owned by the Portfolio as set forth in Section 2.2 hereof; 

  

3)For the redemption or repurchase of Shares issued as set forth in Section 7 hereof; 

  

4)For the payment of any expense or liability incurred by the Portfolio, including but not limited to the following payments for the account of the Portfolio: interest, taxes, management, accounting, transfer agent and legal fees, and operating expenses of the Fund whether or not such expenses are to be in whole or in part capitalized or treated as deferred expenses; 

  

5)For the payment of any dividends on Shares declared pursuant to the Fund’s articles of incorporation or organization and by-laws or agreement or declaration of trust, as applicable, and Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (collectively, “Governing Documents”); 

  

6)For payment of the amount of dividends received in respect of securities sold short; 

  

7)Upon the purchase of domestic investments including, without limitation, repurchase agreement transactions involving delivery of Portfolio monies to Repo Custodian(s), and prior to receipt of such investments, as set forth in written Proper Instructions (such payment in advance of delivery, along with delivery in advance of payment made in accordance with Section 2.2(14), as applicable, shall each be referred to herein as a “

Free Trade”), provided that such Proper Instructions shall also set forth (a) the amount of such payment and (b) the person(s) to whom such payment is made;  

  

8)For payment as initial or variation margin in connection with futures or options on futures contracts entered into by the Fund on behalf of the Portfolio; and 

  

9)For any other purpose, but only upon receipt of Proper Instructions from the Fund on behalf of the Portfolio specifying (a) the amount of such payment and (b) the person or persons to whom such payment is to be made. 

  

Section 2.7Appointment of Agents. The Custodian may at any time or times in its discretion appoint (and may at any time remove) agents to carry out such of the provisions of this Agreement as the Custodian may from time to time direct; provided, however, that the appointment of any agent shall not relieve the Custodian of any of its duties or obligations hereunder and the Custodian shall be fully responsible and liable for the actions and omissions of any agent (which shall not be deemed to be U.S. Securities Systems, Special Sub-Custodians, U.S. sub-custodians designated pursuant to the last paragraph of Section 1, or Foreign Sub-Custodians and sub-custodians and other agents of the Fund or Portfolio) appointed hereunder. The Underlying Transfer Agent shall not be deemed an agent or sub-custodian of the Custodian for purposes of this Section 2.7 or any other provision of this Agreement. 

  

Section 2.8Deposit of Fund Assets in U.S. Securities Systems. The Custodian may deposit and/or maintain securities owned by a Portfolio in a U.S. Securities System in compliance with the conditions of Rule 17f-4 under the 1940 Act, as amended from time to time. 

  

Section 2.9Segregated Account. The Custodian shall upon receipt of Proper Instructions on behalf of each applicable Portfolio, establish and maintain a segregated account or accounts for and on behalf of each such Portfolio, into which account or accounts may be transferred cash, in the case of a deposit account, or securities and other financial assets (other than cash), in the case of a securities account, of the Portfolio and collateral provided to the Portfolio by its counterparties, including securities maintained in an account by the Custodian pursuant to Section 2.8 hereof, (a) in accordance with the provisions of any agreement among the Fund on behalf of the Portfolio, the Custodian and a broker‑dealer registered under the Exchange Act and a member of the FINRA, relating to compliance with the rules of The Options Clearing Corporation and of any registered national securities exchange, or of any similar organization or organizations, regarding escrow or other arrangements in connection with transactions by the Portfolio, (b) in accordance with the provisions of any agreement among the Fund, on behalf of the Portfolio, the Custodian and any futures commission merchant (registered under the Commodity Exchange Act) relating to compliance with the rules of the CFTC or any registered contract market, or of any similar organization or organizations, regarding escrow or other arrangements in connection with transactions by the Portfolio, (c) for purposes of segregating cash or government securities in connection with options purchased, sold or written by the Portfolio or commodity futures contract options thereon purchased or sold by the Portfolio, (d) for the purposes of compliance by the Portfolio with the procedures required by Investment Company Act Release No. 10666, or any subsequent release of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), or no-action letter of the staff of the SEC, relating to the maintenance of segregated accounts by registered management investment companies, and (e) for any other purpose in accordance with Proper Instructions. 

  

Section 2.10Deposit of Fund Assets with the Underlying Transfer Agent. Underlying Shares beneficially owned by the Fund, on behalf of a Portfolio, shall be deposited and/or maintained in an account or accounts maintained with an Underlying Transfer Agent and the Custodian’s only responsibilities with respect thereto shall be limited to the following:  

  

2)

Upon receipt of a confirmation or statement from an Underlying Transfer Agent that such Underlying Transfer Agent is holding or maintaining Underlying Shares in the name of the Custodian (or a nominee of the Custodian) for the benefit of a Portfolio, the Custodian shall identify by book‑entry that such Underlying Shares are being held by it as custodian for the benefit of such Portfolio. 

  

3)

In respect of the purchase of Underlying Shares for the account of a Portfolio, upon receipt of Proper Instructions, the Custodian shall pay out monies of such Portfolio as so directed, and record such payment from the account of such Portfolio on the Custodian’s books and records. 

  

4)

In respect of the sale or redemption of Underlying Shares for the account of a Portfolio, upon receipt of Proper Instructions, the Custodian shall transfer such Underlying Shares as so directed, record such transfer from the account of such Portfolio on the Custodian’s books and records and, upon the Custodian’s receipt of the proceeds therefor, record such payment for the account of such Portfolio on the Custodian’s books and records. 

  

The Custodian shall not be liable to the Fund for any loss or damage to the Fund or any Portfolio resulting from the maintenance of Underlying Shares with an Underlying Transfer Agent except to the extent the loss or damage results directly from the fraud, negligence or willful misconduct of the Custodian or any of its agents or of any of its or their employees. 

  

Section 2.11Ownership Certificates for Tax Purposes. The Custodian shall execute ownership and other certificates and affidavits for all federal and state tax purposes in connection with receipt of income or other payments with respect to domestic securities of each Portfolio held by it and in connection with transfers of securities. 

  

Section 2.12Proxies. The Custodian shall deliver to a Fund all forms of proxies, all proxy solicitation materials, all notices of meetings, and any other notices or announcements affecting or relating to securities owned by one or more of a Fund’s Portfolios that are received by the Custodian, any sub-custodian, or any nominee of either of them (or with the exercise of reasonable care that the Custodian, any sub-custodian, or any nominee of either of them should have become aware), and, upon receipt of Proper Instructions, the Custodian shall execute and deliver, or cause such sub-custodian or nominee to execute and deliver, such proxies or other authorizations as may be required. Except as directed pursuant to Proper Instructions, neither the Custodian nor any sub-custodian or nominee shall vote upon any such securities, or execute any proxy to vote thereon, or give any consent or take any other action with respect thereto. In the event that the Custodian is unable to vote upon any such securities in accordance with Proper Instructions, the Custodian shall promptly notify (subject to market practices and rules) a Fund. Each Fund acknowledges that local conditions, including lack of regulation, onerous procedural obligations, lack of notice and other factors may have the effect of severely limiting the ability of the Fund to exercise shareholder rights. 

  

Section 2.13Communications.

Subject to the domestic securities or other financial assets held in the United States being registered as provided in Section 2.3, the Custodian shall transmit promptly to a Fund for each Portfolio all written information received by the Custodian from issuers of the securities and other financial assets being held for the Portfolio, including among other things, maturities of domestic securities and notices of exercise of call and put options. The Custodian shall transmit promptly to the Fund all written information received by the Custodian from issuers of the securities and other financial assets whose tender or exchange is sought and from the party or its agent making the tender or exchange offer. The Custodian shall also transmit promptly to the Fund for each Portfolio all written information received by the Custodian regarding any class action or other collective litigation relating to Portfolio securities or other financial assets issued in the United States and then held, or previously held, during the relevant class-action period during the term of this Agreement by the Custodian for the account of the Fund for the Portfolio, including, but not limited to, opt-out notices and proof-of-claim forms. Unless otherwise agreed to by the parties, the Custodian’s services with respect to class actions do not extend beyond the timely forwarding of written information so received by the Custodian. 

Section 2.14Exercise of Rights; Tender Offers. Upon receipt of Proper Instructions, the Custodian shall: (a) deliver warrants, puts, calls, rights or similar securities to the issuer or trustee thereof, or to the agent of such issuer or trustee, for the purpose of exercise or sale, provided that the new securities, cash or other assets, if any, acquired as a result of such actions are to be delivered to the Custodian; and (b) deposit securities upon invitations for tenders thereof, provided that the consideration for such securities is to be paid or delivered to the Custodian, or the tendered securities are to be returned to the Custodian. Notwithstanding any provision of this Agreement to the contrary, the Custodian shall take all necessary action, unless otherwise directed to the contrary in Proper Instructions, to comply with the terms of all mandatory or compulsory exchanges, calls, tenders, redemptions, or similar rights of security ownership (“Mandatory Corporate Actions”), and shall promptly notify a Fund of such Mandatory Corporate Action in writing by facsimile transmission, electronic communication, or in such other manner as the Fund and the Custodian may agree in writing.  

  

In the event that Custodian is provided notice (in industry standard form) of (a) a proposed merger, recapitalization, reorganization, conversion, consolidation, subdivision, tender offer, takeover offer or other electable or voluntary corporate action or (b) a proposed issuance of securities or rights to participate in the issuance of securities, in each case by or with respect to the issuer of securities held by it for the account of a Portfolio (each a “Voluntary Corporate Action”), the Custodian shall provide written notice to the Fund or its designee promptly upon being provided such notice of the Voluntary Corporate Action. The notice provided by the Custodian shall include (i) a copy, or if a copy is not available, a synopsis of the offering materials provided to the Custodian by the issuer or its agent in connection with the Voluntary Corporate Action and (ii) the date on which the Custodian is required to take action to exercise rights or powers with respect to the Voluntary Corporate Action. Provided that the Custodian shall have delivered timely notice of the Voluntary Corporate Action to the Fund, the Custodian shall not be liable for any untimely exercise of any Voluntary Corporate Action or other right or power in connection with domestic securities or other property of the Portfolios at any time held by it unless (i) the Custodian is in actual possession of such securities or property and (ii) the Custodian receives Proper Instructions with regard to the exercise of any such right or power, and both (i) and (ii) occur at least two (2) business days prior to the date on which the Custodian is to take action to exercise such right or power. If the Fund provides the Custodian with such notification after such deadline, the Custodian shall use its reasonable best efforts to process such election. 

  

Section 2.15Securities Lending. To the extent that a Fund engages in a securities lending program other than with the Custodian, the Fund and the Custodian will agree to procedures that will apply to such securities lending program. 

  

Section 3.Provisions Relating to Rules 17f-5 and 17f-7 

  

Section 3.1Definitions. As used throughout this Agreement, the capitalized terms set forth below shall have the indicated meanings: 

  

“Country Risk

” means all factors reasonably related to the systemic risk of holding Foreign Assets in a particular country including, but not limited to, such country’s political environment, economic and financial infrastructure (including any Eligible Securities Depository operating in the country), nationalization, expropriation, currency restrictions, prevailing or developing custody and settlement practices, and laws and regulations applicable to the safekeeping and recovery of Foreign Assets held in custody in that country. 

  

“Eligible Foreign Custodian” has the meaning set forth in section (a)(1) of Rule 17f-5, including a majority-owned or indirect subsidiary of a U.S. Bank (as defined in Rule 17f-5), a bank holding company meeting the requirements of an Eligible Foreign Custodian (as set forth in Rule 17f-5 or by other appropriate action of the SEC), or a foreign branch of a Bank (as defined in Section 2(a)(5) of the 1940 Act) meeting the requirements of a custodian under Section 17(f) of the 1940 Act; the term does not include any Eligible Securities Depository. 

  

“Eligible Securities Depository” has the meaning set forth in section (b)(1) of Rule 17f-7.  

  

“Foreign Assets” means any of the Portfolios’ investments (including foreign currencies) for which the primary market is outside the United States and such cash and cash equivalents as are reasonably necessary to effect the Portfolios’ transactions in such investments.  

  

“Foreign Custody Manager” has the meaning set forth in section (a)(3) of Rule 17f‑5. 

  

“Rule 17f-5” means Rule 17f-5 promulgated under the 1940 Act. 

  

“Rule 17f-7” means Rule 17f-7 promulgated under the 1940 Act. 

  

Section 3.2The Custodian as Foreign Custody Manager. 

  

3.2.1Delegation to the Custodian as Foreign Custody Manager. Each Fund, by resolution adopted by its Board, hereby delegates to the Custodian, subject to Section (b) of Rule 17f‑5, the responsibilities set forth in this Section 3.2 with respect to Foreign Assets of the Portfolios held outside the United States, and the Custodian hereby accepts such delegation as Foreign Custody Manager with respect to the Portfolios. 

  

3.2.2Countries Covered. The Foreign Custody Manager shall be responsible for performing the delegated responsibilities defined below only with respect to the countries and custody arrangements for each such country listed on Schedule A to this Agreement, which list of countries may be amended from time to time by any Fund with the agreement of the Foreign Custody Manager. The Foreign Custody Manager shall list on Schedule A the Eligible Foreign Custodians selected by the Foreign Custody Manager to maintain the assets of the Portfolios, which list of Eligible Foreign Custodians may be amended from time to time in the sole discretion of the Foreign Custody Manager. The Foreign Custody Manager will provide amended versions of Schedule A in accordance with Section 3.2.5 hereof. 

  

Upon the receipt by the Foreign Custody Manager of Proper Instructions to open an account or to place or maintain Foreign Assets in a country listed on Schedule A, and the fulfillment by each Fund, on behalf of the applicable Portfolio(s), of the applicable account opening requirements for such country, the Foreign Custody Manager shall be deemed to have been delegated by such Fund’s Board on behalf of such Portfolio(s) responsibility as Foreign Custody Manager with respect to that country and to have accepted such delegation. Execution of this Agreement by each Fund shall be deemed to be a Proper Instruction to open an account, or to place or maintain Foreign Assets, in each country listed on Schedule A. The Custodian will assist a Fund in satisfying the account opening requirements for a country as may be reasonably requested by the Fund. Following the receipt of Proper Instructions directing the Foreign

Custody Manager to close the account of a Portfolio with the Eligible Foreign Custodian selected by the Foreign Custody Manager in a designated country, the delegation by the Board on behalf of such Portfolio to the Custodian as Foreign Custody Manager for that country shall be deemed to have been withdrawn, and such withdrawal shall be deemed to be effective, and the Custodian shall cease to be the Foreign Custody Manager with respect to such Portfolio with respect to that country as of the date that is ninety days (or such other period to which the parties may agree in writing) after receipt of any such Proper Instructions by the Foreign Custody Manager. 

  

The Foreign Custody Manager may withdraw its acceptance of delegated responsibilities with respect to a designated country upon written notice to the Fund. Ninety days (or such longer period to which the parties agree in writing) after receipt of any such notice by the Fund, the Custodian shall have no further responsibility in its capacity as Foreign Custody Manager to the Fund with respect to the country as to which the Custodian’s acceptance of delegation is withdrawn. 

  

3.2.3Scope of Delegated Responsibilities: 

  

(a)Selection of Eligible Foreign Custodians. Subject to the provisions of this Section 3.2, the Foreign Custody Manager may place and maintain the Foreign Assets in the care of the Eligible Foreign Custodian selected by the Foreign Custody Manager in each country listed on Schedule A, as amended from time to time. In performing its delegated responsibilities as Foreign Custody Manager to place or maintain Foreign Assets with an Eligible Foreign Custodian, the Foreign Custody Manager shall determine that the Foreign Assets will be subject to reasonable care, based on the standards applicable to custodians in the country in which the Foreign Assets will be held by that Eligible Foreign Custodian, after considering all factors relevant to the safekeeping of such assets, including, without limitation the factors specified in Rule 17f-5(c)(1). 

  

(b)Contracts With Eligible Foreign Custodians. The Foreign Custody Manager shall determine that the contract governing the foreign custody arrangements with each Eligible Foreign Custodian selected by the Foreign Custody Manager will satisfy the requirements of Rule 17f-5(c)(2). 

  

(c)Monitoring. In each case in which the Foreign Custody Manager maintains Foreign Assets with an Eligible Foreign Custodian selected by the Foreign Custody Manager, the Foreign Custody Manager shall establish a system to monitor (i) the appropriateness of maintaining the Foreign Assets with such Eligible Foreign Custodian and (ii) the contract governing the custody arrangements established by the Foreign Custody Manager with the Eligible Foreign Custodian. In the event the Foreign Custody Manager determines that the custody arrangements with an Eligible Foreign Custodian it has selected are no longer appropriate, the Foreign Custody Manager shall notify the Board in accordance with Section 3.2.5 hereunder. 

  

3.2.4Guidelines for the Exercise of Delegated Authority. For purposes of this Section 3.2, the Board shall be deemed to have considered and determined to accept such Country Risk as is incurred by placing and maintaining the Foreign Assets in each country for which the Custodian is serving as Foreign Custody Manager of the Portfolios. 

  

3.2.5Reporting Requirements.

The Foreign Custody Manager shall report the withdrawal of the Foreign Assets from an Eligible Foreign Custodian and the placement of such Foreign Assets with another Eligible Foreign Custodian by providing to the Board an amended Schedule A at the end of the calendar quarter in which an amendment to such Schedule has occurred. The Foreign Custody Manager shall make written reports notifying the Board of any other material change in the foreign custody arrangements of the Portfolios described in this Section 3.2 after the occurrence of the material change. The Foreign Custody Manager will also provide the Fund with global market information bulletins on a timely basis. 

  

3.2.6Standard of Care as Foreign Custody Manager of a Portfolio. In performing the responsibilities delegated to it, the Foreign Custody Manager agrees to exercise reasonable care, prudence and diligence such as a person having responsibility for the safekeeping of assets of management investment companies registered under the 1940 Act would exercise (unless a higher standard of care is required by Rule 17f-5). Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Custodian acting as Foreign Custody Manager of the Portfolio is subject to the standard of care set forth in Section 16 of this Agreement. 

  

3.2.7Representations with Respect to Rule 17f‑5. The Foreign Custody Manager represents to each Fund that it is a U.S. Bank as defined in section (a)(7) of Rule 17f-5. Each Fund represents to the Custodian that its Board has determined that it is reasonable for such Board to rely on the Custodian to perform the responsibilities delegated pursuant to this Agreement to the Custodian as the Foreign Custody Manager of the Portfolios.  

  

3.2.8Effective Date and Termination of the Custodian as Foreign Custody Manager. Each Board’s delegation to the Custodian as Foreign Custody Manager of the Portfolios shall be effective as of the date hereof and shall remain in effect until terminated at any time, without penalty, by written notice from the terminating party to the non-terminating party. Termination will become effective ninety (90) days after receipt by the non-terminating party of such notice. The provisions of Section 3.2.2 hereof shall govern the delegation to and termination of the Custodian as Foreign Custody Manager of the Portfolios with respect to designated countries. 

  

3.2.9Certification Regarding Eligible Foreign Custodians. Each report presented to a Fund’s Board by the Custodian pursuant to Section 3.2.5 above shall be accompanied by a certificate representing that (a) the Custodian has established a system to monitor the appropriateness of maintaining a Portfolio’s Foreign Assets with each Eligible Foreign Custodian pursuant to paragraph (c)(1) of Rule 17f-5 and to monitor the performance of each Eligible Foreign Custodian under the sub-custodian agreement between the Custodian and the Eligible Foreign Custodian, (b) the Custodian has monitored all Eligible Foreign Custodians and each Eligible Foreign Custodian continues to be an Eligible Foreign Custodian, (c) each Eligible Foreign Custodian continues to provide the standard of care set forth in Section 3.2.6 hereof, after considering all relevant factors, including without limitation, those factors set forth in paragraph (c)(1) of Rule 17f-5, (d) all foreign custody agreements between the Custodian and the Eligible Foreign Custodians continue to meet the requirements of paragraph (c)(2) of Rule 17f-5, (e) since the submission of the last report pursuant to Section 3.2.5 above, there have been no material adverse changes to the Custodian’s foreign custody network or arrangements other than those reported to the Board or other governing body or entity of the Fund, on behalf of itself or its applicable Portfolios, in the accompanying report or notified to the Fund through the Custodian’s Global Market Bulletins, distributed to designated officers of the Fund and available on the Custodian’s internet client portal, my.statestreet.com (which information shall be included in the accompanying report to the Board), and (f) the information included in the report is true, accurate and complete in all material respects.  

  

Section 3.3Eligible Securities Depositories.  

  

3.3.1Analysis and Monitoring. The Custodian shall (a) provide the Fund

(or its duly-authorized investment manager or investment adviser) with an analysis of the custody risks associated with maintaining assets with the Eligible Securities Depositories set forth on Schedule B hereto in accordance with section (a)(1)(i)(A) of Rule 17f-7, and (b) monitor such risks on a continuing basis, and promptly notify the Fund (or its duly-authorized investment manager or investment adviser) of any material change in such risks, in accordance with section (a)(1)(i)(B) of Rule 17f-7.  

  

3.3.2Standard of Care. The Custodian agrees to exercise reasonable care, prudence and diligence in performing the duties set forth in Section 3.3.1 (unless a higher standard of care is required by Rule 17f-7). Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Custodian, in performing the duties set forth in Section 3.3.1, is subject to the standard of care set forth in Section 16 of this Agreement.  

  

Section 3.4Local Regulatory Matters. The Custodian shall assist a Fund in complying with regulations and market practices of jurisdictions other than the United States of America applicable to a Fund’s Foreign Assets as the Fund may reasonably request from time to time. Such assistance may include, but not be limited to, soliciting information and guidance from depositories, exchanges and regulators; obtaining legal opinions at the expense of the relevant Fund but only after a Fund has been notified and agrees in writing to the amount of such expenses; acting as a Fund’s representative (if required by local law) in making filings; and providing such other assistance with respect to its Foreign Assets as a Fund may reasonably request. Based on what the Custodian considers to be reasonably reliable sources of information, including its Eligible Foreign Custodians, Custodian shall inform a Fund as to the Custodian’s understanding of a Fund’s rights, duties and obligations under regulations and market practices of jurisdictions other than the United States of America in connection with actions taken by a Fund or the Custodian, including, but not limited to, corporate actions involving a Fund’s securities. 

  

Section 4.

Duties of the Custodian with Respect to Property of the Portfolios to be Held Outside the United States 

  

Section 4.1Definitions. As used throughout this Agreement, the capitalized terms set forth below shall have the indicated meanings: 

  

“Foreign Securities System” means an Eligible Securities Depository listed on Schedule B hereto. 

  

“Foreign Sub‑Custodian” means a foreign banking institution serving as an Eligible Foreign Custodian. 

  

Section 4.2Holding Securities. The Custodian shall identify on its books as belonging to the Portfolios the foreign securities and other financial assets held by each Foreign Sub-Custodian or Foreign Securities System. The Custodian may hold foreign securities and other financial assets for all of its customers, including the Portfolios, with any Foreign Sub-Custodian in an account that is identified as belonging to the Custodian for the benefit of its customers, provided however, that (i) the records of the Custodian with respect to foreign securities and other financial assets of the Portfolios which are maintained in such account shall identify those securities as belonging to the Portfolios and (ii), to the extent permitted and customary in the market in which the account is maintained, the Custodian shall require that securities so held by the Foreign Sub-Custodian be held separately from any assets of such Foreign Sub-Custodian or of other customers of such Foreign Sub-Custodian. 

  

Section 4.3Foreign Securities Systems. Foreign securities shall be maintained in a Foreign Securities System in a designated country through arrangements implemented by the Custodian or a Foreign Sub-Custodian, as applicable, in such country. 

  

Section 4.4Transactions in Foreign Custody Account. 

  

4.4.1Delivery of Foreign Assets. The Custodian or a Foreign Sub-Custodian shall release and deliver foreign securities of the Portfolios held by the Custodian or such Foreign Sub-Custodian, or in a Foreign Securities System account, only upon receipt of Proper Instructions, which may be continuing instructions when deemed appropriate by the parties, and only in the following cases: 

  

(i)

Upon the sale of such foreign securities for the Portfolio in accordance with commercially reasonable market practice in the country where such foreign securities are held or traded, including, without limitation: (A) delivery against expectation of receiving later payment; or (B) in the case of a sale effected through a Foreign Securities System, in accordance with the rules governing the operation of the Foreign Securities System; 

  

(ii)

In connection with any repurchase agreement related to foreign securities; 

  

(iii)

To the depository agent in connection with tender or other similar offers for foreign securities of the Portfolios; 

  

(iv)

To the issuer thereof or its agent when such foreign securities are called, redeemed, retired or otherwise become payable; 

  

(v)

To the issuer thereof, or its agent, for transfer into the name of the Custodian (or the name of the respective Foreign Sub-Custodian or of any nominee of the Custodian or such Foreign Sub-Custodian) or for exchange for a different number of bonds, certificates or other evidence representing the same aggregate face amount or number of units; 

  

(vi)

To brokers, clearing banks or other clearing agents for examination or trade execution in accordance with market custom; provided that in any such case, the Foreign Sub-Custodian shall have no responsibility or liability for any loss arising from the delivery of such foreign securities prior to receiving payment for such foreign securities except as may arise from the Foreign Sub-Custodian’s own negligence or willful misconduct; 

  

(vii)

For exchange or conversion pursuant to any plan of merger, consolidation, recapitalization, reorganization or readjustment of the securities of the issuer of such securities, or pursuant to provisions for conversion contained in such securities, or pursuant to any deposit agreement; 

  

(viii)

In the case of warrants, rights or similar foreign securities, the surrender thereof in the exercise of such warrants, rights or similar securities or the surrender of interim receipts or temporary securities for definitive securities; 

  

(ix)

For delivery as security in connection with any borrowing by a Fund on behalf of a Portfolio requiring a pledge of assets by the Fund on behalf of such Portfolio; 

  

(x)

In connection with trading in options and futures contracts, including delivery as original margin and variation margin; 

  

(xi)

Upon the sale or other delivery of such foreign securities (including, without limitation, to one or more Special Sub-Custodians or Repo Custodians) as a Free Trade, provided that

applicable Proper Instructions shall set forth (A) the foreign securities to be delivered and (B) the person or persons to whom delivery shall be made; 

  

(xii)

In connection with the lending of foreign securities; and 

  

(xiii)

For any other purpose, but only upon receipt of Proper Instructions specifying (A) the foreign securities to be delivered and (B) the person or persons to whom delivery of such securities shall be made. 

  

4.4.2Payment of Portfolio Monies. Upon receipt of Proper Instructions, which may be continuing instructions when deemed appropriate by the parties, the Custodian shall pay out, or direct the respective Foreign Sub-Custodian or the respective Foreign Securities System to pay out, monies of a Portfolio in the following cases only: 

  

(i)

Upon the purchase of foreign securities for the Portfolio, unless otherwise directed by Proper Instructions, by (A) delivering money to the seller thereof or to a dealer therefor (or an agent for such seller or dealer) against expectation of receiving later delivery of such foreign securities; or (B) in the case of a purchase effected through a Foreign Securities System, in accordance with the rules governing the operation of such Foreign Securities System; 

  

(ii)

In connection with the conversion, exchange or surrender of foreign securities of the Portfolio; 

  

(iii)

For the payment of any expense or liability of the Portfolio, including but not limited to the following payments: interest, taxes, investment advisory fees, transfer agency fees, fees under this Agreement, legal fees, accounting fees, and other operating expenses; 

  

(iv)

For the purchase or sale of foreign exchange or foreign exchange contracts for the Portfolio, including transactions executed with or through the Custodian or its Foreign Sub-Custodians; 

  

(v)

In connection with trading in options and futures contracts, including delivery as original margin and variation margin; 

  

(vi)

Upon the purchase of foreign investments including, without limitation, repurchase agreement transactions involving delivery of Portfolio monies to Repo Custodian(s), as a Free Trade, provided that applicable Proper Instructions shall set forth (A) the amount of such payment and (B) the person or persons to whom payment shall be made; 

  

(vii)

For payment of part or all of the dividends received in respect of securities sold short; 

  

(viii)

In connection with the borrowing or lending of foreign securities; and 

  

(ix)

For any other purpose, but only upon receipt of Proper Instructions specifying (A) the amount of such payment and (B) the person or persons to whom such payment is to be made. 

  

4.4.3Market Conditions.

Notwithstanding any provision of this Agreement to the contrary, settlement and payment for Foreign Assets received for the account of the Portfolios and delivery of Foreign Assets maintained for the account of the Portfolios may be effected in accordance with the customary established securities trading or processing practices and procedures in the country or market in which the transaction occurs, including, without limitation, delivering Foreign Assets to the purchaser thereof or to a dealer therefor (or an agent for such purchaser or dealer) with the expectation of receiving later payment for such Foreign Assets from such purchaser or dealer but in all events subject to the standard of care set forth in Section 16 of this Agreement. 

  

The Custodian shall provide to each Board the information with respect to custody and settlement practices in countries in which the Custodian employs a Foreign Sub-Custodian described on Schedule C hereto at the time or times set forth on such Schedule. The Custodian may revise Schedule C from time to time, provided that no such revision shall result in a Board being provided with substantively less information than had been previously provided hereunder. 

  

Section 4.5Registration of Foreign Securities. The foreign securities maintained in the custody of a Foreign Sub-Custodian (other than bearer securities) shall be registered in the name of the applicable Portfolio or in the name of the Custodian or in the name of any Foreign Sub-Custodian or in the name of any nominee of the foregoing provided that the use of a nominee is customary market practice. The applicable Fund on behalf of such Portfolio agrees to hold any such nominee harmless from any liability as a holder of record of such foreign securities. To the extent that the use of nominee names is not customary market practice, foreign securities shall not be registered in a nominee name, and the Funds shall not have any obligation to hold harmless any such nominee where the use is not customary market practice. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the prior written consent of the applicable Fund is given the applicable Fund on behalf of such Portfolio shall hold any such nominee harmless from any liability as a holder of record of such foreign securities. The Custodian or a Foreign Sub-Custodian shall not be obligated to accept securities on behalf of a Portfolio under the terms of this Agreement unless the form of such securities and the manner in which they are delivered are in accordance with reasonable market practice.  

  

Section 4.6Bank Accounts. The Custodian shall identify on its books as belonging to the applicable Portfolio cash (including cash denominated in foreign currencies) deposited with the Custodian. Where the Custodian is unable to maintain, or market practice does not facilitate the maintenance of, cash on the books of the Custodian, a bank account or bank accounts shall be opened and maintained outside the United States on behalf of a Portfolio with a Foreign Sub-Custodian. All accounts referred to in this Section shall be subject only to draft or order by the Custodian (or, if applicable, such Foreign Sub-Custodian) acting pursuant to the terms of this Agreement to hold cash received by or from or for the account of the Portfolio. Cash maintained on the books of the Custodian (including its branches, subsidiaries and affiliates), regardless of currency denomination, is maintained in bank accounts established under, and subject to the laws of, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The foregoing constitutes the disclosure required by Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 167D, Section 36. 

  

Section 4.7Collection of Income. The Custodian shall use reasonable commercial efforts to collect all income and other payments with respect to the Foreign Assets held hereunder to which the Portfolios shall be entitled and shall credit such income, as collected, to the applicable Portfolio. The Custodian shall notify the Fund, at the frequency agreed to by the parties, in writing by facsimile transmission, electronic communication or in such other manner as the Fund and Custodian may agree in writing, if any amount payable with respect to portfolio securities or other assets of the Portfolio of a Fund are not received by the Custodian when due. The Custodian shall not be responsible for the collection of amounts due and payable with respect to portfolio securities or other assets that are in default.  In the event that extraordinary measures are required to collect such income, the Fund and the Custodian shall consult as to such measures and as to the compensation and expenses of the Custodian relating to such measures.

Income on securities loaned other than from the Custodian’s securities lending program shall be credited as received.  

  

Section 4.8Shareholder Rights. With respect to the foreign securities held pursuant to this Section 4, the Custodian shall use reasonable commercial efforts to facilitate the exercise of voting and other shareholder rights, subject always to the laws, regulations and practical constraints that may exist in the country where such securities are issued, including but not limited to proxy services not being available in certain markets. Each Fund acknowledges that local conditions, including lack of regulation, onerous procedural obligations, lack of notice and other factors, may have the effect of severely limiting the ability of a Fund to exercise shareholder rights. The Custodian shall, however, as soon as is reasonably practicable communicate information received as to the foregoing to the applicable Fund. In addition to the foregoing, the Custodian agrees to provide the Funds with annual and periodic market updates. 

  

Section 4.9Communications Relating to Foreign Securities. The Custodian shall transmit promptly to the applicable Fund written information with respect to materials received by the Custodian via the Foreign Sub-Custodians from issuers of the foreign securities being held for the account of the Portfolios (including, without limitation, pendency of calls and maturities of foreign securities and expirations of rights in connection therewith). With respect to tender or exchange offers, the Custodian shall transmit promptly to the applicable Fund written information with respect to materials so received by the Custodian from issuers of the foreign securities whose tender or exchange is sought or from the party (or its agents) making the tender or exchange offer. The Custodian shall not be liable for any untimely exercise of any tender, exchange or other right or power in connection with foreign securities or other property of the Portfolios at any time held by it unless (i) the Custodian or the respective Foreign Sub-Custodian is in actual possession of such foreign securities or property and (ii) the Custodian receives Proper Instructions with regard to the exercise of any such right or power, and both (i) and (ii) occur at least two (2) business days prior to the date on which the Custodian is to take action to exercise such right or power. For avoidance of doubt, upon and after the effective date of any termination of this Agreement, with respect to a Fund or its Portfolio(s), as may be applicable, the Custodian shall have no responsibility to so transmit any information under this Section 4.9. 

  

The Custodian shall use reasonable commercial efforts to facilitate the exercise of voting and other shareholder rights, subject to the laws, regulations and practical constraints that may exist in the country where such securities are issued. In the event that the Fund invests in non-U.S. securities in a market in which the Custodian does not offer proxy voting services, the Custodian shall promptly notify the Fund. The Custodian shall also transmit promptly to the Fund all written information received by the Custodian through Foreign Sub-Custodians from issuers of the foreign securities or other financial assets issued outside of the United States and being held for the account of the Portfolio regarding any class action or other collective litigation relating to the Portfolio’s foreign securities or other financial assets issued outside the United States and then held, or previously held, during the relevant class-action period during the term of this Agreement by the Custodian via a Foreign Sub-Custodian for the account of the Fund for the Portfolio, including, but not limited to, opt-out notices and proof-of-claim forms. Unless otherwise agreed to by the parties, the Custodian’s services with respect to class actions do not extend beyond the timely forwarding of written information so received by the Custodian.   

  

Section 4.10Liability of Foreign Sub-Custodians.

The Custodian shall not employ a Foreign Sub-Custodian unless such employment is memorialized in a written agreement. Each such written agreement pursuant to which the Custodian employs a Foreign Sub-Custodian shall, to the extent possible using best efforts, require the Foreign Sub-Custodian to exercise reasonable care in the performance of its duties, and to indemnify, and hold harmless, the Custodian from and against any loss, damage, cost, expense, liability or claim arising out of or in connection with the Foreign Sub-Custodian’s performance of such obligations. At a Fund’s election, the Portfolios shall be entitled to be subrogated to the rights of the Custodian with respect to any claims against a Foreign Sub-Custodian as a consequence of any such loss, damage, cost, expense, liability or claim if and to the extent that the Portfolios have not been made whole for any such loss, damage, cost, expense, liability or claim. 

  

Section 4.11Tax Law. The Fund or its Portfolio shall be liable for all taxes, assessments, duties and other government charges, including any interest or penalty with respect thereto, with respect to any cash or securities held on behalf of the Fund or its Portfolios or any transaction related thereto. The Custodian shall withhold or cause to withhold the amount of tax which is required to be withheld under applicable law upon collection of any dividend, interest or other distribution with respect to any domestic security or foreign security and proceeds or income from the sale or other transfer of any domestic security or foreign security in custody at the Custodian. The Custodian shall assist the Fund with respect to any claim for exemption or reclaim under the tax laws of the designated countries listed on Schedule A upon request by a Fund. In providing such services, the Custodian does not act as the Fund’s tax adviser or tax counsel.   

  

Section 5.Contractual Settlement Services (Purchase / Sales)  

  

Section 5.1With respect to each cash account designated in writing by a Portfolio, the Custodian shall, in accordance with the terms set out in this Section 5, debit or credit the appropriate cash account of each Portfolio in connection with (i) the purchase of securities for such Portfolio, and (ii) proceeds of the sale of securities held on behalf of such Portfolio, on a contractual settlement basis (the “Contractual Settlement Services”). 

  

Section 5.2The Contractual Settlement Services shall be provided for such instruments and in such markets as the Custodian may advise from time to time. The Custodian may terminate or suspend any part of the provision of the Contractual Settlement Services under this Agreement at its sole discretion immediately upon notice to the applicable Fund on behalf of each Portfolio, including, without limitation, in the event of force majeure events affecting settlement, any disorder in markets, or other changed external business circumstances affecting the markets or the Fund. 

  

Section 5.3The consideration payable in connection with a purchase transaction shall be debited from the appropriate cash account of the Portfolio as of the time and date that monies would ordinarily be required to settle such transaction in the applicable market. The Custodian shall promptly recredit such amount at the time that the Portfolio or the Fund notifies the Custodian by Proper Instruction that such transaction has been canceled. 

  

Section 5.4With respect to the settlement of a sale of securities, a provisional credit of an amount equal to the net sale price for the transaction (the “Settlement Amount”) shall be made to the account of the Portfolio as if the Settlement Amount had been received as of the close of business on the date that monies would ordinarily be available in good funds in the applicable market. Such provisional credit will be made conditional upon the Custodian having received Proper Instructions with respect to, or reasonable notice of, the transaction, as applicable; and the Custodian or its agents having possession of the asset(s) (which shall exclude assets subject to any third party lending arrangement entered into by a Portfolio) associated with the transaction in good deliverable form and not being aware of any facts which would lead them to reasonably believe that the transaction will not settle in the time period ordinarily applicable to such transactions in the applicable market.  

  

Section 5.5

Subject to the relevant requirements of Section 16, the Custodian shall have the right to reverse any provisional credit or debit given in connection with the Contractual Settlement Services when the Custodian believes, in its reasonable judgment, that such transaction will not settle in accordance with its terms or amounts due pursuant thereto will not be collectable or where the Custodian has not been provided Proper Instructions with respect thereto, as applicable. Upon such reversal, a sum equal to the credited or debited amount shall become immediately payable by the Portfolio to the Custodian and may be debited from any cash account held for benefit of the Portfolio. Prior to any such reversal, the Custodian will provide notice to the Fund pursuant to the relevant requirements of Section 16. Following such reversal, the Custodian will promptly notify the Fund of any action taken pursuant to this Section 5.5, which notice shall include a description of the facts forming the basis for the Custodian’s decision to reverse the provisional credit.  

  

Section 5A.Actual Settlement Services (Purchase / Sales) 

  

Section 5A.1With respect to each cash account designated in writing by a Portfolio, the Custodian shall, in accordance with the terms set out in this Section 5A, debit or credit the appropriate cash account of each Portfolio in connection with (i) the purchase of securities for such Portfolio, and (ii) proceeds of the sale of securities held on behalf of such Portfolio, on an actual settlement basis.  

  

Section 5A.2The consideration payable in connection with a purchase transaction shall be debited from the appropriate cash account of the Portfolio as of the time and date that monies are actually payable.  

  

Section 5A.3With respect to the settlement of a sale of securities, the Custodian shall credit the appropriate cash account of the Portfolio as of the time and date that the cash received as consideration for the transaction is actually received by Custodian.  

  

Section 6.Special Sub-Custodians 

  

Upon receipt of Special Instructions (as such term is defined in Section 8 hereof), the Custodian shall, on behalf of one or more Portfolios, appoint one or more banks, trust companies or other entities designated in such Special Instructions to act as a sub-custodian for the purposes of effecting such transaction(s) as may be designated by a Fund in Special Instructions. Each such designated sub-custodian is referred to herein as a “Special Sub-Custodian.” Each such duly appointed Special Sub-Custodian shall be listed on Schedule D hereto, as it may be amended from time to time by a Fund, with the acknowledgment of the Custodian. In connection with the appointment of any Special Sub-Custodian, and in accordance with Special Instructions, the Custodian shall enter into a sub-custodian agreement with the Fund and the Special Sub-Custodian in form and substance approved by such Fund, provided that such agreement shall in all events comply with the provisions of the 1940 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder and the terms and provisions of this Agreement.  

  

Section 6A.Foreign Exchange 

  

Section 6A.1.Generally.  Upon receipt of Proper Instructions, which for purposes of this Section may also include security trade advices, the Custodian shall facilitate the processing and settlement of foreign exchange transactions.  Such foreign exchange transactions do not constitute part of the services provided by the Custodian under this Agreement.  

  

Section 6A.2.Fund Elections.  Each Fund (or its investment manager or investment advisor (“Investment Advisor

”) acting on its behalf) may elect to enter into and execute foreign exchange transactions with third parties that are not affiliated with the Custodian, with State Street Global Markets, which is the foreign exchange division of State Street Bank and Trust Company and its affiliated companies (“SSGM”), or with a sub-custodian. Where the Fund or its Investment Advisor gives Proper Instructions for the execution of a foreign exchange transaction using an indirect foreign exchange service described in the Client Publications (as defined below), the Fund (or its Investment Advisor) instructs the Custodian, on behalf of the Fund, to direct the execution of such foreign exchange transaction to SSGM or, when the relevant currency is not traded by SSGM, to the applicable sub-custodian. The Custodian shall not have any agency (except as contemplated in preceding sentence), trust or fiduciary obligation to the Fund, its Investment Advisor or any other person in connection with the execution of any foreign exchange transaction. The Custodian shall have no responsibility under this Agreement for the selection of the counterparty to, or the method of execution of, any foreign exchange transaction entered into by the Fund (or its Investment Advisor acting on its behalf) or the reasonableness of the execution rate on any such transaction. “Client Publications” means the general client publications of State Street Bank and Trust Company available from time to time to clients. 

Section 6A.3.Fund Acknowledgement  Each Fund acknowledges that in connection with all foreign exchange transactions entered into by the Fund (or its Investment Advisor acting on its behalf) with SSGM or any sub-custodian, SSGM and each such sub-custodian: 

  

(i)

shall be acting in a principal capacity and not as broker, agent or fiduciary to the Fund or its Investment Advisor; 

  

(ii)

shall seek to profit from such foreign exchange transactions, and are entitled to retain and not disclose any such profit to the Fund or its Investment Advisor; and 

  

(iii)

shall enter into such foreign exchange transactions pursuant to the terms and conditions, including pricing or pricing methodology, (a) agreed with the Fund or its Investment Advisor from time to time or (b) in the case of an indirect foreign exchange service, (i) as established by SSGM and set forth in the Client Publications with respect to the particular foreign exchange execution services selected by the Fund or the Investment Advisor or (ii) as established by the sub-custodian from time to time.  

  

Section 6A.4.Transactions by State Street.  The Custodian or its affiliates, including SSGM, may trade based upon information that is not available to the Fund (or its Investment Advisor acting on its behalf), and may enter into transactions for its own account or the account of clients in the same or opposite direction to the transactions entered into with the Fund (or its Investment Advisor), and shall have no obligation, under this Agreement, to share such information with or consider the interests of their respective counterparties, including, where applicable, the Fund or the Investment Advisor.  

  

Section 7.Payments for Sales or Repurchases or Redemptions of Shares 

  

The Custodian shall receive from the distributor of the Shares or from the Transfer Agent and deposit into the account of the appropriate Portfolio such payments as are received for Shares thereof issued or sold from time to time by the applicable Fund. The Custodian will provide timely notification to such Fund on behalf of each such Portfolio and the Transfer Agent of any receipt by it of payments for Shares of such Portfolio. 

  

From such funds as may be available for the purpose, the Custodian shall, upon receipt of instructions from the Transfer Agent, make funds available for payment to holders of Shares who have delivered to the Transfer Agent a request for redemption or repurchase of their Shares. In connection with the redemption or repurchase of Shares, the Custodian is authorized upon receipt of instructions from the Transfer Agent to wire funds to or through a commercial bank designated by the redeeming shareholders. In connection

with the redemption or repurchase of Shares, the Custodian shall honor checks drawn on the Custodian by a holder of Shares, which checks have been furnished by a Fund to the holder of Shares, when presented to the Custodian in accordance with such procedures and controls as are mutually agreed upon from time to time between such Fund and the Custodian. 

  

Section 8.Proper Instructions and Special Instructions 

  

“Proper Instructions,” which may also be standing instructions, as such term is used throughout this Agreement shall mean instructions received by the Custodian from a Fund, a Fund’s duly authorized investment manager or investment adviser, or a person or entity duly authorized by either of them. Such instructions may be in writing signed by the authorized person or persons or may be in a tested communication or in a communication utilizing access codes effected between electro-mechanical or electronic devices or may be by such other means and utilizing such intermediary systems and utilities as may be agreed from time to time by the Custodian and the person(s) or entity giving such instruction, provided that the Fund has followed any security procedures agreed to from time to time by the applicable Fund and the Custodian. Oral instructions will be considered Proper Instructions if the Custodian reasonably believes them to have been given by a person authorized to provide such instructions with respect to the transaction involved; the Fund shall cause all oral instructions to be confirmed in writing. For purposes of this Section, Proper Instructions shall include instructions received by the Custodian pursuant to any multi‑party agreement which requires a segregated asset account in accordance with Section 2.9 hereof. 

  

“Special Instructions,” as such term is used throughout this Agreement, means Proper Instructions countersigned or confirmed in writing by the Treasurer or any Assistant Treasurer of the applicable Fund or any other person designated in writing by the Treasurer of such Fund, which countersignature or confirmation shall be (a) included on the same instrument containing the Proper Instructions or on a separate instrument clearly relating thereto and (b) delivered by hand, by facsimile transmission, or in such other manner as the Fund and the Custodian agree in writing. 

  

Concurrently with the execution of this Agreement, and from time to time thereafter, as appropriate, each Fund shall deliver to the Custodian, duly certified by such Fund’s Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer, a certificate setting forth: (i) the names, titles, signatures and scope of authority of all persons authorized to give Proper Instructions or any other notice, request, direction, instruction, certificate or instrument on behalf of the Fund and (ii) the names, titles and signatures of those persons authorized to give Special Instructions. Such certificate may be accepted and relied upon by the Custodian as conclusive evidence of the facts set forth therein and shall be considered to be in full force and effect until receipt by the Custodian of a similar certificate to the contrary.  

  

Section 9.Evidence of Authority 

  

The Custodian shall be protected in acting upon any instructions, notice, request, consent, certificate or other instrument or paper reasonably believed by it to be genuine and to have been properly executed by or on behalf of the applicable Fund provided that the Custodian exercised reasonable care without negligence in following or acting upon such instruction, notice, request, consent, certificate or other instrument. The Custodian may receive and accept a copy of a resolution certified by the Secretary or an Assistant Secretary of any Fund as conclusive evidence (a) of the authority of any person to act in accordance with such resolution or (b) of any determination or of any action by the applicable Board as described in such resolution, and such resolution may be considered as in full force and effect until receipt by the Custodian of written notice to the contrary. 

  

Section 10.Actions Permitted without Express Authority 

  

The Custodian may in its discretion, without express authority from the applicable Fund on behalf of each applicable Portfolio: 

  

1)Surrender securities in temporary form for securities in definitive form; 

  

2)Endorse for collection, in the name of the Portfolio, checks, drafts and other negotiable instruments; and 

  

3)In general, attend to all non‑discretionary details in connection with the sale, exchange, substitution, purchase, transfer and other dealings with the securities and property of the Portfolio except as otherwise directed by the applicable Board. 

  

Section 11.

Duties of Custodian with Respect to the Books of Account  

  

The Custodian shall cooperate with and supply necessary information to the entity or entities appointed by the applicable Board to keep the books of account of each Portfolio and to compute its net asset value. Each Fund acknowledges and agrees that, with respect to investments maintained with the Underlying Transfer Agent, the Underlying Transfer Agent is the sole source of information on the number of shares of a fund held by it on behalf of a Portfolio and that the Custodian has the right to rely on holdings information furnished by the Underlying Transfer Agent to the Custodian in performing its duties under this Agreement, including without limitation, the duties set forth in this Section 11 and in Section 12 hereof; provided, however, that the Custodian shall be obligated to reconcile information as to purchases and sales of Underlying Shares contained in trade instructions and confirmations received by the Custodian and to report promptly any discrepancies to the Underlying Transfer Agent. Each Fund acknowledges that, in keeping the books of account of the Portfolio, the Custodian is authorized and instructed to rely upon information provided to it by the Fund, the Fund’s counterparty(ies), or the agents of either of them. 

  

Section 12.Records 

  

The Custodian shall with respect to each Portfolio create and maintain all records relating to its activities and obligations under this Agreement in such manner as will meet the obligations of each Fund under the 1940 Act, with particular attention to section 31 thereof and Rules 31a‑1 and 31a‑2 thereunder. All such records shall be the property of the Fund and shall at all times during the regular business hours of the Custodian be open for inspection by duly authorized officers, employees or agents of such Fund, including such Fund’s independent public accountants, and employees and agents of the SEC. The Custodian shall, at a Fund’s request, supply the Fund with a tabulation of securities owned by each Portfolio and held by the Custodian and shall, when requested to do so by the Fund and for such compensation as shall be agreed upon between the Fund and the Custodian, include certificate numbers in such tabulations. Each Fund acknowledges that, in creating and maintaining the records as set forth herein with respect to Portfolio property released and delivered pursuant to Section 2.2(14), or purchased pursuant to Section 2.6(7) hereof, the Custodian is authorized and instructed to rely upon information provided to it by the Fund, the Fund’s counterparty(ies), or the agents of either of them. 

  

Section 13.Reserved 

  

Section 14.Reports to Fund by Independent Public Accountants 

  

The Custodian shall provide the applicable Fund, on behalf of each of the Portfolios at such times as such Fund may reasonably require, with reports by independent public accountants on the accounting system, internal accounting control and procedures for safeguarding securities, futures contracts and options on futures contracts, including securities deposited and/or maintained in a U.S. Securities System or a Foreign Securities System (either, a “Securities System”), relating to the services provided by the Custodian under this Agreement; such reports, shall be of sufficient scope and in sufficient detail, as may reasonably be required by the Fund to provide reasonable assurance that any material inadequacies would be disclosed by such examination, and, if there are no such inadequacies, the reports shall so state. 

  

Section 15.Compensation of Custodian 

  

The Custodian shall be entitled to reasonable compensation for its services and expenses as Custodian, as agreed upon from time to time between each Fund on behalf of each applicable Portfolio and the Custodian. 

  

Section 16.Responsibility of Custodian 

  

So long as and to the extent that it is in the exercise of reasonable care, the Custodian shall not be responsible for the title, validity or genuineness of any property or evidence of title thereto received by it or delivered by it pursuant to this Agreement and shall be held harmless in acting upon any notice, request, consent, certificate or other instrument reasonably believed by it to be genuine and to be signed by the proper party or parties.  The Custodian shall perform the services provided for in this Agreement without negligence, fraud or willful misconduct and with reasonable care. The Custodian shall be liable to a Fund for any failure by the Custodian to satisfy the foregoing standard of care. The Custodian shall be kept indemnified by and shall be without liability to any Fund for any action taken or omitted by it in good faith without negligence, fraud or willful misconduct, including, without limitation, acting in accordance with any Proper Instruction without negligence, fraud or willful misconduct. The indemnification obligations of this Section shall survive termination of this Agreement. 

  

Except as may arise from the Custodian’s own negligence, fraud or willful misconduct or the negligence, fraud or willful misconduct of a sub-custodian or agent, the Custodian shall be without liability to any Fund for any loss, liability, claim or expense resulting from or caused by: (i) events or circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the Custodian or any sub-custodian or Securities System or any agent or nominee of any of the foregoing (a “Force Majeure Event”), including, without limitation, the interruption, suspension or restriction of trading on or the closure of any securities market, power or other mechanical or technological failures or interruptions, acts of war, revolution, riots or terrorism, computer viruses or communications disruptions, work stoppages, natural disasters, or other similar events or acts,

except to the extent that the Custodian fails to maintain and keep updated the business and continuity and disaster recovery plan as set forth in Section 19.7 and such failure causes such loss; (ii) errors by any Fund or its duly authorized investment manager or investment adviser in their instructions to the Custodian provided such instructions have been in accordance with this Agreement; (iii) the insolvency of or acts or omissions by a Securities System; (iv) any act or omission of a Special Sub-Custodian including, without limitation, reliance on reports prepared by a Special Sub-Custodian; (v) any delay or failure of any broker, agent or intermediary, central bank or other commercially prevalent payment or clearing system to deliver to the Custodian’s sub-custodian or agent securities purchased or in the remittance or payment made in connection with securities sold; (vi) any delay or failure of any company, corporation, or other body in charge of registering or transferring securities in the name of the Custodian, any Fund, the Custodian’s sub-custodians, nominees or agents or any consequential losses arising out of such delay or failure to transfer such securities including non-receipt of bonus, dividends and rights and other accretions or benefits; (vii) delays or inability to perform its duties due to any disorder in market infrastructure with respect to any particular security or Securities System; and (viii) any provision of any present or future law or regulation or order of the United States of America, or any state thereof, or any other country, or political subdivision thereof or of any court of competent jurisdiction.  

  

The Custodian shall be liable to a Fund for the acts or omissions of any sub-custodian selected by the Custodian, whether domestic or foreign (but excluding any Special Sub-Custodian or U.S. sub-custodian designated by a Fund pursuant to Special Instructions or Proper Instructions), to the same extent that the Custodian would be liable to the Fund as if such action or omission was performed by the Custodian itself, taking into account the facts and circumstances and the established local market practices and laws prevailing in the relevant jurisdiction at the time of the action or omission. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Custodian shall in no event be liable for losses arising from Country Risk or from the insolvency or other financial default with respect to (a) any sub-custodian that is not an affiliate of the Custodian or (b) any depositary bank holding in a deposit account cash denominated in any currency other than an “on book” currency for that market.  

  

If a Fund on behalf of a Portfolio requires the Custodian to take any action with respect to securities, which action involves the payment of money or which action may, in the reasonable opinion of the Custodian, result in the Custodian or its nominee assigned to the Fund or the Portfolio being liable for the payment of money, such Fund on behalf of the Portfolio, as a prerequisite to requiring the Custodian to take such action, shall provide indemnity to the Custodian in an amount and form to be mutually agreed upon between such Fund and Custodian if and when necessary.  

  

If the Custodian, its affiliates, subsidiaries or agents, advances cash or securities for any purpose (including, but not limited to, securities settlements, foreign exchange contracts and assumed settlement, but not including amounts payable to the Custodian pursuant to Section 15 of this Agreement) or in the event that the Custodian or its nominee shall incur or be assessed from a third party any taxes, charges, expenses, assessments, claims or liabilities in connection with the investment activities of a Fund and the Custodian’s related performance of this Agreement, except such as may arise from the Custodian’s or its nominee’s own negligent action, negligent failure to act, fraud, or willful misconduct, any property at any time held for the account of the applicable Portfolio shall be security therefor and should the Fund fail to repay the Custodian promptly, the Custodian shall be entitled to apply available cash and to dispose of such Portfolio’s assets to the extent necessary to obtain reimbursement. In addition, the Custodian may at any time decline to follow Proper Instructions to deliver out cash, securities or other financial assets if the Custodian reasonably determines that, after giving effect to the Proper Instructions, the cash, securities or other financial assets remaining will not have sufficient value fully to secure the Fund’s reimbursement of the relevant advances or other liabilities.  

  

Except as may arise from the Custodian’s own negligence, fraud or willful misconduct, each Fund severally and not jointly shall indemnify and hold the Custodian harmless from and against any and all costs, expenses, losses, damages, charges, counsel fees, payments and liabilities which may be asserted against the Custodian (a) acting in accordance with any Proper Instruction or Special Instruction including, without limitation, any Proper Instruction with respect to Free Trades including, but not limited to, cost, expense, loss, damage, charge, counsel fee, payment or liability resulting from the Custodian’s reasonable reliance upon information provided by the applicable Fund, such Fund’s counterparty(ies) or the agents of either of them with respect to Fund property released, delivered or purchased pursuant to either of Section 2.2(14) or Section 2.6(7) hereof; (b) for the acts or omissions of any Special Sub-Custodian; or (c) for the acts or omissions of any Local Agent or Pledgee. 

  

None of the parties shall be liable for indirect, special, incidental, punitive or consequential damages. Upon the occurrence of any event that causes or may cause any loss, damage or expense to a Fund, the Custodian shall (i) promptly notify a Fund of the occurrence of such event and (ii) use its commercially reasonable efforts to cause any sub-custodian to use all commercially reasonable efforts and to take all reasonable steps under the circumstances to mitigate the effects of such event and to avoid continuing harm to a Fund. 

  

Section 17.Effective Period, Termination and Amendment 

  

This Agreement shall become effective as of its execution, shall continue in full force and effect until terminated as hereinafter provided, may be amended at any time by mutual agreement of the parties hereto and may be terminated by either party by an instrument in writing delivered or mailed, postage prepaid to the other party, such termination to take effect not sooner than sixty (60) days after the date of such delivery or mailing if termination is being sought by a Fund on behalf of a Portfolio and not sooner than one hundred twenty (120) days if termination is being sought by the Custodian; provided, however, that no Fund shall amend or terminate this Agreement in contravention of any applicable federal or state regulations, or any provision of such Fund’s Governing Documents, and further provided, that any Fund on behalf of one or more of the Portfolios may at any time by action of its Board (i) substitute another bank or trust company for the Custodian by giving notice as described above to the Custodian, or (ii) immediately terminate this Agreement in the event of the appointment of a bankruptcy trustee or a conservator or receiver for the Custodian by the Comptroller of the Currency or upon the happening of a like event at the direction of an appropriate regulatory agency or court of competent jurisdiction. Termination of this Agreement with respect to any one particular Fund or Portfolio shall in no way affect the rights and duties under this Agreement with respect to any other Fund or Portfolio. 

  

Upon termination of the Agreement, the applicable Fund on behalf of each applicable Portfolio shall pay to the Custodian such compensation as may be due as of the date of such termination and shall likewise reimburse the Custodian for the transaction costs of delivering out the securities of such applicable Portfolio to the successor custodian appointed pursuant to Section 18 of this Agreement, if any. 

  

In connection with any termination of the Agreement for any reason whatsoever, the parties shall also reasonably cooperate with respect to the development of a transition plan setting forth a reasonable timetable for the transition and describing the parties’ respective responsibilities for transitioning the services back to the Fund or any successor custodian in an orderly and uninterrupted fashion. 

  

If the Custodian is prevented from carrying out its obligations under the Agreement as a result of a Force Majeure Event for a period of 30 days, a Fund may terminate the Agreement by giving the Custodian not less than 30 days' notice, without prejudice to any of the rights of any party accrued prior to the date of termination; provided, however, that if the Force Majeure Event is a regional wide or market wide event that has similarly affected substantially all other providers of services to funds substantially similar to the services provided hereunder in such region or market, the Fund’s termination right shall only arise at such time that two (2) or more of such providers are reasonably able and have begun to recommence the provision of such services. If the Custodian recommences the provision of the affected services in all material respects prior to the exercise by a Fund of its termination right, such termination right shall lapse if the Custodian gives notice to the Fund that it has done so (and it has in fact so recommenced the provision of services) and a Fund has not already provided notice of termination prior to such notice by the Custodian that it has recommenced the services in all material respects. 

  

Section 18.Successor Custodian 

  

If a successor custodian for one or more Portfolios shall be appointed by the applicable Board, the Custodian shall, upon termination and receipt of Proper Instructions, deliver to such successor custodian at the office of the Custodian (or such other location as shall mutually be agreed upon by the Custodian and the applicable Fund on behalf of such Portfolio), duly endorsed and in the form for transfer, all securities, cash, and other assets of each applicable Portfolio then held by it hereunder and shall transfer to an account of the successor custodian all of the securities of each such Portfolio held in a Securities System or at the Underlying Transfer Agent.  

  

If no such successor custodian shall be appointed, the Custodian shall, in like manner, upon receipt of Proper Instructions, deliver at the office of the Custodian (or such other location as shall mutually be agreed upon by the Custodian and the applicable Fund on behalf of such Portfolio) and transfer such securities, funds and other properties in accordance with such resolution. 

  

In the event that no Proper Instructions designating a successor custodian or alternative arrangements shall have been delivered to the Custodian on or before the date when such termination shall become effective, then the Custodian shall have the right to deliver to a bank or trust company, which is a “bank” as defined in the 1940 Act, doing business in Boston, Massachusetts or New York, New York, of its own selection, having an aggregate capital, surplus, and undivided profits, as shown by its last published report, of not less than $25,000,000, all securities, funds and other properties held by the Custodian on behalf of each applicable Portfolio and all instruments held by the Custodian relative thereto and all other property held by it under this Agreement on behalf of each applicable Portfolio, and to transfer to an account of such successor custodian all of the securities of each such Portfolio held in any Securities System or at the Underlying Transfer Agent. Thereafter, such bank or trust company shall be the successor of the Custodian under this Agreement. 

  

In the event that securities, funds and other properties remain in the possession of the Custodian after the date of termination hereof owing to failure of any Fund to provide Proper Instructions as aforesaid, the Custodian shall be entitled to fair compensation for its services during such period as the Custodian retains possession of such securities, funds and other properties and the provisions of this Agreement relating to the duties and obligations of the Custodian shall remain in full force and effect. 

  

Section 19. General 

  

Section 19.1 New York Law to Apply. This Agreement shall be construed and the provisions thereof interpreted under and in accordance with laws of The State of New York.  

  

Section 19.2 Confidentiality.  All information provided under this Agreement by a party (the “Disclosing Party”) to the other party (the “Receiving Party”) regarding the Disclosing Party’s business and operations shall be treated as confidential.  All confidential information provided under this Agreement by Disclosing Party shall be used, including disclosure to third parties, by the Receiving Party, or its agents or service providers, solely for the purpose of performing or receiving the services and discharging the Receiving Party’s other obligations under the Agreement or managing the internal business of the Receiving Party and its affiliates, including financial and operational management and reporting, risk management, legal and regulatory compliance and client service management.  The foregoing shall not be applicable to any information (a) that is publicly available when provided or thereafter becomes publicly available, other than through a breach of this Agreement, (b)

that is independently derived by the Receiving Party without the use of any information provided by the Disclosing Party in connection with this Agreement, (c) that is disclosed to comply with any proceeding, investigation, audit, examination, subpoena, civil investigative demand or other similar process that is initiated, authorized, or conducted by a court of law, regulatory agency, or other governmental or administrative body with appropriate jurisdiction over either party, (d) that is disclosed as required by operation of law or regulation or as required to comply with the requirements of any market infrastructure that the Disclosing Party or its agents direct the Custodian or its affiliates to employ (or which is required in connection with the holding or settlement of instruments included in the assets subject to this Agreement), or (e) where the party seeking to disclose has received the prior written consent of the party providing the information. 

  

Section 19.3 Assignment. This Agreement may not be assigned by (a) any Fund without the written consent of the Custodian or (b) by the Custodian without the written consent of each applicable Fund. 

  

Section 19.4 Interpretive and Additional Provisions. In connection with the operation of this Agreement, the Custodian and each Fund on behalf of each of the Portfolios, may from time to time agree on such provisions interpretive of or in addition to the provisions of this Agreement as may in their joint opinion be consistent with the general tenor of this Agreement.  

  

Section 19.5 Additional Funds. In the event that any management investment company in addition to those listed on Appendix A hereto desires to have the Custodian render services as custodian under the terms hereof, it shall so notify the Custodian in writing, and if the Custodian agrees in writing to provide such services, such management investment company shall become a Fund hereunder and be bound by all terms and conditions and provisions hereof including, without limitation, the representations and warranties set forth in Section 19.7 below. 

  

Section 19.6 Additional Portfolios. In the event that any Fund establishes one or more series of Shares in addition to those set forth on Appendix A hereto with respect to which it desires to have the Custodian render services as custodian under the terms hereof, it shall so notify the Custodian in writing, and if the Custodian agrees in writing to provide such services, such series of Shares shall become a Portfolio hereunder. 

  

Section 19.7 The Parties

. All references herein to the “Fund” are to each of the management investment companies listed on Appendix A hereto, and each management investment company made subject to this Agreement in accordance with Section 19.5 above, individually, as if this Agreement were between such individual Fund and the Custodian. In the case of a series corporation, trust or other entity, all references herein to the “Portfolio” are to the individual series or portfolio of such corporation, trust or other entity, or to such corporation, trust or other entity on behalf of the individual series or portfolio, as appropriate. Any reference in this Agreement to “the parties” shall mean the Custodian and such other individual Fund as to which the matter pertains. Each Fund hereby represents and warrants that (a) it is duly incorporated or organized and is validly existing in good standing in its jurisdiction of incorporation or organization; (b) it has the requisite power and authority under applicable law and its Governing Documents to enter into and perform this Agreement; (c) all requisite proceedings have been taken to authorize it to enter into and perform this Agreement; (d) this Agreement constitutes its legal, valid, binding and enforceable agreement; and (e) its entrance into this Agreement shall not cause a material breach or be in material conflict with any other agreement or obligation of the Fund or any law or regulation applicable to it. The Custodian hereby represents and warrants that (a) it is duly incorporated or organized and is validly existing in good standing in its jurisdiction of incorporation or organization; (b) it has the requisite power and authority under applicable law and its declaration of trust or other governing documents to enter into and perform this Agreement; (c) all requisite proceedings have been taken to authorize it to enter into and perform this Agreement; (d) this Agreement constitutes its legal, valid, binding and enforceable agreement; and (e) its entrance into this Agreement shall not cause a material breach or be in material conflict with any other agreement or obligation of the Custodian or any law or regulation applicable to it.  

  

The Custodian hereby represents to each of the Funds, on behalf of each of such Fund’s Portfolios, that it (a) has and shall maintain and update a disaster recovery and business continuation plan that is reasonably designed to enable the Custodian to perform its duties and obligations set forth under this Agreement in the event of a significant business disruption affecting the Custodian, including a Force Majeure Event; (b) shall test the operability of such plan at least once every twelve (12) months and revise such plan as Custodian reasonably believes is necessary to ensure that the plan, in general, continues to be reasonably designed to enable the Custodian to perform its duties and obligations as set forth under this Agreement; and (c) shall activate such plan if Custodian reasonably believes (i) an event has occurred which would materially affect the Custodian’s timely discharge of its duties and performance of its obligations under this Agreement and (ii) activation of such plan would allow Custodian to discharge its duties hereunder.  The Custodian shall enter into and shall maintain in effect at all times during the term of this Agreement with appropriate parties one or more agreements making reasonable provision for (i) periodic back-up of the computer files and data with respect to the Fund and (ii) emergency use of electronic data processing equipment to provide services under this Agreement. Upon reasonable request, the Custodian shall discuss with the Fund the business continuity/disaster recovery plan of the Custodian.  The Custodian represents that its business continuity plan is appropriate for its business as a provider of custodian services to investment companies registered under the 1940 Act. 

  

Section 19.8 Remote Access Services Addendum. The Custodian and each Fund agree to be bound by the terms of the Remote Access Services Addendum hereto. 

  

Section 19.9 Notices. Any notice, instruction or other instrument required to be given hereunder may be delivered in person to the offices of the parties as set forth herein during normal business hours or delivered prepaid registered mail or by telex, cable or telecopy to the parties at the following addresses or such other addresses as may be notified by any party from time to time. 

  

To any Fund:

c/o The Vanguard Group, Inc. 

400 Devon Park Drive, A29 

Wayne, PA 19087 

Attention: Chief Financial Officer 

Telecopy: (610) 669-6112 

  

With a copy to:

The Vanguard Group, Inc. 

400 Devon Park Drive, V26 

Wayne, PA 19087 

Attention: General Counsel 

Telecopy: (610) 669-6600 

  

To the Custodian:

State Street Bank and Trust Company 

1 Iron Street 

Boston, MA 02210 

Attention: Jay Fulchino  

Telephone: 617-662-0934 

  

With a copy to:

State Street Bank and Trust Company 

Legal Division – Global Services Americas 

One Lincoln Street 

Boston, MA  02111 

Attention:  Senior Vice President  

  

Such notice, instruction or other instrument shall be deemed to have been served in the case of a registered letter at the expiration of five business days after posting, in the case of cable twenty‑four hours after dispatch and, in the case of facsimile, immediately on dispatch and if delivered outside normal business hours it shall be deemed to have been received at the next time after delivery when normal business hours commence and in the case of cable, facsimile or telecopy on the business day after the receipt thereof. Evidence that the notice was properly addressed, stamped and put into the post shall be conclusive evidence of posting. 

  

Section 19.10 Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in several counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be an original, and all such counterparts taken together shall constitute one and the same Agreement. 

  

Section 19.11 Severability. If any provision or provisions of this Agreement shall be held to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall not in any way be affected or impaired. 

  

Section 19.12 Reproduction of Documents. This Agreement and all schedules, addenda, exhibits, appendices, attachments and amendments hereto may be reproduced by any photographic, photostatic, microfilm, micro-card, miniature photographic or other similar process. The parties hereto all/each agree that any such reproduction shall be admissible in evidence as the original itself in any judicial or administrative proceeding, whether or not the original is in existence and whether or not such reproduction was made by a party in the regular course of business, and that any enlargement, facsimile or further reproduction of such reproduction shall likewise be admissible in evidence. 

  

Section 19.13 Shareholder Communications Election. Rule 14b‑2 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, requires banks which hold securities for the account of customers to respond to requests by issuers of securities for the names, addresses and holdings of beneficial owners of securities of that issuer held by the bank unless the beneficial owner has expressly objected to disclosure of this information. In order to comply with the rule, the Custodian needs each Fund to indicate whether it authorizes the Custodian to provide such Fund’s name, address, and share position to requesting companies whose securities the Fund owns. If a Fund tells the Custodian “no,” the Custodian will not provide this information to requesting companies. If a Fund tells the Custodian “yes” or does not check either “yes” or “no” below, the Custodian is required by the rule to treat the Fund as consenting to disclosure of this information for all securities owned by the Fund or any funds or accounts established by the Fund. For a Fund’s protection, the Rule prohibits the requesting company from using the Fund’s name and address for any purpose other than corporate communications. Please indicate below whether the Fund consents or objects by checking one of the alternatives below. 

  

YES [ ]

The Custodian is authorized to release the Fund’s name, address, and share positions. 

  

NO [X]

The Custodian is not authorized to release the Fund’s name, address, and share positions. 

  

Section 19.14 Reports.

Upon reasonable request of a Fund, the Custodian shall provide the Fund with a copy of the Custodian’s System and Organization Controls for Service Organizations: Internal Control over Financial Reporting (SOC) 1 reports prepared in accordance with the requirements of AT-C section 320, Reporting on an Examination of Controls at a Service Organization Relevant to User Entities’ Internal Control Over Financial Reporting (or any successor attestation standard). In addition, from time to time as requested, the Custodian will furnish the Fund a “gap” or “bridge” letter that will address any material changes that might have occurred in the Custodian’s controls covered in the SOC Report from the end of the SOC Report period through a specified requested date. The Custodian shall use commercially reasonable efforts to provide the Fund with such reports as the Fund may reasonably request or otherwise reasonably require to fulfill its duties under Rule 38a-l of the 1940 Act or similar legal and regulatory requirements. Upon reasonable request to the Fund, the Custodian shall also provide to the Fund sub-certifications in connection with Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 certification requirements.  

  

Section 19.15 Opinions. The Custodian shall take all reasonable action, as the Fund with respect to a Portfolio may from time to time request, to obtain from year to year favorable opinions from the Fund’s independent accountants with respect to its activities hereunder in connection with (i) the preparation of any registration statement of a Fund and any other reports required by a governmental agency or regulatory authority with jurisdiction over the Fund, and (ii) the fulfillment by a Fund of any other requirements of a governmental agency or regulatory authority with jurisdiction over the Fund. 

  

Section 19.16 Regulation GG. The Funds are hereby notified that “restricted transactions,” as such term is defined in Section 233.2(y) of Federal Reserve Regulation GG, are prohibited in any dealings with the Custodian pursuant to this Agreement or otherwise between or among any party hereto. 

  

Section 19.17 Portfolio by Portfolio Basis. This Agreement is executed by a Fund with respect to each of its Portfolios and the obligations hereunder are not binding upon any of the directors, officers or shareholders of the Fund individually. Notwithstanding any other provision in this Agreement to the contrary, each and every obligation, liability or undertaking of a particular Portfolio under this Agreement shall constitute solely an obligation, liability or undertaking of, and be binding upon, such particular Portfolio and shall be payable solely from the available assets of such particular Portfolio and shall not be binding upon or affect any assets of any other Portfolio. 

  

Section 19.18 Service level Agreements. The Custodian and the Funds may from time to time agree to document the manner in which they expect to deliver and receive the services contemplated by this Agreement. In such event, each party will perform its obligations in accordance with any service levels that may be agreed upon by the parties in writing from time to time, subject to the terms of this Agreement 

  

Section 19.19  Loan Services Addendum.If a Fund directs the Custodian in writing to perform loan services, the Custodian and the Fund will be bound by the terms of the Loan Services Addendum attached hereto.  The Fund shall reimburse Custodian for its fees and expenses related thereto as agreed upon from time to time in writing by the Fund and the Custodian. 

  

[Signature page to follow.] 

 

  

  

  

  

Signature Page 

  

  

In Witness Whereof, each of the parties has caused this instrument to be executed in its name and on its behalf by its duly authorized representative as of the date first above-written. 

  

Fund Signature Attested to By: 

  

Each of the Entities Set Forth on Appendix A Hereto 

  

  

  

  

  

By: 

/s/ Pete Mahoney 

  

By: 

/s/ Thomas J. Higgins 

  

  

  

  

  

Name: 

Pete Mahoney 

  

Name: 

Thomas J. Higgins 

  

  

  

  

  

Title: 

Fund Controller 

  

Title: 

Chief Financial Officer 

  

  

  

Signature Attested to By: 

  

State Street Bank and Trust Company 

  

  

  

  

  

By: 

/s/ Matthew J. Kelly 

  

By: 

/s/ Andrew Erickson 

  

  

  

  

  

Name: 

Matthew J. Kelly 

  

Name: 

Andrew Erickson 

  

  

  

  

  

Title: 

Vice President 

  

Title: 

Executive Vice President 

  

  

  

APPENDIX A 

  

Vanguard California Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard California Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard California Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard California Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard CMT Funds 

Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund 

  

Vanguard Convertible Securities Fund 

Vanguard Convertible Securities Fund 

  

Vanguard Institutional Index Funds 

Vanguard Institutional Index Fund 

  

Vanguard Malvern Funds 

Vanguard Institutional Intermediate-Term Bond Fund 

Vanguard Institutional Short-Term Bond Fund 

  

Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Funds 

Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Fund 

  

Vanguard Municipal Bond Funds 

Vanguard High-Yield Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Limited-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Municipal Money Market Fund 

Vanguard Short-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond Index Fund 

  

Vanguard New Jersey Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard New Jersey Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard New Jersey Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard New York Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard New York Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard New York Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard Ohio Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard Ohio Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

  

Vanguard Pennsylvania Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard Pennsylvania Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Pennsylvania Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard Quantitative Funds 

Vanguard Growth and Income Fund 

  

Vanguard STAR Funds 

Vanguard STAR Fund 

  

Vanguard Variable Insurance Funds 

Balanced Portfolio 

Diversified Value Portfolio 

Equity Index Portfolio 

High Yield Bond Portfolio 

Mid-Cap Index Portfolio 

REIT Index Portfolio 

Small Company Growth Portfolio 

  

Vanguard World Fund 

Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund 

  

  

  

SCHEDULE A – GLOBAL CUSTODY NETWORK 

  

MARKET 

SUBCUSTODIAN 

ADDRESS 

Albania 

Raiffeisen Bank sh.a. 

Blv. "Bajram Curri" ETC – Kati 14 Tirana, Albania 

Argentina 

Citibank, N.A. 

Bartolome Mitre 530
1036 Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Australia 

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited 

HSBC Securities Services Level 3,
10 Smith St.,
Parramatta, NSW 2150, Australia 

Austria 

Deutsche Bank AG (operating through its Frankfurt branch with support from its Vienna branch) 

Fleischmarkt 1
A-1010 Vienna, Austria 

UniCredit Bank Austria AG 

Custody Department / Dept. 8398-TZ Julius Tandler Platz 3
A-1090 Vienna, Austria 

Bahrain 

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (as delegate of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

1ST Floor, Bldg. #2505 Road # 2832, Al Seef 428 Kingdom of Bahrain 

Bangladesh 

Standard Chartered Bank 

Silver Tower, Level 7
52 South Gulshan Commercial Area Gulshan 1, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh 

Belgium 

Deutsche Bank AG, Netherlands (operating through its Amsterdam branch with support from its Brussels branch) 

De Entrees 99-197
1101 HE Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Benin 

via Standard Chartered Bank Côte d’Ivoire S.A., Abidjan, Ivory Coast 

23, Bld de la République
17 BP 1141 Abidjan 17 Côte d’Ivoire 

Bermuda 

HSBC Bank Bermuda Limited 

6 Front Street
Hamilton, HM06, Bermuda 

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

UniCredit Bank d.d. 

Zelenih beretki 24
71 000 Sarajevo
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Botswana 

Standard Chartered Bank Botswana Limited 

4th Floor, Standard Chartered House Queens Road
The Mall
Gaborone, Botswana 

Brazil 

Citibank, N.A. 

AV Paulista 1111
São Paulo, SP 01311-920 Brazil 

Bulgaria 

Citibank Europe plc, Bulgaria Branch 

Serdika Offices, 10th floor 48 Sitnyakovo Blvd.
1505 Sofia, Bulgaria 

UniCredit Bulbank AD 

7 Sveta Nedelya Square
1000 Sofia, Bulgaria 

Burkina Faso 

via Standard Chartered Bank Côte d’Ivoire S.A., Abidjan, Ivory Coast 

23, Bld de la République
17 BP 1141 Abidjan 17 Côte d’Ivoire 

Canada 

State Street Trust Company Canada 

30 Adelaide Street East, Suite 800 Toronto, ON Canada M5C 3G6 

Chile 

Itaú CorpBanca S.A. 

Presidente Riesco Street # 5537 Floor 18
Las Condes, Santiago de Chile 

People’s Republic of China 

HSBC Bank (China) Company Limited
(as delegate of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

33rd Floor, HSBC Building, Shanghai IFC 8 Century Avenue
Pudong, Shanghai, China (200120) 

China Construction Bank Corporation 

No.1 Naoshikou Street Chang An Xing Rong Plaza Beijing 100032-33, China 

China Connect 

Citibank N.A. 

39/F., Champion Tower 3 Garden Road Central, Hong Kong 

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited 

Level 30,
HSBC Main Building 1 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong 

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited 

15th Floor Standard Chartered Tower 388 Kwun Tong Road
Kwun Tong, Hong Kong 

Colombia 

Cititrust Colombia S.A. Sociedad Fiduciaria 

Carrera 9A, No. 99-02 Bogotá DC, Colombia 

Costa Rica 

Banco BCT S.A. 

160 Calle Central Edificio BCT
San José, Costa Rica 

Croatia 

Privredna Banka Zagreb d.d. 

Custody Department Radnička cesta 50
10000 Zagreb, Croatia 

Zagrebacka Banka d.d. 

Savska 60
10000 Zagreb, Croatia 

Cyprus 

BNP Paribas Securities Services, S.C.A., Greece (operating through its Athens branch) 

2 Lampsakou Str.
115 28 Athens, Greece 

Czech Republic 

Československá obchodní banka, a.s. 

Radlická 333/150
150 57 Prague 5, Czech Republic 

UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s. 

BB Centrum – FILADELFIE Želetavská 1525/1
140 92 Praha 4 - Michle, Czech Republic 

Denmark 

Nordea Bank AB (publ), Sweden (operating through its branch, Nordea Danmark, Filial af Nordea Bank AB (publ), Sverige) 

Strandgade 3
0900 Copenhagen C, Denmark 

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ), Sweden (operating through its Copenhagen branch) 

Bernstorffsgade 50
1577 Copenhagen, Denmark 

Egypt 

HSBC Bank Egypt S.A.E.
(as delegate of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

6th Floor
306 Corniche El Nil Maadi
Cairo, Egypt 

Estonia 

AS SEB Pank 

Tornimäe 2
15010 Tallinn, Estonia 

Finland 

Nordea Bank AB (publ), Sweden (operating through its branch, Nordea Bank AB (publ), Finnish branch) 

Satamaradankatu 5
00500 Helsinki, Finland 

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ), Sweden (operating through its Helsinki branch) 

Securities Services Box 630
SF-00101 Helsinki, Finland 

France 

Deutsche Bank AG, Netherlands (operating through its Amsterdam branch with support from its Paris branch) 

De Entrees 99-197
1101 HE Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Republic of Georgia 

JSC Bank of Georgia 

29a Gagarini Str. Tbilisi 0160, Georgia 

Germany 

State Street Bank International GmbH 

Brienner Strasse 59
80333 Munich, Germany 

Deutsche Bank AG 

Alfred-Herrhausen-Allee 16-24
D-65760 Eschborn, Germany 

Ghana 

Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Limited 

P. O. Box 768
1st Floor


High Street Building Accra, Ghana 

Greece 

BNP Paribas Securities Services, S.C.A. 

2 Lampsakou Str.
115 28 Athens, Greece 

Guinea-Bissau 

via Standard Chartered Bank Côte d’Ivoire S.A., Abidjan, Ivory Coast 

23, Bld de la République
17 BP 1141 Abidjan 17 Côte d’Ivoire 

Hong Kong 

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited 

15th Floor Standard Chartered Tower 388 Kwun Tong Road
Kwun Tong, Hong Kong 

Hungary 

Citibank Europe plc Magyarországi Fióktelepe 

7 Szabadság tér, Bank Center Budapest, H-1051 Hungary 

UniCredit Bank Hungary Zrt. 

6th Floor Szabadság tér 5-6
H-1054 Budapest, Hungary 

Iceland 

Landsbankinn hf. 

Austurstræti 11
155 Reykjavik, Iceland 

India 

Deutsche Bank AG 

Block B1, 4th Floor, Nirlon Knowledge Park
Off Western Express Highway Goregaon (E)
Mumbai 400 063, India 

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited 

11F, Building 3, NESCO - IT Park, NESCO Complex,
Western Express Highway Goregaon (East),
Mumbai 400 063, India 

Indonesia 

Deutsche Bank AG 

Deutsche Bank Building, 4th floor Jl. Imam Bonjol, No. 80
Jakarta 10310, Indonesia 

Ireland 

State Street Bank and Trust Company, United Kingdom branch 

525 Ferry Road
Edinburgh EH5 2AW, Scotland 

Israel 

Bank Hapoalim B.M. 

50 Rothschild Boulevard Tel Aviv, Israel 61000 

Italy 

Deutsche Bank S.p.A. 

Investor Services
Via Turati 27 – 3rd Floor
20121 Milan, Italy 

Ivory Coast 

Standard Chartered Bank Côte d’Ivoire S.A. 

23, Bld de la République
17 BP 1141 Abidjan 17 Côte d’Ivoire 

Japan 

Mizuho Bank, Limited 

Shinagawa Intercity Tower A 2-15-1, Konan, Minato-ku
Tokyo 108-6009, Japan 

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited 

HSBC Building
11-1 Nihonbashi 3-chome, Chuo-ku Tokyo 1030027, Japan 

Jordan 

Standard Chartered Bank 

Shmeissani Branch
Al-Thaqafa Street, Building # 2
P.O. Box 926190
Amman 11110, Jordan 

Kazakhstan 

JSC Citibank Kazakhstan 

Park Palace, Building A, 41 Kazibek Bi street,
Almaty A25T0A1, Kazakhstan 

Kenya 

Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Limited 

Custody Services
Standard Chartered @ Chiromo, Level 5 48 Westlands Road
P.O. Box 40984 – 00100 GPO
Nairobi, Kenya 

Republic of Korea 

Deutsche Bank AG 

18th Fl., Young-Poong Building 41 Cheonggyecheon-ro
Jongro-ku-, Seoul 03188, Korea 

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited 

5F
HSBC Building #37 Chilpae-ro
Jung-gu, Seoul 04511, Korea 

Kuwait 

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited
(as delegate of The Hongkong and

Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

Kuwait City, Sharq Area Abdulaziz Al Sager Street Al Hamra Tower, 37F


P. O. Box 1683, Safat 13017, Kuwait 

Latvia 

AS SEB banka 

Unicentrs, Valdlauči
LV-1076 Kekavas pag., Rigas raj., Latvia 

Lithuania 

AB SEB bankas 

Gedimino av. 12
LT 2600 Vilnius, Lithuania 

Malawi 

Standard Bank Limited 

Kaomba Centre
Cnr. Victoria Avenue & Sir Glyn Jones Road
Blantyre, Malawi 

Malaysia 

Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad 

Domestic Custody Services Level 20, Menara IMC
8 Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad 

Menara Standard Chartered 30 Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Mali 

via Standard Chartered Bank Côte d’Ivoire S.A., Abidjan, Ivory Coast 

23, Bld de la République
17 BP 1141 Abidjan 17 Côte d’Ivoire 

Mauritius 

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited 

6F HSBC Centre 18 CyberCity Ebene, Mauritius 

Mexico 

Banco Nacional de México, S.A. 

3er piso, Torre Norte
Act. Roberto Medellín No. 800 Col. Santa Fe
Mexico, DF 01219 

Morocco 

Citibank Maghreb 

Zénith Millénium Immeuble1 Sidi Maârouf – B.P. 40 Casablanca 20190, Morocco 

Namibia 

Standard Bank Namibia Limited 

Standard Bank Center
Cnr. Werner List St. and Post St. Mall 2nd Floor
Windhoek, Namibia 

Netherlands 

Deutsche Bank AG 

De Entrees 99-197
1101 HE Amsterdam, Netherlands 

New Zealand 

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited 

HSBC House
Level 7, 1 Queen St. Auckland 1010, New Zealand 

Niger 

via Standard Chartered Bank Côte d’Ivoire S.A., Abidjan, Ivory Coast 

23, Bld de la République
17 BP 1141 Abidjan 17 Côte d’Ivoire 

Nigeria 

Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc. 

Plot 1712 Idejo St Victoria Island,
Lagos 101007, Nigeria 

Norway 

Nordea Bank AB (publ), Sweden (operating through its branch, Nordea Bank AB (publ), filial i Norge) 

Essendropsgate 7
0368 Oslo, Norway 

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ), Sweden (operating through its Oslo branch) 

P.O. Box 1843 Vika Filipstad Brygge 1
N-0123 Oslo, Norway 

Oman 

HSBC Bank Oman S.A.O.G.
(as delegate of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

2nd Floor Al Khuwair PO Box 1727 PC 111
Seeb, Oman 

Pakistan 

Deutsche Bank AG 

Unicentre – Unitowers
I.I. Chundrigar Road
P.O. Box 4925
Karachi - 74000, Pakistan 

Panama 

Citibank, N.A. 

Boulevard Punta Pacifica Torre de las Americas Apartado
Panama City, Panama 0834-00555 

Peru 

Citibank del Perú, S.A. 

Canaval y Moreyra 480 3rd Floor, San Isidro Lima 27, Perú 

Philippines 

Deutsche Bank AG 

Global Transaction Banking Tower One, Ayala

Triangle 1226 Makati City, Philippines 

Poland 

Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A. 

ul. Senatorska 16
00-293 Warsaw, Poland 

Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A. 

31 Zwirki I Wigury Street
02-091, Warsaw, Poland 

Portugal 

Deutsche Bank AG, Netherlands (operating through its Amsterdam branch with support from its Lisbon branch) 

De Entrees 99-197
1101 HE Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Puerto Rico 

Citibank N.A. 

235 Federico Costa Street, Suite 315 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918 

Qatar 

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited
(as delegate of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

2 Fl Ali Bin Ali Tower Building no.: 150 Airport Road
Doha, Qatar 

Romania 

Citibank Europe plc, Dublin – Romania Branch 

8, Iancu de Hunedoara Boulevard
712042, Bucharest Sector 1, Romania 

Russia 

AO Citibank 

8-10 Gasheka Street, Building 1
125047 Moscow, Russia 

Saudi Arabia 

HSBC Saudi Arabia
(as delegate of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

HSBC Head Office 7267 Olaya - Al Murooj Riyadh 12283-2255
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 

Senegal 

via Standard Chartered Bank Côte d’Ivoire S.A., Abidjan, Ivory Coast 

23, Bld de la République
17 BP 1141 Abidjan 17 Côte d’Ivoire 

Serbia 

UniCredit Bank Serbia JSC 

Rajiceva 27-29
11000 Belgrade, Serbia 

Singapore 

Citibank N.A. 

3 Changi Business Park Crescent
#07-00, Singapore 486026 

United Overseas Bank Limited 

156 Cecil Street
FEB Building #08-03
Singapore 069544 

Slovak Republic 

UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s. 

Ŝancová 1/A
813 33 Bratislava, Slovak Republic 

Slovenia 

UniCredit Banka Slovenija d.d. 

Šmartinska 140
SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 

South Africa 

FirstRand Bank Limited 

Mezzanine Floor
3 First Place Bank City
Corner Simmonds & Jeppe Sts. Johannesburg 2001
Republic of South Africa 

Standard Bank of South Africa Limited 

3rd Floor, 25 Pixley Ka Isaka Seme St. Johannesburg 2001
Republic of South Africa 

Spain 

Deutsche Bank S.A.E. 

Calle de Rosario Pino 14-16, Planta 1
28020 Madrid, Spain 

Sri Lanka 

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited 

24, Sir Baron Jayatilake Mawatha Colombo 01, Sri Lanka 

Republic of Srpska 

UniCredit Bank d.d. 

Zelenih beretki 24
71 000 Sarajevo
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Swaziland 

Standard Bank Swaziland Limited 

Standard House, Swazi Plaza Mbabane, Swaziland H101 

Sweden 

Nordea Bank AB (publ) 

Smålandsgatan 17
105 71 Stockholm, Sweden 

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) 

Sergels Torg 2
SE-106 40 Stockholm, Sweden 

Switzerland 

Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Limited 

Uetlibergstrasse 231
8070 Zurich, Switzerland 

UBS Switzerland AG 

Max-Högger-Strasse 80-82
CH-8048 Zurich-Alstetten, Switzerland 

Taiwan - R.O.C. 

Deutsche Bank AG 

296 Ren-Ai Road
Taipei 106 Taiwan, Republic of China 

Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Limited 

168 Tun Hwa North Road
Taipei 105, Taiwan, Republic of China 

Tanzania 

Standard Chartered Bank (Tanzania) Limited 

1 Floor, International House
Corner Shaaban Robert St and Garden Ave
PO Box 9011
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 

Thailand 

Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) Public Company Limited 

Sathorn Nakorn Tower 14th Floor, Zone B
90 North Sathorn Road
Silom, Bangkok 10500, Thailand 

Togo 

via Standard Chartered Bank Côte d’Ivoire S.A., Abidjan, Ivory Coast 

23, Bld de la République
17 BP 1141 Abidjan 17 Côte d’Ivoire 

Tunisia 

Union Internationale de Banques 

65 Avenue Bourguiba
1000 Tunis, Tunisia 

Turkey 

Citibank, A.Ş. 

Tekfen Tower
Eski Buyukdere Caddesi 209 Kat 3
Levent 34394 Istanbul, Turkey 

Deutsche Bank A.Ş. 

Eski Buyukdere Caddesi Tekfen Tower No. 209 Kat: 17 4
Levent 34394 Istanbul, Turkey 

Uganda 

Standard Chartered Bank Uganda Limited 

5 Speke Road
P.O. Box 7111
Kampala, Uganda 

Ukraine 

PJSC Citibank 

16-g Dilova St.
Kyiv 03150, Ukraine 

United Arab Emirates Dubai Financial
Market 

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited
(as delegate of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

HSBC Securities Services Emaar Square
Level 3, Building No. 5 P O Box 502601
Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

United Arab Emirates Dubai International Financial Center 

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited
(as delegate of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

HSBC Securities Services Emaar Square
Level 3, Building No. 5 P O Box 502601
Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi 

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited
(as delegate of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

HSBC Securities Services Emaar Square
Level 3, Building No. 5 P O Box 502601
Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

United Kingdom 

State Street Bank and Trust Company, United Kingdom branch 

525 Ferry Road
Edinburgh EH5 2AW, Scotland 

Uruguay 

Banco Itaú Uruguay S.A. 

Zabala 1463
11000 Montevideo, Uruguay 

Venezuela 

Citibank, N.A. 

Centro Comercial El Recreo Torre Norte, Piso 19 Avenida Casanova Caracas, Venezuela 1050 

Vietnam 

HSBC Bank (Vietnam) Limited
(as delegate of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited) 

Centre Point
106 Nguyen Van Troi Street Phu Nhuan District
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 

Zambia 

Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Plc. 

Standard Chartered House Cairo Road
P.O. Box 32238
10101, Lusaka, Zambia 

Zimbabwe 

Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe Limited
(as delegate of Standard Bank of South Africa Limited) 

3rd Floor Stanbic Centre
59 Samora Machel Avenue Harare, Zimbabwe 

  

  

  

  

  

  

SCHEDULE B – DEPOSITORIES OPERATING IN NETWORK MARKETS 

  

MARKET 

DEPOSITORY 

TYPES OF SECURITIES 

Albania 

Bank of Albania 

Government debt 

Argentina 

Caja de Valores S.A. 

Equities, government and corporate bonds, and corporate money market instruments 

Australia 

Austraclear Limited 

Government securities, corporate bonds, and corporate money market instruments 

Austria 

OeKB Central Securities Depository GmbH 

All securities listed on Wiener Börse AG, the Vienna Stock Exchange (as well as virtually all other Austrian securities) 

Bahrain 

Clearing, Settlement, Depository and Registry System of the Bahrain Bourse 

Equities 

Bangladesh 

Bangladesh Bank 

Government securities 

Central Depository Bangladesh Limited 

Equities and corporate bonds 

Belgium 

Euroclear Belgium 

Equities and most corporate bonds 

National Bank of Belgium 

Government securities, corporate bonds, and money market instruments 

Benin 

Dépositaire Central – Banque de Règlement 

All securities traded on Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières, the West African regional exchange, including securities from the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Banque Centrale des Etats d’Afrique de l’Ouest 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds issued by the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Bermuda 

Bermuda Securities Depository 

Equities, corporate bonds 

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Registar vrijednosnih papira u Federaciji Bosne i Hercegovine, d.d. 

Equities, corporate bonds, government securities, money market instruments 

Botswana 

Bank of Botswana 

Government debt 

Central Securities Depository Company of Botswana Ltd. 

Equities and corporate bonds 

Brazil 

Central de Custódia e de Liquidação Financeira de Títulos Privados (CETIP) 

Corporate debt and money market instruments 

BM&F BOVESPA Depository Services, a department of BM&F BOVESPA S.A. 

Equities and corporate bonds traded on-exchange 

Sistema Especial de Liquidação e de Custódia (SELIC) 

Government debt issued by the central bank and the National Treasury 

Bulgaria 

Bulgarian National Bank 

Government securities 

Central Depository AD 

Eligible equities and corporate bonds 

Burkina Faso 

Dépositaire Central – Banque de Règlement 

All securities traded on Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières, the West African regional exchange, including securities from the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Banque Centrale des Etats d’Afrique de l’Ouest 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds issued by the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Canada 

The Canadian Depository for Securities Limited 

All book-entry eligible securities, including government securities, equities, corporate bonds, money market instruments, strip bonds, and asset- backed securities 

Chile 

Depósito Central de Valores S.A. 

Government securities, equities, corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities, and money market instruments 

People’s Republic of China 

China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Limited, Shanghai and Shenzhen Branches 

A shares, B shares, Treasury bonds, local government bonds, enterprise bonds, corporate bonds, open and closed-end funds, convertible bonds, and warrants 

China Central Depository and Clearing Co., Ltd. 

Bonds traded through the China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM), including Treasury bonds, local government bonds, policy bank bonds, central bank bills, medium-term notes, commercial paper, enterprise bonds, and commercial bank bonds 

Shanghai Clearing House 

Bonds traded through the China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM), including Treasury bonds, local government bonds, policy bank bonds, central bank bills, enterprise bonds, certain issues of medium-term notes, commercial paper, and commercial bank bonds 

Colombia 

Depósito Central de Valores 

Securities issued by the central bank and the Republic of Colombia 

Depósito Centralizado de Valores de Colombia S.A. (DECEVAL) 

Equities, corporate bonds, money market instruments 

Costa Rica 

Interclear Central de Valores S.A. 

Securities traded on Bolsa Nacional de Valores 

Croatia 

Središnje klirinško depozitarno društvo d.d. 

Eligible equities, corporate bonds, government securities, and corporate money market instruments 

Cyprus 

Central Depository and Central Registry 

Equities, corporate bonds, dematerialized government securities, corporate money market instruments 

Czech Republic 

Centrální depozitář cenných papírů, a.s. 

All dematerialized equities, corporate debt, and government debt, excluding Treasury bills 

Czech National Bank 

Treasury bills 

Denmark 

VP Securities A/S 

Equities, government securities, corporate bonds, corporate money market instruments, warrants 

Egypt 

Central Bank of Egypt 

Treasury bills 

Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry S.A.E. 

Eligible equities, corporate bonds, and Treasury bonds 

Estonia 

AS Eesti Väärtpaberikeskus 

All registered equity and debt securities 

Finland 

Euroclear Finland 

Equities, corporate bonds, government securities, money market instruments 

France 

Euroclear France 

Government securities, equities, bonds, and money market instruments 

Republic of Georgia 

Georgian Central Securities Depository 

Equities, corporate bonds, and money market instruments 

National Bank of Georgia 

Government securities 

Germany 

Clearstream Banking AG, Frankfurt 

Equities, government securities, corporate bonds, money market instruments, warrants, investment funds, and index certificates 

Ghana 

Central Securities Depository (Ghana) Limited 

Government securities and Bank of Ghana securities; equities and corporate bonds 

Greece 

Bank of Greece, System for Monitoring Transactions in Securities in Book-Entry Form 

Government debt 

Hellenic Central Securities Depository 

Eligible listed equities, government debt, and corporate bonds 

Guinea-Bissau 

Dépositaire Central – Banque de Règlement 

All securities traded on Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières, the West African regional exchange, including securities from the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Banque Centrale des Etats d’Afrique de l’Ouest 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds issued by the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Hong Kong 

Central Moneymarkets Unit 

Government debt (i.e., exchange fund bills and notes issued by the HKMA), other private debt, and money market instruments 

Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited 

Securities listed or traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited 

Hungary 

KELER Központi Értéktár Zrt. 

Government securities, equities, corporate bonds, and investment fund notes 

Iceland 

Nasdaq verðbréfamiðstöð hf. 

Government securities, equities, corporate bonds, and money market instruments 

India 

Central Depository Services (India) Limited 

Eligible equities, debt securities, and money market instruments 

National Securities Depository Limited 

Eligible equities, debt securities, and money market instruments 

Reserve Bank of India 

Government securities 

Indonesia 

Bank Indonesia 

Sertifikat Bank Indonesia (central bank certificates), Surat Utang Negara (government debt instruments), and Surat Perbendaharaan Negara (Treasury bills) 

PT Kustodian Sentral Efek Indonesia 

Equities, corporate bonds, and money market instruments 

Ireland 

Euroclear UK & Ireland Limited 

GBP- and EUR-denominated money market instruments 

Euroclear Bank S.A./N.V. 

Government securities 

Israel 

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Clearing House Ltd. (TASE Clearing House) 

Government securities, equities, corporate bonds and trust fund units 

Italy 

Monte Titoli S.p.A. 

Equities, corporate debt, government debt, money market instruments, and warrants 

Ivory Coast 

Dépositaire Central – Banque de Règlement 

All securities traded on Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières, the West African regional exchange, including securities from the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Banque Centrale des Etats d’Afrique de l’Ouest 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds issued by the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Japan 

Bank of Japan – Financial Network System 

Government securities 

Japan Securities Depository Center (JASDEC) Incorporated 

Equities, corporate bonds, and corporate money market instruments 

Jordan 

Central Bank of Jordan 

Treasury bills, government bonds, development bonds, and public entity bonds 

Securities Depository Center 

Equities and corporate bonds 

Kazakhstan 

Central Securities Depository 

Government securities, equities, corporate bonds, and money market instruments 

Kenya 

Central Bank of Kenya 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds 

Central Depository and Settlement Corporation Limited 

Equities and corporate debt 

Republic of Korea 

Korea Securities Depository 

Equities, government securities, corporate bonds and money market instruments 

Kuwait 

Kuwait Clearing Company KSC 

Money market instruments, equities, and corporate bonds 

Latvia 

Latvian Central Depository 

Equities, government securities, corporate bonds, and money market instruments 

Lebanon 

Banque du Liban 

Government securities and certificates of deposit issued by the central bank 

Custodian and Clearing Center of Financial Instruments for Lebanon and the Middle East (Midclear) S.A.L. 

Equities, corporate bonds and money market instruments 

Lithuania 

Central Securities Depository of Lithuania 

All securities available for public trading 

Malawi 

Reserve Bank of Malawi 

Reserve Bank of Malawi bills and Treasury bills 

Malaysia 

Bank Negara Malaysia 

Treasury bills, Bank Negara Malaysia bills, Malaysian government securities, private debt securities, and money market instruments 

Bursa Malaysia Depository Sdn. Bhd. 

Securities listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad 

Mali 

Dépositaire Central – Banque de Règlement 

All securities traded on Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières, the West African regional exchange, including securities from the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Banque Centrale des Etats d’Afrique de l’Ouest 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds issued by the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Mauritius 

Bank of Mauritius 

Government debt (traded through primary dealers) 

Central Depository and Settlement Co. Limited 

Listed and unlisted equity and debt securities (corporate debt and T-bills traded on the exchange) 

Mexico 

S.D. Indeval, S.A. de C.V. 

All securities 

Morocco 

Maroclear 

Eligible listed equities, corporate and government debt, certificates of deposit, commercial paper 

Namibia 

Bank of Namibia 

Treasury bills 

Netherlands 

Euroclear Nederland 

Government securities, equities, corporate bonds, corporate money market instruments, and stripped government bonds 

New Zealand 

New Zealand Central Securities Depository Limited 

Government securities, equities, corporate bonds, and money market instruments 

Niger 

Dépositaire Central – Banque de Règlement 

All securities traded on Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières, the West African regional exchange, including securities from the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Banque Centrale des Etats d’Afrique de l’Ouest 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds issued by the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Nigeria 

Central Bank of Nigeria 

Treasury bills and government bonds 

Central Securities Clearing System Limited 

Equities and corporate bonds traded on the Nigeria Stock Exchange 

Norway 

Verdipapirsentralen 

All listed securities 

Oman 

Muscat Clearing & Depository Company S.A.O.G. 

Equities, corporate bonds, government debt 

Pakistan 

Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited 

Equities and corporate bonds 

State Bank of Pakistan 

Government securities 

Panama 

Central Latinoamericana de Valores, 

Equities, government and corporate debt, commercial paper, short-term securities 

S.A. (LatinClear) 

Peru 

CAVALI S.A. Institución de Compensación y Liquidación de Valores 

All securities in book-entry form traded on the stock exchange 

Philippines 

Philippine Depository & Trust Corporation 

Eligible equities and debt 

Registry of Scripless Securities (ROSS) of the Bureau of the Treasury 

Government securities 

Poland 

Rejestr Papierów Wartościowych 

Treasury bills 

Krajowy Depozyt Papierów Wartościowych, S.A. 

Equities, corporate bonds, corporate money market instruments, Treasury bonds, warrants, and futures contracts 

Portugal 

INTERBOLSA - Sociedad Gestora de Sistemas de Liquidação e de Sistemas Centralizados de Valores Mobiliários, S.A. 

All local Portuguese instruments 

Qatar 

Qatar Central Securities Depository 

Equities, government bonds and Treasury bills listed on the Qatar Exchange 

Romania 

National Bank of Romania 

Treasury bills and bonds 

S.C. Depozitarul Central S.A. 

Bursa de Valori Bucuresti- (Bucharest Stock Exchange-) listed equities, corporate bonds, government bonds, and municipal bonds 

Russia 

National Settlement Depository 

Eligible equities, Obligatsii Federal’nogo Zaima (OFZs), and corporate debt denominated in RUB 

Saudi Arabia 

Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority 

Government securities and Saudi government development bonds (SGDBs) 

Securities Depository Center Company 

Equities 

Senegal 

Dépositaire Central – Banque de Règlement 

All securities traded on Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières, the West African regional exchange, including securities from the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Banque Centrale des Etats d’Afrique de l’Ouest 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds issued by the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Serbia 

Central Securities Depository and Clearinghouse 

All instruments 

Singapore 

Monetary Authority of Singapore 

Government securities 

The Central Depository (Pte.) Limited 

Eligible listed equities and eligible private debt traded in Singapore 

Slovak Republic 

Centrálny depozitár cenných papierov SR, a.s. 

All dematerialized securities 

Slovenia 

KDD – Centralna klirinško depotna družba d.d. 

All publicly traded securities 

South Africa 

Strate (Pty) Ltd. 

Eligible equities, government securities, corporate bonds, money market instruments, and warrants 

Spain 

IBERCLEAR 

Government securities, equities, warrants, money market instruments, and corporate bonds 

Sri Lanka 

Central Bank of Sri Lanka 

Government securities 

Central Depository System (Pvt) Limited 

Equities and corporate bonds 

Republic of Srpska 

Central Registry of Securities in the Republic of Srpska JSC 

Government securities, equities, and corporate and municipal bonds 

Swaziland 

Central Bank of Swaziland 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds 

Sweden 

Euroclear Sweden 

Government securities, equities, bonds, money market instruments, derivatives, exchange traded funds, and warrants 

Switzerland 

SIX SIS AG 

Government securities, equities, corporate bonds, money market instruments, derivatives, mutual funds, and warrants 

Taiwan - R.O.C. 

Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) 

Government securities 

Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corporation 

Listed equities, short-term bills, and corporate bonds 

Tanzania 

Central Depository System (CDS), a department of the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange 

Equities and corporate bonds 

Thailand 

Thailand Securities Depository Company Limited 

Government securities, equities and corporate bonds 

Togo 

Dépositaire Central – Banque de Règlement 

All securities traded on Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières, the West African regional exchange, including securities from the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Banque Centrale des Etats d’Afrique de l’Ouest 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds issued by the following West African nations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

Tunisia 

Tunisie Clearing 

All eligible listed securities 

Turkey 

Central Bank of Turkey 

Government securities 

Central Registry Agency 

Equities, corporate bonds, money market instruments, mutual fund certificates, exchange traded funds 

Uganda 

Bank of Uganda 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds 

Securities Central Depository 

Equities, corporate bonds 

Ukraine 

National Depository of Ukraine 

Equities, bonds, and money market instruments 

United Arab Emirates – Abu Dhabi 

Clearing, Settlement, Depository and Registry department of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange 

Equities, government securities, and corporate debt 

United Arab Emirates – Dubai Financial Market 

Clearing, Settlement and Depository Division, a department of the Dubai Financial Market 

Equities, government securities, and corporate debt listed on the DFM 

United Arab Emirates – Dubai International Financial Center 

Central Securities Depository, owned and operated by NASDAQ Dubai Limited 

Equities, corporate bonds, and corporate money market instruments 

United Kingdom 

Euroclear UK & Ireland Limited 

GBP- and EUR-denominated money market instruments 

Uruguay 

Banco Central del Uruguay 

Government securities 

Venezuela 

Banco Central de Venezuela 

Government securities 

Vietnam 

Vietnam Securities Depository 

Equities, government bonds, T-bills, corporate bonds, and public fund certificates 

Zambia 

Bank of Zambia 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds 

LuSE Central Shares Depository Limited 

Treasury bonds, corporate bonds, and equities 

Zimbabwe 

Chengetedzai Depository Company Limited 

Equities and corporate bonds 

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe 

Treasury bills and Treasury bonds 

  

  

  

TRANSNATIONAL DEPOSITORIES 

Euroclear Bank S.A./N.V. 

Domestic securities from more than 40 markets 

Clearstream Banking, S.A. 

Domestic securities from more than 50 markets 

  

  

  

  

SCHEDULE C – GLOBAL CUSTODY NETWORK PUBLICATIONS 

  

Publication / Type of Information
(scheduled update frequency) 

Brief Description 

The Guide to Custody in World Markets
(regular my.statestreet.com updates) 

An overview of settlement and safekeeping procedures, custody practices, and foreign investor considerations for the markets in which State Street offers custodial services. 

Global Custody Network Review
(updated annually on my.statestreet.com) 

Information relating to Foreign Subcustodians in State Street’s Global Custody Network. The Review stands as an integral part of the materials that State Street provides to its U.S. mutual fund clients to assist them in complying with SEC Rule 17f-5. The Review also gives insight into State Street’s market expansion and Foreign Subcustodian selection processes, as well as the procedures and controls used to monitor the financial condition and performance of our Foreign Subcustodian banks. 

Securities Depository Review
(updated annually on my.statestreet.com) 

Custody risk analyses of the Foreign Securities Depositories presently operating in Network markets. This publication is an integral part of the materials that State Street provides to its U.S. mutual fund clients to meet informational obligations created by SEC Rule 17f-7. 

Global Legal Survey
(updated annually on my.statestreet.com) 

With respect to each market in which State Street offers custodial services, opinions relating to whether local law restricts: 

  

(x)access of a fund’s independent public accountants to books and records of a Foreign Subcustodian or Foreign Securities System, 

(xi)a fund’s ability to recover in the event of bankruptcy or insolvency of a Foreign Subcustodian or Foreign Securities System, 

(xii)a fund’s ability to recover in the event of a loss by a Foreign Subcustodian or Foreign Securities System, and 

(iv) the ability of a foreign investor to convert cash and cash equivalents to U.S. dollars. 

Subcustodian Agreements
(available on CD-ROM annually) 

Copies of the contracts that State Street has entered into with each Foreign Subcustodian that maintains U.S. mutual fund assets in the markets in which State Street offers custodial services. 

Global Market Bulletin
(daily or as necessary via email and on my.statestreet.com) 

Information on changing settlement and custody conditions in markets where State Street offers custodial services. Includes changes in market and tax regulations, depository developments, dematerialization information, as well as other market changes that may impact State Street’s clients. 

Foreign Custody Risk Advisories
(provided as necessary and on my.statestreet.com) 

For those markets where State Street offers custodial services that exhibit special risks or infrastructures impacting custody, State Street maintains market advisories to highlight those unique market factors which might impact our ability to offer recognized custody service levels. 

Foreign Custody Manager Material Change Notices
(quarterly or as necessary and on
my.statestreet.com) 

Informational letters and accompanying materials, pursuant to our role as Foreign Custody Manager, confirming State Street’s foreign custody arrangements, including a summary of material changes with Foreign Subcustodians that have occurred during the previous quarter. The notices also identify any material changes in the custodial risks associated with maintaining assets with Foreign Securities Depositories. 

Please contact GlobalMarketInformation@statestreet.com with questions about this document. 

  

The information contained in this document has been carefully researched and is believed to be reliable as of the publication date. Due to the complexities of the markets and changing conditions, however, State Street cannot guarantee that it is complete or accurate in every respect. This document should not be construed or used as a substitute for appropriate legal or investment counsel. Specific advice should be sought on matters relevant to the investment activities of the reader. This application contains proprietary information and is fully protected by  relevant copyright laws worldwide. 

  

Copyright 2017 State Street Corporation 

www.statestreet.com 

  

SCHEDULE D – SPECIAL SUB-CUSTODIANS 

  

  

Special Sub-Custodians 

  

*[None/Name of Special Sub-Custodian(s)] 

  

  

  

  

LOAN SERVICES ADDENDUM 

  

As used in this Addendum, the term “Fund”, in relation to a Loan (as defined below), includes a Portfolio on whose behalf the Fund acts with respect to the Loan. 

  

The following provisions will apply with respect to interests in commercial loans, including loan participations, whether the loans are bilateral or syndicated and whether any obligor is located in or outside of the United States (collectively, “Loans”), made or acquired by a Fund on behalf of one or more of its Portfolios.   

  

Section 1.  Payment Custody.  If a Fund wishes the Custodian to receive payments directly with respect to a Loan for credit to the bank account maintained by the Custodian for the Fund under the Custodian Agreement, 

  

(a)the Fund will cause the Custodian to be named as the Fund’s nominee for payment purposes under the relevant financing documents, e.g., in the case of a syndicated loan, the administrative contact for the agent bank, and otherwise provide for the payment to the Custodian of the payments with respect to the Loan; and 

  

(b)the Custodian will credit to the bank account maintained by the Custodian for the Fund under the Custodian Agreement any payment on or in respect of the Loan actually received by the Custodian and identified as relating to the Loan, but with any amount credited being conditional upon clearance and actual receipt by the Custodian of final payment. 

  

Section 2.  Monitoring.  If a Fund wishes the Custodian to monitor payments on and forward notices relating to a Loan, 

  

(a)the Fund will deliver, or cause to be delivered, to the Custodian a schedule identifying the amount and due dates of the scheduled principal payments, the scheduled interest payment dates and related payment amount information, and such other information with respect to the Loan as the Custodian may reasonably require in order to perform its services hereunder (collectively, “Loan Information”) and in such form and format as the Custodian may reasonably request; and 

  

(b)the Custodian will (i) if the amount of a principal, interest, fee or other payment with respect to the Loan is not received by the Custodian on the date on which the amount is scheduled to be paid as reflected in the Loan Information, provide a report to the Fund that the payment has not been received and (ii) if the Custodian receives any consent solicitation, notice of default or similar notice from any syndication agent, lead or obligor on the Loan, undertake reasonable efforts to forward the notice to the Fund. 

  

Section 3.  Exculpation of the Custodian.   

  

(a)Payment Custody and Monitoring.  The Custodian will have no liability for any delay or failure by the Fund or any third party in providing Loan rmation to the Custodian or for any inaccuracy or incompleteness of any Loan Information.  The Custodian will have no obligation to verify, investigate, recalculate, update or otherwise confirm the accuracy or completeness of any Loan Information or other information or notices received by the Custodian in respect of the Loan.  The Custodian will be entitled to (i) rely upon the Loan rmation provided to it by or on behalf of the Fund or any other information or notices that the Custodian may receive from time to time from any syndication agent, lead or obligor or any similar party with respect to the Loan and (ii) update its records on the basis of such information or notices as may from time to time be received by the Custodian. 

  

(b)Any Service.  The Custodian will have no obligation to (i) determine whether any necessary steps have been taken or requirements have been met for the Fund to have acquired good or record title to a Loan, (ii) ensure that the Fund’s acquisition of the Loan has been authorized by the Fund, (iii) collect past due payments on the Loan, preserve any rights against prior parties, exercise any right or perform any obligation in connection with the Loan (including taking any action in connection with any consent solicitation, notice of default or similar notice received from any syndication agent, lead or obligor on the Loan) or otherwise take any other action to enforce the payment obligations of any obligor on the Loan, (iv) become itself the record title holder of the Loan or (v) make any advance of its own funds with respect to the Loan.  

  

(c)Miscellaneous.  The Custodian will not be considered to have been or be charged with knowledge of the sale of a Loan by the Fund, unless and except to the extent that the Custodian shall have received written notice of the sale from the Fund and the proceeds of the sale have been received by the Custodian for credit to the bank account maintained by the Custodian for the Fund under the Custodian Agreement.  If any question arises as to the Custodian’s duties under this Addendum, the Custodian may request instructions from the Fund and will be entitled at all times to refrain from taking any action unless it has received Proper Instructions from the Fund.  The Custodian will in all events have no liability, risk or cost for any action taken or omitted with respect to the Loan pursuant to Proper Instructions.  The Custodian will have no responsibilities or duties whatsoever with respect to the Loan except as are expressly set forth in this Addendum. 

  

 

FIRST AMENDMENT TO AMENDED AND RESTATED
MASTER CUSTODIAN AGREEMENT 

  

This first amendment dated January __, 2018 (the “Amendment”) to the Amended and Restated Master Custodian Agreement dated September 15, 2017 (the “Agreement”) between State Street Bank and Trust Company, a Massachusetts trust company (the “Custodian”), and each management investment company listed on Appendix A thereto (each, a “Fund”).  Custodian and each Fund may be referred to individually as a “Party” or collectively as the “Parties”.   

  

For good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the Parties agree as follows: 

  

The Parties hereby amend and restate Appendix A to the Agreement as set forth below:  

  

APPENDIX A 

  

Vanguard California Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard California Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard California Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard California Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

VANGUARD CHARLOTTE FUNDS 

Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund 

  

Vanguard CMT Funds 

Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund 

  

Vanguard Convertible Securities Fund 

Vanguard Convertible Securities Fund 

  

Vanguard Fenway Funds 

Vanguard PRIMECAP Core Fund 

  

VANGUARD FIXED INCOME SECURITIES 

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Fund 

Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade Fund 

Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Fund 

Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Fund 

Vanguard Ultra-Short-Term Bond Fund 

  

VANGUARD EXPLORER FUND 

Vanguard Explorer Fund 

  

VANGUARD HORIZON FUNDS 

Vanguard Global Equity Fund 

Vanguard Strategic Equity Fund 

Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund 

  

VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS 

Vanguard 500 Index Fund 

  

Vanguard Institutional Index Funds 

Vanguard Institutional Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD INTERNATIONAL EQUITY INDEX FUNDS 

Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate Index Fund 

Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD MALVERN FUNDS 

Vanguard Institutional Intermediate-Term Bond Fund 

Vanguard Institutional Short-Term Bond Fund 

Vanguard Capital Value Fund 

Vanguard U.S. Value Fund 

Vanguard Emerging Markets Bond Fund 

Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund 

  

Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Funds 

Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Fund 

  

VANGUARD MONTGOMERY FUNDS 

Vanguard Market Neutral Fund 

  

VANGUARD MORGAN GROWTH FUND 

Vanguard Morgan Growth Fund 

  

Vanguard Municipal Bond Funds 

Vanguard High-Yield Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Limited-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Municipal Money Market Fund 

Vanguard Short-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond Index Fund 

  

Vanguard New Jersey Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard New Jersey Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard New Jersey Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard New York Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard New York Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard New York Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard Ohio Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard Ohio Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

  

Vanguard Pennsylvania Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard Pennsylvania Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Pennsylvania Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard Quantitative Funds 

Vanguard Growth and Income Fund 

  

VANGUARD SCOTTSDALE FUND 

Vanguard Explorer Value Fund 

Vanguard Russell 3000 Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD SPECIALIZED FUNDS 

Dividend Appreciation Index Fund 

Vanguard Energy Fund 

Vanguard Health Care Fund 

  

VANGUARD STAR FUNDS 

Vanguard STAR Fund 

  

VANGUARD TAX-MANAGED FUNDS 

Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD TRUSTEES’ EQUITY FUND 

Vanguard Alternative Strategies Fund 

Vanguard Emerging Markets Select Stock Fund 

  

Vanguard Variable Insurance Funds 

Balanced Portfolio 

Capital Growth Portfolio 

Diversified Value Portfolio 

Equity Income Portfolio 

Equity Index Portfolio 

Growth Portfolio 

High Yield Bond Portfolio 

Mid-Cap Index Portfolio 

REIT Index Portfolio 

International Portfolio 

Small Company Growth Portfolio 

  

VANGUARD WELLESLEY INCOME FUND 

Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund 

  

VANGUARD WHITEHALL FUNDS 

Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund 

Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund  

Vanguard Selected Value Fund 

  

VANGUARD WINDSOR FUNDS 

Vanguard Windsor Fund 

Vanguard Windsor II Fund 

  

Vanguard World Fund 

Vanguard Consumer Discretionary Index Fund 

Vanguard Consumer Staples Index Fund 

Vanguard Energy Index Fund 

Vanguard Financials Index Fund 

Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund 

Vanguard Health Care Index Fund 

Vanguard Industrials Index Fund 

Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund 

Vanguard Materials Index Fund  

Vanguard Mega Cap Growth Index Fund 

Vanguard Mega Cap Index Fund 

Vanguard Mega Cap Value Index Fund 

Vanguard Telecommunication Services Index Fund 

Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund 

Vanguard Utilities Index Fund  

  

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties has caused their duly authorized officers to execute and deliver this Amendment as of the date set forth above.   

  

  

STATE STREET BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 

  

EACH OF THE OPEN-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES LISTED ON APPENDIX A 

  

  

  

  

By:  /s/Andrew Erickson 

  

By:  

/s/ Thomas J. Higgins 

Name:  Andrew Erickson 

  

Name: 

Thomas J. Higgins 

Title:  Executive Vice President 

  

Title: 

Chief Financial Officer 

  

  

  

 

SECOND AMENDMENT TO AMENDED AND RESTATED
MASTER CUSTODIAN AGREEMENT 

  

This second amendment dated April __, 2019 (the “Amendment”) to the Amended and Restated Master Custodian Agreement dated September 15, 2017 (the “Agreement”) between State Street Bank and Trust Company, a Massachusetts trust company (the “Custodian”), and each management investment company listed on Appendix A thereto (each, a “Fund”).  Custodian and each Fund may be referred to individually as a “Party” or collectively as the “Parties”.   

  

For good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the Parties agree as follows: 

  

The Parties hereby amend and restate Appendix A to the Agreement as set forth below:  

  

APPENDIX A 

  

Vanguard California Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard California Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard California Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard California Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

VANGUARD CHARLOTTE FUNDS 

Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund 

  

Vanguard CMT Funds 

Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund 

  

  

Vanguard Fenway Funds 

Vanguard PRIMECAP Core Fund 

  

VANGUARD FIXED INCOME SECURITIES 

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Fund 

Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade Fund 

Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Fund 

Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Fund 

Vanguard Ultra-Short-Term Bond Fund 

  

VANGUARD EXPLORER FUND 

Vanguard Explorer Fund 

  

VANGUARD HORIZON FUNDS 

Vanguard Global Equity Fund 

Vanguard Strategic Equity Fund 

Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund 

  

VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS 

Vanguard 500 Index Fund 

  

Vanguard Institutional Index Funds 

Vanguard Institutional Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD INTERNATIONAL EQUITY INDEX FUNDS 

Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate Index Fund 

Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD MALVERN FUNDS 

Vanguard Institutional Intermediate-Term Bond Fund 

Vanguard Institutional Short-Term Bond Fund 

Vanguard Capital Value Fund 

Vanguard U.S. Value Fund 

Vanguard Emerging Markets Bond Fund 

Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund 

  

Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Funds 

Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Fund 

  

VANGUARD MONTGOMERY FUNDS 

Vanguard Market Neutral Fund 

  

  

Vanguard Municipal Bond Funds 

Vanguard High-Yield Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Limited-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Municipal Money Market Fund 

Vanguard Short-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond Index Fund 

  

Vanguard New Jersey Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard New Jersey Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard New Jersey Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard New York Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard New York Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard New York Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard Ohio Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard Ohio Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

  

Vanguard Pennsylvania Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard Pennsylvania Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Pennsylvania Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard Quantitative Funds 

Vanguard Growth and Income Fund 

  

VANGUARD SCOTTSDALE FUND 

Vanguard Explorer Value Fund 

Vanguard Russell 3000 Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD SPECIALIZED FUNDS 

Dividend Appreciation Index Fund 

Vanguard Energy Fund 

Vanguard Health Care Fund 

  

VANGUARD STAR FUNDS 

Vanguard STAR Fund 

  

VANGUARD TAX-MANAGED FUNDS 

Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD TRUSTEES’ EQUITY FUND 

Vanguard Alternative Strategies Fund 

Vanguard Emerging Markets Select Stock Fund 

Vanguard Commodity Strategy Fund  

  

Vanguard Variable Insurance Funds 

Balanced Portfolio 

Capital Growth Portfolio 

Diversified Value Portfolio 

Equity Income Portfolio 

Equity Index Portfolio 

Growth Portfolio 

High Yield Bond Portfolio 

Mid-Cap Index Portfolio 

REIT Index Portfolio 

International Portfolio 

Small Company Growth Portfolio 

  

VANGUARD WELLESLEY INCOME FUND 

Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund 

  

VANGUARD WHITEHALL FUNDS 

Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund 

Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund  

Vanguard Selected Value Fund 

  

VANGUARD WINDSOR FUNDS 

Vanguard Windsor Fund 

Vanguard Windsor II Fund 

  

Vanguard World Fund 

Vanguard Consumer Discretionary Index Fund 

Vanguard Consumer Staples Index Fund 

Vanguard Energy Index Fund 

Vanguard Financials Index Fund 

Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund 

Vanguard Health Care Index Fund 

Vanguard Industrials Index Fund 

Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund 

Vanguard Materials Index Fund  

Vanguard Mega Cap Growth Index Fund 

Vanguard Mega Cap Index Fund 

Vanguard Mega Cap Value Index Fund 

Vanguard Telecommunication Services Index Fund 

Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund 

Vanguard Utilities Index Fund  

  

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties has caused their duly authorized officers to execute and deliver this Amendment as of the date set forth above.   

  

  

STATE STREET BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 

  

EACH OF THE OPEN-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES LISTED ON APPENDIX A 

  

  

  

  

By:      /s/ Andrew Erickson 

  

By: 

/s/ Thomas J. Higgins 

Name: Andrew Erickson 

  

Name: 

Thomas J. Higgins 

Title:  Executive Vice President 

  

Title: 

Chief Financial Officer 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

THIRD AMENDMENT TO AMENDED AND RESTATED
MASTER CUSTODIAN AGREEMENT 

  

This third amendment dated January 3, 2020 (the “Amendment”) to the Amended and Restated Master Custodian Agreement dated September 15, 2017 (the “Agreement”) between State Street Bank and Trust Company, a Massachusetts trust company (the “Custodian”), and each management investment company listed on Appendix A thereto (each, a “Fund”). Custodian and each Fund may be referred to individually as a “Party” or collectively as the “Parties.”  

  

For good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the Parties agree as follows: 

  

The Parties hereby amend and restate Appendix A to the Agreement as set forth below:  

  

APPENDIX A 

  

Vanguard California Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard California Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard California Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard California Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

VANGUARD CHARLOTTE FUNDS 

Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund 

Vanguard Total International Bond II Index Fund 

  

Vanguard CMT Funds 

Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund 

  

Vanguard Fenway Funds 

Vanguard PRIMECAP Core Fund 

  

VANGUARD FIXED INCOME SECURITIES 

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Fund 

Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade Fund 

Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Fund 

Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Fund 

Vanguard Ultra-Short-Term Bond Fund 

  

VANGUARD EXPLORER FUND 

Vanguard Explorer Fund 

  

VANGUARD HORIZON FUNDS 

Vanguard Global Equity Fund 

Vanguard Strategic Equity Fund 

Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund 

  

VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS 

Vanguard 500 Index Fund 

  

Vanguard Institutional Index Funds 

Vanguard Institutional Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD INTERNATIONAL EQUITY INDEX FUNDS 

Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate Index Fund 

Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD MALVERN FUNDS 

Vanguard Institutional Intermediate-Term Bond Fund 

Vanguard Institutional Short-Term Bond Fund 

Vanguard Capital Value Fund 

Vanguard U.S. Value Fund 

Vanguard Emerging Markets Bond Fund 

Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund 

  

Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Funds 

Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Fund 

  

VANGUARD MONTGOMERY FUNDS 

Vanguard Market Neutral Fund 

  

Vanguard Municipal Bond Funds 

Vanguard High-Yield Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Limited-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Municipal Money Market Fund 

Vanguard Short-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond Index Fund 

  

Vanguard New Jersey Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard New Jersey Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard New Jersey Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard New York Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard New York Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard New York Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard Ohio Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard Ohio Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

  

Vanguard Pennsylvania Tax-Free Funds 

Vanguard Pennsylvania Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund 

Vanguard Pennsylvania Municipal Money Market Fund 

  

Vanguard Quantitative Funds 

Vanguard Growth and Income Fund 

  

VANGUARD SCOTTSDALE FUND 

Vanguard Explorer Value Fund 

Vanguard Russell 3000 Index Fund 

  

  

VANGUARD SPECIALIZED FUNDS 

Dividend Appreciation Index Fund 

Vanguard Energy Fund 

Vanguard Health Care Fund 

  

VANGUARD STAR FUNDS 

Vanguard STAR Fund 

  

VANGUARD TAX-MANAGED FUNDS 

Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund 

  

VANGUARD TRUSTEES’ EQUITY FUND 

Vanguard Alternative Strategies Fund 

Vanguard Commodity Strategy Fund 

Vanguard Emerging Markets Select Stock Fund 

  

Vanguard Variable Insurance Funds 

Balanced Portfolio 

Capital Growth Portfolio 

Diversified Value Portfolio 

Equity Income Portfolio 

Equity Index Portfolio 

Growth Portfolio 

High Yield Bond Portfolio 

Mid-Cap Index Portfolio 

Real Estate Index Portfolio 

International Portfolio 

Small Company Growth Portfolio 

  

VANGUARD WELLESLEY INCOME FUND 

Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund 

  

VANGUARD WHITEHALL FUNDS 

Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund 

Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund  

Vanguard Selected Value Fund 

  

VANGUARD WINDSOR FUNDS 

Vanguard Windsor Fund 

Vanguard Windsor II Fund 

  

Vanguard World Fund 

Vanguard Consumer Discretionary Index Fund 

Vanguard Consumer Staples Index Fund 

Vanguard Energy Index Fund 

Vanguard Financials Index Fund 

Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund 

Vanguard Health Care Index Fund 

Vanguard Industrials Index Fund 

Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund 

Vanguard Materials Index Fund  

Vanguard Mega Cap Growth Index Fund 

Vanguard Mega Cap Index Fund 

Vanguard Mega Cap Value Index Fund 

Vanguard Telecommunication Services Index Fund 

Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund 

Vanguard Utilities Index Fund  

  

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties has caused their duly authorized officers to execute and deliver this Amendment as of the date set forth above.   

  

  

STATE STREET BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 

  

EACH OF THE OPEN-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES LISTED ON APPENDIX A 

  

  

  

  

By:        /s/ Andrew Erickson 

  

By: 

/s/ John Bendl 

Name:   Andrew Erickson 

  

Name: 

John Bendl 

Title:     Executive Vice President  

  

Title: 

Chief Financial Officer 

  

  

  

  


CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM 

  

We hereby consent to the incorporation by reference in this registration Statement on Form N-1A of Vanguard Whitehall Funds of our reports dated December 15, 2020, relating to the financial statements and financial highlights, which appear in Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund and Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund’s Annual Reports on Form N-CSR for the year ended October 31, 2020, of our reports dated December 17, 2020, relating to the financial statements and financial highlights, which appear in Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund, Vanguard Selected Value Fund and Vanguard International Explorer Fund’s Annual Reports on Form N-CSR for the year ended October 31, 2020, and of our report dated December 21, 2020, relating to the financial statements and financial highlights, which appears in Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund’s Annual Report on Form N-CSR for the year ended October 31, 2020. We also consent to the references to us under the headings “Financial Statements”, “Service Providers—Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm” and “Financial Highlights” in such Registration Statement. 

/s/PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  

February 23, 2021 

  


VANGUARD FUNDS

MULTIPLE CLASS PLAN

I.INTRODUCTION

This Multiple Class Plan (the "Plan") describes seven separate classes of shares that may be offered by investment company members of The Vanguard Group of Mutual Funds (collectively the "Funds," individually a "Fund"). The Plan has been adopted pursuant to Rule 18f-3 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "1940 Act") to allow each Fund to offer multiple classes of shares in a manner permitted by Rule 18f-3, subject to the requirements imposed by the Rule. Each Fund may offer any one or more of the specified classes.

The Plan has been approved by the Board of Directors of The Vanguard Group, Inc. ("VGI"). In addition, the Plan has been adopted by a majority of the Board of Trustees of each Fund ("Fund Board"), including a majority of the Trustees who are not interested persons of each Fund. The classes of shares offered by each Fund are designated in Schedule A hereto, as such Schedule may be amended from time to time.

II.SHARE CLASSES

A Fund may offer any one or more of the following share classes:

Investor Shares

Admiral Shares

Institutional Shares

Institutional Plus Shares

Institutional Select Shares

ETF Shares

Transition Shares

III.DISTRIBUTION, AVAILABILITY AND ELIGIBILITY

Distribution arrangements for all classes are described below. Distribution arrangements vary by VGI business line depending on the eligibility of the client segments to whom they market. Each Fund retains sole discretion in determining share class availability, and VGI retains discretion in determining whether Fund shares shall be offered either directly or through certain financial intermediaries, or on certain financial intermediary platforms. Eligibility requirements for purchasing shares of each class will differ, as follows:

A.Investor Shares

Investor Shares of actively-managed Funds generally will be available to investors who are not permitted to purchase other classes of shares, subject to the eligibility requirements specified in Schedule B hereto, as such Schedule may be

1

amended from time to time. It is expected that the minimum investment amount for Investor Shares of actively-managed Funds will normally be lower than the amount required for any other class of shares of such Funds. Investor Shares of actively- managed Funds are typically distributed by all VGI business lines. Investor Shares of index Funds generally will be available to Funds that operate as a Fund-of-Funds and certain retirement plan clients receiving recordkeeping services from VGI.

B.Admiral Shares

Admiral Shares generally will be available to retail, institutional, and other investors who meet the eligibility requirements specified in Schedule B hereto, as such Schedule may be amended from time to time. These eligibility requirements may include, but are not limited to the following factors: (i) the total amount invested in the Fund; or (ii) any other factors deemed appropriate by a Fund's Board. Admiral Shares are typically distributed by all VGI business lines.

C.Institutional Shares

Institutional Shares generally will be available to institutional and other investors who meet the eligibility requirements specified in Schedule B hereto, as such Schedule may be amended from time to time. It is expected that the minimum investment amount per account for Institutional Shares will be substantially higher than the amounts required for Investor Shares or Admiral Shares. Institutional Shares are typically distributed by Vanguard's financial advisory services and institutional business lines.

D.Institutional Plus Shares

Institutional Plus Shares generally will be available to institutional and other investors who meet the eligibility requirements specified in Schedule B hereto, as such Schedule may be amended from time to time. It is expected that the minimum investment amount for Institutional Plus Shares will be substantially higher than the amount required for Institutional Shares. Institutional Plus Shares are typically distributed by VGI's financial advisory services and institutional business lines.

E.Institutional Select Shares

Institutional Select Shares generally will be available to institutional investors who meet the eligibility requirements specified in Schedule B hereto, as such Schedule may be amended from time to time. It is expected that the minimum investment amount for Institutional Select Shares will be the highest among all Fund share classes. Institutional Select Shares are typically distributed by VGI's institutional business line.

F.ETF Shares

A Fund will sell ETF Shares to investors that are (or who purchase through) Authorized Participants, and who generally pay for their ETF shares by depositing a prescribed basket consisting predominantly of securities with the Fund. An

2

Authorized Participant is an institution, usually a broker-dealer, that is a participant in the Depository Trust Company (DTC) and that has executed a Participant Agreement with the Fund's distributor. Additional eligibility requirements may be specified in Schedule B hereto, as such Schedule may be amended from time to time. Investors who are not Authorized Participants may buy and sell ETF shares through various exchanges and market centers. ETF Shares are typically distributed by all VGI business lines.

G.Transition Shares

Transition Shares generally will be available solely to Funds that operate as Funds-of-Funds and meet the eligibility requirements specified in Schedule B hereto, as such Schedule may be amended from time to time. Transition Shares are only internally distributed.

IV. SERVICE ARRANGEMENTS

Shareholders in all share classes will receive a range of shareholder services provided by VGI. These services may include transaction processing and shareholder recordkeeping, as well as the mailing of updated prospectuses, shareholder reports, tax statements, confirmation statements, quarterly portfolio summaries, and other items. Each share class will bear its proportionate share of VGI's cost of providing such services in accordance with Section VI of the Plan.

V.CONVERSION FEATURES

A. Self-Directed Conversions

1.Conversion into Investor Shares, Admiral Shares, Institutional Shares Institutional Plus Shares, and Institutional Select Shares. Shareholders may conduct self-directed conversions from one share class into another share class of the same Fund for which they are eligible. Self-directed conversions may be initiated by the shareholder; however, depending upon the particular share class and the complexity of the shareholder's accounts, such conversions may require the assistance of a VGI representative. Shareholders may convert from one share class into another share class provided that following the conversion the shareholder meets the then applicable eligibility requirements for the share class into which they are converting. Any such conversion will occur at the respective net asset values of the share classes next calculated after VGI's receipt of the shareholder's request in good order.

2.Conversion into ETF Shares. Except as otherwise provided, a shareholder may convert Investor Shares, Admiral Shares, or Institutional Shares into ETF Shares of the same Fund (if available), provided that: (i) the share class out of which the shareholder is converting and the ETF Shares declare and distribute dividends on the same schedule; (ii) the shares to be converted are not held through an employee benefit plan; and (iii) following

3

the conversion, the shareholder will hold ETF Shares through a brokerage account. Any such conversion will occur at the respective net asset values of the share classes next calculated after VGI's receipt of the shareholder's request in good order. VGI or the Fund may charge an administrative fee to process conversion transactions.

B.Automatic Conversions

1.Automatic conversion into Admiral Shares. VGI may automatically convert Investor Shares into Admiral Shares of the same Fund (if available), provided that following the conversion the shareholder meets the eligibility requirements for Admiral Shares. Any such conversion will occur at the respective net asset values of the share classes next calculated after VGI's conversion without the imposition of any charge. Such automatic conversions may occur on a periodic, or one-time basis. Automatic conversions may not apply to certain financial types of accounts (e.g., accounts held through certain intermediaries, or other accounts as may be excluded by VGI management).

2.Automatic conversion into Institutional Shares, Institutional Plus Shares, or Institutional Select Shares. VGI may conduct automatic conversions of any share class into either Institutional Shares, Institutional Plus Shares, or Institutional Select Shares in accordance with then-current eligibility requirements.

C.Involuntary Conversions and Cash Outs

1.Cash Outs. If a shareholder in any class of shares no longer meets the eligibility requirements for such shares, the Fund may, if permitted under applicable law, cash out the shareholder's remaining account balance. Any such cash out will be preceded by written notice to the shareholder and will be subject to the Fund's normal redemption fees, if any.

2.Conversion of Admiral Shares, Institutional Shares, and Institutional Plus Shares. If a shareholder no longer meets the eligibility requirements for the share class currently held, the Fund may convert the shareholder's holdings into the share class for which such shareholder is eligible. Any such conversion will be preceded by written notice to the shareholder, and will occur at the respective net asset values of the share classes without the imposition of any sales load, fee, or other charge.

3.Conversions of Transition Shares. When a Fund that issues Transition Shares has completed the relevant portfolio transition, the Fund will convert the Transition Shares to another share class of the same Fund as appropriate, based on the eligibility requirements of such class as specified in Schedule B hereto, as such Schedule may be amended from time to time.

VI. EXPENSE ALLOCATION AMONG CLASSES

4

A.Background

VGI is a jointly-owned subsidiary of the Funds. VGI provides the Funds, on an at-cost basis, virtually all of their corporate management, administrative and distribution services. VGI also may provide investment advisory services on an at-cost basis to the Funds. VGI was established and operates pursuant to a Funds' Service Agreement between itself and the Funds (the "Agreement"), and pursuant to certain exemptive orders granted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("Exemptive Orders"). VGI's direct and indirect expenses of providing corporate management, administrative and distribution services to the Funds are allocated among such Funds in accordance with methods specified in the Agreement or such other methods as may be approved by the Board of Directors of VGI ("VGI Board") as permitted under the Agreement and by the Fund Board.1

B.Class Specific Expenses

1.Expenses for Account-Based Services. Expenses associated with VGI's provision of account-based services to the Funds will be allocated among the share classes of each Fund on the basis of the amount incurred by each such class as follows:

(a)Account maintenance expenses. Expenses associated with the maintenance of investor accounts will be proportionately allocated among each Fund's share classes based upon a monthly determination of the costs to service each class of shares. Factors considered in this determination are (i) the percentage of total shareholder accounts represented by each class; and (ii) the percentage of total account transactions performed by VGI for each class.

(b)Expenses of special servicing arrangements. Expenses relating to any special servicing arrangements for a specific class will be proportionally allocated among each eligible Fund's share classes primarily based on their percentage of total shareholder accounts receiving the special servicing arrangements.

(c)Literature production and mailing expenses. Expenses associated with shareholder reports, proxy materials and other literature will be allocated among each Fund's share classes based upon the number of such items produced and mailed for each class.

2.Other Class Specific Expenses. Expenses for the primary

benefit of a particular share class will be allocated to that share class. Such expenses would include any legal fees attributable to a particular class.

1In accordance with the methods set out in the Agreement and VGI Board and Fund Board approved methods, the expenses that would otherwise have been allocated to each Fund that operates as a Fund-of-Funds are reallocated to the approved share class of the underlying Funds in the Fund-of-Funds' portfolio on a pro rata basis based on the Fund-of-Fund's relative net assets invested in the underlying Fund's share class.

5

C.Fund-Wide Expenses

1.Marketing and Distribution Expenses. Each share class will bear marketing and distribution expenses proportionate to the marketing and distribution expenses of the business lines that distribute that share class. Retail and institutional businesses expenses will be allocated based on the percentage of client accounts in each share class serviced by the respective business. Financial advisory service expenses will be apportioned based on the percentage of assets in each share class.

Expenses associated with each share class will be allocated only among the Funds that have such share class according to the "Vanguard Modified Formula," with each share class or each Fund treated as if it were a separate Fund. The Vanguard Modified Formula is set forth in the Agreement and in certain of the SEC Exemptive Orders. This allocation has been deemed an appropriate allocation methodology by each Fund Board under paragraph (c)(1)(v) of Rule 18f-3 under the 1940 Act.

2.Asset Management Expenses. Expenses associated with management of a Fund's assets (including all advisory, tax preparation and custody fees) will be allocated among the Fund's share classes on the basis of their relative net assets.

3.Other Fund Expenses. Any other Fund expenses not described above will be allocated among the share classes on the basis of their relative net assets.

VII. ALLOCATION OF INCOME, GAINS AND LOSSES

Income, gains and losses will be allocated among each Fund's share classes on the basis of their relative net assets. As a result of differences in allocated expenses, it is expected that the net income of, and dividends payable to, each class of shares will vary. Dividends and distributions paid to each class of shares will be calculated in the same manner, on the same day and at the same time.

VIII. VOTING AND OTHER RIGHTS

Each share class will have: (i) exclusive voting rights on any matter submitted to shareholders that relates solely to its service or distribution arrangements; and (ii) separate voting rights on any matter submitted to shareholders in which the interests of one class differ from the interests of the other class; and (iii) in all other respects the same rights, obligations and privileges as each other, except as described in the Plan.

IX. AMENDMENTS

All material amendments to the Plan must be approved by a majority of the Board of

6

Trustees of each Fund, including a majority of the Trustees who are not interested persons of the Fund. In addition, any material amendment to the Plan must be approved by the Board of Directors of VGI.

Original Board Approval: July 21, 2000

Last Approved by Board: November 22, 2019

7

SCHEDULE A to

VANGUARD FUNDS MULTIPLE CLASS PLAN

Note: Transition Shares, when offered by a Fund, are available for a limited period of time and are then converted into another share class. For this reason, Transition Shares are not shown on Schedule A.

Vanguard Fund

Share Classes Authorized

 

Vanguard Admiral Funds

 

 

•

Treasury Money Market Fund

Investor

• S&P 500 Value Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• S&P 500 Growth Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• S&P MidCap 400 Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

•

S&P MidCap 400 Value Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• S&P MidCap 400 Growth Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• S&P SmallCap 600 Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• S&P SmallCap 600 Value Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• S&P SmallCap 600 Growth Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

Vanguard Bond Index Funds

 

 

•

Short-Term Bond Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional,

 

 

Institutional Plus, ETF

•

Intermediate-Term Bond Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional, Institutional

 

 

Plus, ETF

•

Long-Term Bond Index Fund

Admiral, Institutional, Institutional Plus,

 

 

ETF

• Total Bond Market Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional, Institutional

 

 

Plus, Institutional Select, ETF

• Total Bond Market II Index Fund

Investor, Institutional

•

Inflation-Protected Securities Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional

Vanguard California Tax-Free Funds

 

 

•

Municipal Money Market Fund

Investor

•

Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard Charlotte Funds

 

 

• Total International Bond Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional,

 

 

Institutional Select, ETF

•

Global Credit Bond Fund

Investor, Admiral

• Total International Bond II Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional

1

Vanguard Fund

Share Classes Authorized

Vanguard Chester Funds

 

•

PRIMECAP Fund

Investor, Admiral

• Target Retirement Income Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2010 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2015 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2020 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2025 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2030 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2035 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2040 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2045 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2050 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2055 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2060 Fund

Investor

• Target Retirement 2065 Fund

Investor

• Institutional Target Retirement Income Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2010 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2015 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2020 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2025 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2030 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2035 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2040 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2045 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2050 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2055 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2060 Fund

Institutional

• Institutional Target Retirement 2065 Fund

Institutional

Vanguard Explorer Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard Fenway Funds

 

•

Equity Income Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Growth Equity Fund

Investor

•

PRIMECAP Core Fund

Investor

Vanguard Fixed Income Securities Funds

 

•

Ultra-Short-Term Bond Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Real Estate II Index Fund

Institutional Plus

•

Short-Term Treasury Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Short-Term Federal Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Short-Term Investment-Grade Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional

•

Intermediate-Term Treasury Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

GNMA Fund

Investor, Admiral

2

Vanguard Fund

Share Classes Authorized

 

•

Long-Term Treasury Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Long-Term Investment-Grade Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

High-Yield Corporate Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard Horizon Funds

 

 

•

Capital Opportunity Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Global Equity Fund

Investor

•

Strategic Equity Fund

Investor

• Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund

Investor

•

International Core Stock Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard Index Funds

 

 

•

500 Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional Select, ETF

•

Extended Market Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional,

 

 

Institutional Plus, Institutional Select, ETF

•

Growth Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional, ETF

•

Large-Cap Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional, ETF

• Mid-Cap Growth Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, ETF

•

Mid-Cap Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional,

 

 

Institutional Plus, ETF

•

Mid-Cap Value Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, ETF

• Small-Cap Growth Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional, ETF

•

Small-Cap Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional,

 

 

Institutional Plus, ETF

•

Small-Cap Value Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional, ETF

• Total Stock Market Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional, Institutional

 

 

Plus, Institutional Select, ETF

•

Value Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional, ETF

Vanguard Institutional Index Funds

 

 

•

Institutional Index Fund

Institutional, Institutional Plus

• Institutional Total Stock Market Index Fund

Institutional, Institutional Plus

Vanguard International Equity Index Funds

 

 

• Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional,

 

 

Institutional Plus

 

FTSE Emerging Markets ETF

ETF

•

European Stock Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional,

 

 

Institutional Plus

 

FTSE Europe ETF

ETF

• FTSE All-World ex US Index Fund

Admiral, Institutional, Institutional

 

 

Plus, ETF

• Pacific Stock Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional

 

FTSE Pacific ETF

ETF

• Total World Stock Index Fund

Admiral, Institutional, ETF

• FTSE All World ex-US Small-Cap Index Fund

Admiral, Institutional, ETF

• Global ex-U.S. Real Estate Index Fund

Admiral, Institutional, ETF

3

Vanguard Fund

Share Classes Authorized

Vanguard Malvern Funds

 

• Capital Value Fund

Investor

•Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities

 

Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional, ETF

•

U.S. Value Fund

Investor

•

Institutional Short-Term Bond Fund

Institutional Plus

•

Institutional Intermediate-Term Bond Fund

Institutional Plus

•

Core Bond Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Emerging Markets Bond Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Funds

 

•

Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor

Vanguard Money Market Funds

 

• Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund

Admiral

•

Federal Money Market Fund

Investor

Vanguard Montgomery Funds

 

•

Market Neutral Fund

Investor, Institutional

Vanguard Municipal Bond Funds

 

•

Municipal Money Market Fund

Investor

•

Short-Term Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Limited-Term Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

High-Yield Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Tax-Exempt Bond Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

Vanguard New Jersey Tax-Free Funds

 

•

Municipal Money Market Fund

Investor

•

Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard New York Tax-Free Funds

 

•

Municipal Money Market Fund

Investor

•

Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard Ohio Tax-Free Funds

 

•

Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor

Vanguard Pennsylvania Tax-Free Funds

 

•

Municipal Money Market Fund

Investor

•

Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund

Investor, Admiral

4

Vanguard Fund

Share Classes Authorized

Vanguard Quantitative Funds

 

•

Growth and Income Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard Scottsdale Funds

 

•

Short-Term Treasury Index Fund

Institutional, Admiral, ETF

• Intermediate-Term Treasury Index Fund

Institutional, Admiral, ETF

•

Long-Term Treasury Index Fund

Institutional, Admiral, ETF

• Short-Term Corporate Bond Index Fund

Institutional, Admiral, ETF

•

Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond Index Fund

Institutional, Admiral, ETF

• Long-Term Corporate Bond Index Fund

Institutional, Admiral, ETF

•

Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund

Institutional, Admiral, ETF

•

Explorer Value Fund

Investor

• Russell 1000 Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• Russell 1000 Value Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• Russell 2000 Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• Russell 2000 Value Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• Russell 2000 Growth Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• Russell 3000 Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• Total Corporate Bond ETF

ETF

•

Total World Bond ETF

ETF

Vanguard Specialized Funds

 

•

Energy Fund

Investor, Admiral

• Global Capital Cycles Fund

Investor

•

Health Care Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Dividend Growth Fund

Investor

•

Real Estate Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional, ETF

• Dividend Appreciation Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

•

Global ESG Select Stock Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard STAR Funds

 

•

LifeStrategy Conservative Growth Fund

Investor

•

LifeStrategy Growth Fund

Investor

•

LifeStrategy Income Fund

Investor

•

LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund

Investor

•

STAR Fund

Investor

• Total International Stock Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional,

 

 

Institutional Plus, Institutional Select,

Vanguard Tax-Managed Funds

ETF

 

•

Tax-Managed Balanced Fund

Admiral

• Tax-Managed Capital Appreciation Fund

Admiral, Institutional

• Developed Markets Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional,

 

 

Institutional Plus

 

FTSE Developed Markets ETF

ETF

•

Tax-Managed Small-Cap Fund

Admiral, Institutional

5

Vanguard Fund

Share Classes Authorized

Vanguard Trustees' Equity Fund

 

•

International Value Fund

Investor

•

Diversified Equity Fund

Investor

• Emerging Markets Select Stock Fund

Investor

•

Alternative Strategies Fund

Investor

•

Commodity Strategy Fund

Admiral

Vanguard Valley Forge Funds

 

•

Balanced Index Fund

Investor, Admiral, Institutional

•

Managed Allocation Fund

Investor

Vanguard Variable Insurance Funds

 

•

Balanced Portfolio

Investor

•

Conservative Allocation Portfolio

Investor

•

Diversified Value Portfolio

Investor

•

Equity Income Portfolio

Investor

•

Equity Index Portfolio

Investor

•

Growth Portfolio

Investor

• Global Bond Index Portfolio

Investor

• Total Bond Market Index Portfolio

Investor

•

High Yield Bond Portfolio

Investor

•

International Portfolio

Investor

•

Mid-Cap Index Portfolio

Investor

•

Moderate Allocation Portfolio

Investor

•

Money Market Portfolio

Investor

•

Real Estate Index Portfolio

Investor

•

Short-Term Investment Grade Portfolio

Investor

•

Small Company Growth Portfolio

Investor

•

Capital Growth Portfolio

Investor

• Total International Stock Market Index Portfolio

Investor

•

Total Stock Market Index Portfolio

Investor

Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard Wellington Fund

 

•

U.S. Liquidity Factor ETF

ETF

• U.S. Minimum Volatility ETF

ETF

•

U.S. Momentum Factor ETF

ETF

•

U.S. Multifactor ETF

ETF

•

U.S. Multifactor Fund

Admiral

•

U.S. Quality Factor ETF

ETF

•

U.S. Value Factor ETF

ETF

•

Wellington Fund

Investor, Admiral

6

Vanguard Fund

Share Classes Authorized

Vanguard Whitehall Funds

 

•

Selected Value Fund

Investor

•

Mid-Cap Growth Fund

Investor

•

International Explorer Fund

Investor

• High Dividend Yield Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

•Emerging Markets Government

 

Bond Index Fund

Admiral, Institutional, ETF

•

Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund

Investor, Admiral

• International Dividend Appreciation Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

• International High Dividend Yield Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

Vanguard Windsor Funds

 

•

Windsor Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Windsor II Fund

Investor, Admiral

Vanguard World Fund

 

• Extended Duration Treasury Index Fund

Institutional, Institutional Plus, ETF

• FTSE Social Index Fund

Admiral, Institutional

•

Global Wellesley Income Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Global Wellington Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

International Growth Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Mega Cap Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• Mega Cap Growth Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

• Mega Cap Value Index Fund

Institutional, ETF

•

U.S. Growth Fund

Investor, Admiral

•

Consumer Discretionary Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

•

Consumer Staples Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

•

Energy Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

•

Financials Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

• Health Care Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

•

Industrials Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

•

Information Technology Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

•

Materials Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

• Communication Services Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

•

Utilities Index Fund

Admiral, ETF

• ESG U.S. Stock ETF

ETF

•

ESG International Stock ETF

ETF

•

ESG U.S. Corporate Bond ETF

ETF

Original Board Approval: July 21, 2000

Last Updated: February 1, 2021

7

SCHEDULE B

to

VANGUARD FUNDS MULTIPLE CLASS

PLAN

VGI has policies and procedures designed to ensure consistency and compliance with the offering of multiple classes of shares within this Multiple Class Plan's eligibility requirements.2 These policies are reviewed and monitored on an ongoing basis in conjunction with VGI's Compliance Department.

Investor Shares - Eligibility Requirements

Investor Shares generally require a minimum initial investment and ongoing account balance of $3,000 ($50,000 for Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund). Personal Advisor Services clients, clients investing through financial intermediaries, and institutional clients may hold Investor Shares without restriction in Funds that do not offer Admiral Shares. Investor Shares of index Funds generally are available only to Funds that operate as a Fund-of-Funds and certain retirement plan clients receiving recordkeeping services from VGI. A Vanguard Fund may, from time to time, establish higher or lower minimum amounts for Investor Shares. Each Fund and VGI also reserve the right to establish higher or lower minimum amounts for certain investors or a group of investors.

Financial intermediaries that serve as mutual fund supermarkets may only invest in Investor Shares of Funds in which Investor Shares are available and may not invest in other share classes of such Funds.3 Mutual fund supermarket means a program or platform offered by a financial intermediary through which such intermediary's retail clients may purchase and sell mutual funds offered by a variety of independent fund families on a self-directed basis without advice or recommendation from a financial advisor or broker. This definition may be changed or amended at any time and without prior notice as may be determined in the discretion of VGI management. Nothing in the definition of mutual fund supermarket should be construed to prohibit Vanguard Brokerage Services from offering the Funds' other share classes to its eligible clients.

Admiral Shares – Eligibility Requirements

Admiral Shares generally are intended for clients who meet the required minimum initial investment and ongoing account balance of $3,000 for retail clients in index Funds and $50,000 for retail clients in actively-managed Funds. Personal Advisor Services clients, clients investing through financial intermediaries and institutional clients may hold Admiral Shares of both index and actively-managed Funds without restriction. Funds may, from time to time, establish higher or lower minimum amounts for Admiral Shares, and each Fund and VGI reserve the right to establish higher or lower minimum amounts for certain investors or a group of investors. Admiral Share class eligibility also is subject to the following rule:

•Certain Retirement Plans – Admiral Shares of actively-managed Funds generally are not available for SIMPLE IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.4

•Mutual Fund Supermarkets – Admiral Shares are not available to mutual fund supermarkets, except where a Fund does not have Investor Shares.

2The eligibility of a Fund that operates as a Fund-of-Funds to invest in a particular share class of an underlying Fund is determined by VGI and the Fund Board.

3Admiral Shares of the Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund are available to financial intermediaries that serve as mutual fund supermarkets.

4Admiral Share classes of all Funds are available to 403(b) plan participants in Vanguard's Retail 403(b) business, which is serviced by The Newport Group. Admiral Shares of the Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market Fund are available to SIMPLE IRAs and Vanguard Individual 401(k) Plans.

Institutional Shares – Eligibility Requirements

Institutional Shares generally require a minimum initial investment and ongoing account balance of

$5,000,000. However, each Fund and VGI also reserve the right to establish higher or lower minimum amounts for certain investors or a group of investors.

Institutional Share class eligibility also is subject to the following special rules:

•Retail clients. Retail clients may hold Institutional Shares by aggregating up to 3 accounts held by the same client (same tax I.D. number) in a single Fund.

•Financial intermediary clients. Financial intermediaries generally may hold Institutional Shares for the benefit of their underlying clients provided that:

(1)each underlying investor individually meets the investment minimum amount described above;

and

(2)the financial intermediary agrees to monitor ongoing compliance of the underlying investor accounts with the investment minimum amount; or

(3)an arrangement is established between VGI and the financial intermediary to allow VGI to monitor compliance with the eligibility requirements.

Home office model portfolios offered on wealth management platforms administered by financial intermediaries5 may offer Institutional Shares, provided:

(1)the financial intermediary in aggregate at the firm level, excluding custody assets, has total assets of at least $25 billion invested in Vanguard; and

(2)the financial intermediary in aggregate at the firm level, excluding custody assets, meets the investment minimum of Institutional Shares for the Fund.

A home office model portfolio must meet the following criteria:

(1)the allocations and Funds used in the model portfolios on the platform are set and selected by the financial intermediary (i.e., the firm itself);

(2)the allocations and Funds used in the model portfolios on the platform are not subject to change by individual financial advisors; and

(3)an arrangement is established between VGI and the financial intermediary to allow VGI to monitor compliance with the eligibility requirements.

•Institutional clients. An institutional client may hold Institutional Shares if the total amount aggregated among all accounts held by such a client (including accounts held through financial intermediaries) and invested in the Fund is at least $5 million (or such higher minimum required by the individual Fund). Such an institutional client must disclose to VGI on behalf of its accounts the following: (1) that the client acts as a common-decision maker6 for each account; and (2) the total

5For purposes of this Schedule B, this is not intended to include robo advisors.

6For purposes of this Schedule B, a common-decision maker includes, but is not limited to, a corporate entity that controls

multiple pools of assets invested in a Fund. For example, a corporate entity that acts as a plan sponsor for a retirement plan may have one or more investment committees or boards of trustees overseeing both the retirement plan account as well as other accounts invested in the Fund. In this case, the corporate entity would be considered a common-decision maker for each account where there is a common membership across each investment committee or governing body making investment

balance in each account in the Fund.

•Institutional clients with assets in certain Vanguard collective investment trusts and Funds. Institutional clients with assets in the following collective investment trusts and Funds may aggregate such assets with assets invested in the corresponding Funds listed below in the right column ("Corresponding Funds") for purposes of meeting the investment minimum for Institutional Shares of the Corresponding Funds.

Trust/Fund

Corresponding Fund

Vanguard Institutional Total Stock

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index

Market Index Trust

Fund

Vanguard Institutional Total Stock

Vanguard Institutional Total Stock

Market Index Trust

Market Index Fund

Vanguard Institutional Total Bond

Vanguard Total Bond Market Index

Market Index Trust

Fund

Vanguard Institutional Total

Vanguard Total International Stock

International Stock Market Index Trust

Market Index Fund

Vanguard Institutional 500 Index Trust

Vanguard Institutional Index Fund

Vanguard Institutional 500 Index Trust

Vanguard 500 Index Fund

Vanguard Institutional Extended Market

Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund

Index Trust

 

Vanguard Employee Benefit Index

Vanguard Institutional Index Fund

Fund

 

Vanguard Employee Benefit Index

Vanguard 500 Index Fund

Fund

 

Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth Index

Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth Index

Trust

Fund

Vanguard Russell 1000 Value Index

Vanguard Russell 1000 Value Index

Trust

Fund

Vanguard Russell 2000 Growth Index

Vanguard Russell 2000 Growth Index

Trust

Fund

Vanguard Russell 2000 Value Index

Vanguard Russell 2000 Value Index

Trust

Fund

Vanguard Target Retirement Trust

Vanguard Institutional Target

 

Retirement Fund (full suite)

•Investment by Vanguard Target Retirement Collective Trust. A Vanguard Target Retirement Trust that is a collective trust exempt from regulation under the Investment Company Act and that seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in underlying Funds (a "TRT") may hold Institutional Shares of an underlying Fund whether or not its investment meets the minimum investment threshold specified above.

•Accumulation Period Accounts funded through regular contributions (e.g., employer sponsored

participant contribution plans), whose assets are expected to quickly achieve eligibility levels, may qualify for Institutional Shares upon account creation, rather than undergoing the conversion process shortly after account set-up if VGI management determines that the account will become eligible for Institutional Shares within a limited period of time (generally 90 days). The accumulation period eligibility is subject to the discretion of VGI management.

decisions for each account. Common-decision makers do not include financial intermediaries.

Institutional Plus Shares - Eligibility Requirements

Institutional Plus Shares generally require a minimum initial investment and ongoing account balance of $100,000,000. However, each Fund and VGI also reserve the right to establish higher or lower minimum amounts for certain investors or a group of investors. Institutional Plus Share class eligibility also is subject to the following special rules:

•Retail clients. Retail clients may hold Institutional Plus Shares by aggregating up to 3 accounts held by the same client (same tax I.D. number) in a single Fund. For purposes of this rule, VGI management is authorized to permit aggregation of a greater number of accounts in the case of clients whose aggregate assets within the Funds are expected to generate substantial economies in the servicing of their accounts.

•Institutional clients. An institutional client may hold Institutional Plus Shares if the total amount aggregated among all accounts held by such client (including accounts held through financial intermediaries) and invested in the Fund is at least $100 million (or such higher or lower minimum required by the individual Fund). Such an institutional client must disclose to VGI on behalf of its accounts the following: (1) that the client acts as a common-decision maker for each account; and

(2) the total balance in each account held in the Fund.

•Institutional clients with assets in certain Vanguard collective investment trusts and Funds. Institutional clients with assets in the following collective investment trusts and Funds may aggregate such assets with assets invested in the corresponding Funds listed below in the right column ("Corresponding Funds") for purposes of meeting the investment minimum for Institutional Plus Shares of the Corresponding Funds.

Trust/Fund

Corresponding Fund

Vanguard Institutional Total Stock

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index

Market Index Trust

Fund

Vanguard Institutional Total Stock

Vanguard Institutional Total Stock

Market Index Trust

Market Index Fund

Vanguard Institutional Total Bond

Vanguard Total Bond Market Index

Market Index Trust

Fund

Vanguard Institutional Total

Vanguard Total International Stock

International Stock Market Index Trust

Market Index Fund

Vanguard Institutional 500 Index Trust

Vanguard Institutional Index Fund

Vanguard Institutional 500 Index Trust

Vanguard 500 Index Fund

Vanguard Institutional Extended Market

Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund

Index Trust

 

Vanguard Employee Benefit Index

Vanguard Institutional Index Fund

Fund

 

Vanguard Employee Benefit Index

Vanguard 500 Index Fund

Fund

 

Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth Index

Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth Index

Trust

Fund

Vanguard Russell 1000 Value Index

Vanguard Russell 1000 Value Index

Trust

Fund

Vanguard Russell 2000 Growth Index

Vanguard Russell 2000 Growth Index

Trust

Fund

Vanguard Russell 2000 Value Index

Vanguard Russell 2000 Value Index

Trust

Fund

Vanguard Target Retirement Trust

Vanguard Institutional Target

 

Retirement Fund (full suite)

•Financial intermediary clients. Financial intermediaries generally may hold Institutional Plus Shares for the benefit of their underlying clients provided that:

(1)each underlying investor individually meets the investment minimum amount described above;

and

(2)the financial intermediary agrees to monitor ongoing compliance of the underlying investor accounts with the investment minimum amount; or

(3)an arrangement is established between VGI and the financial intermediary to allow VGI to monitor compliance with the eligibility requirements.

Home office model portfolios offered on wealth management platforms administered by financial intermediaries may offer Institutional Plus Shares, provided:

(1)the financial intermediary in aggregate at the firm level, excluding custody assets, has total assets of at least $25 billion invested in Vanguard; and

(2)the financial intermediary in aggregate at the firm level, excluding custody assets, meets the investment minimum of Institutional Plus Shares for the Fund.

A home office model portfolio must meet the following criteria:

(1)the allocations and Funds used in the model portfolios on the platform are set and selected by the financial intermediary (i.e., the firm itself);

(2)the allocations and Funds used in the model portfolios on the platform are not subject to change by individual financial advisors; and

(3)an arrangement is established between VGI and the financial intermediary to allow VGI to monitor compliance with the eligibility requirements.

•Accumulation Period - Accounts funded through regular contributions (e.g., employer sponsored participant contribution plans), whose assets are expected to quickly achieve eligibility levels, may qualify for Institutional Plus Shares upon account creation, rather than undergoing the conversion process shortly after account set-up if VGI management determines that the account will become eligible for Institutional Plus Shares within a limited period of time (generally 90 days). The accumulation period eligibility is subject to the discretion of VGI management.

•Asset Allocation Models - Clients with defined asset allocation models whose assets meet eligibility requirements may qualify for Institutional Plus Shares if such models comply with policies and procedures that have been approved by VGI management.

Institutional Select Shares - Eligibility Requirements

Institutional Select Shares generally require a minimum initial investment and ongoing account balance of $3,000,000,000. However, each Fund and VGI also reserve the right to establish higher or lower minimum amounts for certain investors or a group of investors. Institutional Select Share class eligibility also is subject to the following special rules:

•Institutional clients. An institutional client may hold Institutional Select Shares if the total amount aggregated among all accounts held by such client (including accounts held through financial intermediaries) and invested in the Fund is at least $3 billion (or such higher or lower minimum required by the individual Fund). Such an institutional client must disclose to VGI on behalf of its accounts the following: (1) the client acts as a common-decision maker for each account; and (2) the total balance in each account in the Fund.

•Financial intermediary clients. Financial intermediaries generally may hold InstitutionalSelect Shares for the benefit of their underlying clients provided that:

(1)each underlying investor individually meets the investment minimum amount described above;

and

(2)the financial intermediary agrees to monitor ongoing compliance of the underlying investor accounts with the investment minimum amount; or

(3)an arrangement is established between VGI and the financial intermediary to allow VGI to monitor compliance with the eligibility requirements.

•Accumulation Period - Accounts funded through regular contributions (e.g. employer sponsored participant contribution plans), whose assets are expected to quickly achieve eligibility levels, may qualify for Institutional Select Shares upon account creation, rather than undergoing the conversion process shortly after account set-up, if VGI management determines that the account will become eligible for Institutional Select Shares within a limited period of time (generally 90 days). The accumulation period eligibility is subject to the discretion of VGI management.

•Investment by VGI collective investment trusts with a similar mandate. A VGI collective investment trust exempt from regulation under the Investment Company Act and that seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in an underlying Fund with an index-based mandate may hold Institutional Select Shares of an underlying Fund with a similar index-based mandate whether or not its investment meets the minimum investment threshold specified above.

ETF Shares – Eligibility Requirements

The eligibility requirements for ETF Shares will be set forth in the Fund's registration statement. To be eligible to purchase ETF Shares directly from a Fund, an investor must be (or must purchase through) an Authorized Participant, as defined in Paragraph III.F of the Multiple Class Plan. Investors purchasing ETF Shares from a Fund must purchase a minimum number of shares, known as a Creation Unit. The number of ETF Shares in a Creation Unit may vary from Fund to Fund, and will be set forth in the relevant Fund's prospectus. The value of a Fund's Creation Unit will vary with the net asset value of the

Fund's ETF Shares, but is expected to be several million dollars. An eligible investor generally must purchase a Creation Unit by depositing a prescribed basket consisting predominantly of securities with the Fund.

Transition Shares – Eligibility Requirements

Transition Shares will be offered only to Funds that operate as a Fund-of-Funds and only by an underlying Fund (i) that is receiving assets in kind from one or more Funds and (ii) that will "transition" those in-kind assets by selling some or all of them and using the proceeds to purchase different assets. There is no minimum investment amount for Transition Shares.

Original Board Approval: July 21, 2000

Last Approved by Board: July 24, 2020


CODE OF BUSINESS CONDUCT AND ETHICS

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

Revised June 2020

Pzena Investment Management, Inc.

Pzena investment Management, LLC

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Dear Colleagues/Associates:

The good name and reputation of Pzena Investment Management, Inc., Pzena Investment Management, LLC and their subsidiaries (collectively, the "Company") are a result of the dedication and hard work of all of us. Together, we are responsible for preserving and enhancing this reputation, a task that is fundamental to our continued well-being. Our goal is not just to comply with the laws and regulations that apply to our business; we also strive to abide by the highest standards of business conduct.

Set forth in the succeeding pages is the Company's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics ("the Code"). The purpose of the Code is to reinforce and enhance the Company's ethical way of doing business and, in particular, to provide regulations and procedures consistent with the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The contents of the Code are not new, however. The policies set forth here are part of the Company's long-standing tradition of ethical business standards.

All employees, officers and directors are expected to comply with the policies set forth in the Code. Read the Code carefully and make sure that you understand it, the consequences of non-compliance, and the Code's importance to the success of the Company. If you have any questions, speak to the Chief Compliance Officer or any of the alternate Compliance Officers identified in the Code.

The Code should be viewed as the minimum requirements for conduct. The Code cannot and is not intended to cover every applicable law or provide answers to all questions that might arise; for that we must ultimately rely on each person's good sense of what is right, including a sense of when it is proper to seek guidance from others on the appropriate course of conduct. When in doubt about the advisability or propriety of a particular practice or matter, please confer with the Legal and Compliance group.

We at the Company are committed to providing the best and most competitive services to our clients. Adherence to the policies set forth in the Code will help us achieve that goal.

Sincerely,

Richard S. Pzena

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Table of Contents

 

 

Page

PUTTING THIS CODE OF BUSINESS CONDUCT AND ETHICS TO WORK

................1

About this Code of Business Conduct and Ethics .............................................................

1

Purpose.....................................................................................................................................

1

Employee Provisions ..............................................................................................................

2

Implementation ........................................................................................................................

2

Definitions.................................................................................................................................

4

RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR ORGANIZATION ................................................................

5

Conflicts of Interest .................................................................................................................

5

Prohibited Transactions with Respect to Non-Company Securities ...............................

6

Employee Trading Exceptions with Respect to Non-Company Securities ....................

7

Exempt Transactions..............................................................................................................

7

Pre-Clearance Requirement..................................................................................................

8

Reporting Requirements ........................................................................................................

9

Other Prohibitions..................................................................................................................

11

Company Disclosures...........................................................................................................

12

Review ....................................................................................................................................

12

Reporting Violations..............................................................................................................

13

Background Checks..............................................................................................................

13

Sanctions................................................................................................................................

13

Required Records .................................................................................................................

14

Record Retention ..................................................................................................................

14

Waivers of this Code.............................................................................................................

15

Corporate Opportunities.......................................................................................................

15

Protection and Proper Use of Company Assets...............................................................

15

Client Information ..................................................................................................................

15

Portfolio Company Information............................................................................................

16

Company Information ...........................................................................................................

16

INSIDER TRADING .......................................................................................................

16

FAIR DEALING ..............................................................................................................

17

Antitrust Laws ........................................................................................................................

17

Conspiracies and Collaborations Among Competitors ...................................................

17

Distribution Issues.................................................................................................................

18

Penalties .................................................................................................................................

18

Gathering Information About the Company's Competitors.............................................

19

RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR PEOPLE ...........................................................................

19

Equal Employment Opportunity ..........................................................................................

19

Non-Discrimination Policy....................................................................................................

19

Anti-Harassment Policy........................................................................................................

20

Individuals and Conduct Covered.......................................................................................

20

Retaliation...............................................................................................................................

20

Reporting an Incident of Harassment, Discrimination or Retaliation ............................

20

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Leave Policies ..........................................................................................................

21

Safety in the Workplace .......................................................................................................

21

Weapons and Workplace Violence .....................................................................

21

Drugs and Alcohol...............................................................................................

21

INTERACTING WITH GOVERNMENT..........................................................................

21

Prohibition on Gifts to Government Officials and Employees ........................................

21

Political Contributions and Activities ..................................................................................

22

Lobbying Activities....................................................................................................

22

Bribery of Foreign Officials ..................................................................................................

22

Amendments and Modifications..........................................................................................

23

Form ADV Disclosure...........................................................................................................

23

Employee Certification. ........................................................................................................

23

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PUTTING THIS CODE OF BUSINESS CONDUCT AND ETHICS TO WORK

About this Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

We at the Company are committed to the highest standards of business conduct in our relationships with each other and with our clients, suppliers, shareholders and others. This requires that we conduct our business in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations and in accordance with the highest standards of business conduct. The Company's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (this "Code") helps each of us in this endeavor by providing a statement of the fundamental principles and key policies and procedures that govern the conduct of our business. Furthermore, this Code sets out procedures for compliance by the Company, a registered investment adviser to separately managed advisory accounts including registered investment companies (the "Funds") as well as unregistered funds and other private accounts, with Rule 17j-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, Rule 204A-1 and Rule 204-2 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (hereinafter, the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 shall collectively be referred to as the "1940 Acts" and Rule 17j-1, Rule 204A-1 and Rule 204-2 shall be collectively referred to as the "Rules"). This Code is designed to establish standards and procedures for the detection and prevention of activities by which persons having knowledge of the investments and investment intentions of the Company's advisory accounts may breach their fiduciary duties, and to avoid and regulate situations that may give rise to conflicts of interest that the Rules address.

This Code is based on the principle that the Company owes a fiduciary duty to clients, to ensure that its employees conduct their Personal Security Transactions (as defined below) in a manner that does not interfere with clients' transactions or otherwise take unfair advantage of the Company's relationship to its clients. The fiduciary principles that govern personal investment activities reflect, at a minimum, the following: (1) the duty at all times to place the interests of the client first; (2) the requirement that all Personal Security Transactions be conducted consistent with this Code and in such a manner as to avoid any actual or potential conflict of interest or any abuse of an individual's position of trust and responsibility; (3) the fundamental standard that investment personnel should not take inappropriate advantage of their positions; and (4) the requirement that investment personnel comply with applicable federal securities laws. Our business depends on the reputation of all of us for integrity and principled business conduct. Thus, in many instances, the policies referenced in this Code go beyond the requirements of the law.

Honesty and integrity are required of the Company and its employees, officers and directors at all times. The standards herein should be viewed as the minimum requirements for conduct. All employees, officers and directors of the Company are encouraged and expected to go above and beyond the standards outlined in this Code in order to provide clients with top level service while adhering to the highest ethical standards.

This Code is a statement of policies for individual and business conduct and does not, in any way, constitute an employment contract or an assurance of continued employment. Employees of the Company are employed at-will, except when covered by an express, written employment agreement. This means that employees may choose to resign their employment at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all. Similarly, the Company may choose to terminate employees' employment at any time, for any legal reason or for no reason at all, but not for an unlawful reason.

Purpose

The purpose of this Code is to reinforce and enhance the Company's ethical way of doing business and, in particular, to provide regulations and procedures consistent with the 1940 Acts and the Rules. As required by

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Rule 204A-1, this Code sets forth standards of conduct, requires compliance with the federal securities laws and addresses personal trading. In addition, this Code is designed to give effect to the general prohibitions set forth in Rule 17j-1(b), to wit:

"It is unlawful for any affiliated person of or principal underwriter for a Fund, or any affiliated person of an investment adviser of or principal underwriter for a Fund, in connection with the purchase or sale, directly or indirectly, by the person of a security held or to be acquired by the Fund:

(i)To employ any device, scheme or artifice to defraud the Fund;

(ii)To make any untrue statement of a material fact to the Fund or omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made to the Fund, in light of the circumstances under which they are made, not misleading;

(iii)To engage in any act, practice, or course of business that operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit on the Fund; or

(iv)To engage in any manipulative practice with respect to the Fund."

Employee Provisions

All Access Persons are required to file reports of their Personal Security Transactions (as defined below), excluding exempted securities, as provided in the "Pre-Clearance Requirement" and "Reporting Requirements" sections below and, if they wish to trade in the Company's stock or in the same securities as any of the Company's advisory accounts, must comply with the specific procedures in effect for such transactions.

The reports of employees will be reviewed and compared with the activities of the Company's advisory accounts and, if a pattern emerges that indicates abusive trading or noncompliance with applicable procedures, the matter will be referred to the Company's Chief Compliance Officer (the "CCO"), who will make appropriate inquiries and decide what action, if any, is then appropriate, including escalation to the Company's management as needed.

Implementation

In order to implement this Code, a CCO and one or more alternate Compliance Officers (each, an "Alternate") shall be designated from time to time for the Company. The current CCO is Joan F. Berger and the current Alternates are Steven Coffey, Geoff Bauer, Jacques Pompy, and Bill Zois.

The duties of the CCO and each Alternate shall include:

(i)Continuous maintenance of a current list of Access Persons as defined herein;

(ii)Furnishing all employees with a copy of this Code, and initially and periodically informing them of their duties and obligations thereunder;

(iii)Training and educating employees regarding this Code and their responsibilities hereunder;

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(iv)Maintaining, or supervising the maintenance of, all records required by this Code;

(v)Maintaining a list of the Funds that the Company advises or subadvises;

(vi)Determining with the assistance of an Approving Officer (as defined below) whether any particular Personal Security Transaction should be exempted pursuant to the provisions of the sections titled "Conflicts of Interest" or "Prohibited Transactions" of this Code;

(vii)Determining with the assistance of an Approving Officer whether special circumstances warrant that any particular security or Personal Security Transaction be temporarily or permanently restricted or prohibited;

(viii)Maintaining, from time to time as appropriate, a current list of the securities that are restricted or prohibited pursuant to (vii) above;

(ix)Issuing any interpretation of this Code that may appear consistent with the objectives of the Rules and this Code;

(x)Conducting such inspections or investigations as shall reasonably be required to detect and report violations of this Code, as described in paragraphs (xi) and (xii) below, to the Company's management and the Board of Directors of Pzena Investment Management, Inc. (the "Board");

(xi)Submitting periodic reports to the Company's management containing: (A) a description of any material violation by any non-executive employee of the Company and the sanction imposed; (B) a description of any violation by any director or executive officer of the Company and the sanction imposed; (C) interpretations issued by and any material exemptions or waivers found appropriate by the CCO; and (D) any other significant information concerning the appropriateness of this Code; and

(xii)Submitting a report at least annually to the Board and the Executive Committee of Pzena Investment Management, LLC (the "Executive Committee") that: (A) summarizes existing procedures concerning personal investing and any changes in the procedures made during the past year; (B) identifies the violations described in clauses (A) and (B) of the preceding paragraph (xi); (C) identifies any recommended changes in existing restrictions or procedures based upon experience under this Code, evolving industry practices or developments in applicable laws or regulations; and (D) reports of efforts made with respect to the implementation of this Code through orientation and training programs and ongoing reminders.

Each of us is responsible for knowing and understanding the policies and guidelines contained in the following pages. If persons have questions, please ask them; if they have ethical concerns, please raise them. The CCO, who is responsible for overseeing and monitoring compliance with this Code, and the other resources set forth in this Code are available to answer questions and provide guidance and for persons to report suspected misconduct. Our conduct should reflect the Company's values, demonstrate ethical leadership, and promote a work environment that upholds the Company's reputation for integrity, ethical conduct and trust. Copies of this Code are available from the CCO and on the Company's website. A statement of compliance with this Code must be completed by all officers, directors and employees on an annual basis.

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This Code cannot provide definitive answers to all questions. If employees have questions regarding any of the policies discussed in this Code or if employees are in doubt about the best course of action in a particular situation, employees should seek guidance from a supervisor, the CCO or the other resources identified in this Code.

This Code is a statement of the fundamental principles and key policies and procedures that govern the conduct of the Company's business. It is not intended to and does not create any obligations to or rights in any employee, director, client, supplier, competitor, shareholder or any other person or entity.

Definitions

For purposes of this Code:

(i)"Access Person(s)" means any employee, officer, or director (provided that directors may rebut the presumption of access established under Rule 17j-1(a)(1) by way of certification) of the Company. Contractors, interns, and other temporary staff are not generally included; however, we seek separate confidentiality representations from such persons.

(ii)"Approving Officer" means Richard S. Pzena, John P. Goetz, Ben Silver, Allison Fisch, or designee.

(iii)A security is "being considered for purchase or sale" when, subject to the Company's systematic buy/sell discipline as described in its Form ADV and client and prospect presentations, (i) a recommendation to purchase or sell that security has been made by the Company to an advisory account (e.g., the Portfolio Manager has instructed Portfolio Administration to begin preparing orders) or (ii) the Portfolio Manager is seriously considering making such a recommendation.

(iv)"Beneficial Ownership" means any interest by which an employee or officer or any member of such person's "immediate family" (which, for purposes of this Code includes a spouse or civil partner (wherever they may live), dependent child or stepchild (wherever they may live), or parent, sibling or other relative by blood or marriage living in the same household as the employee) can directly or indirectly derive a monetary benefit from the purchase, sale or ownership of a security. Thus, a person may be deemed to have Beneficial Ownership of Securities held in accounts in such person's own name, such person's spouse's name, and in all other accounts over which such person does or could be presumed to exercise investment decision-making powers, or other influence or control1, including trust accounts, partnership accounts, corporate accounts or other joint ownership or pooling arrangements; provided however, that with respect to spouses, a person shall no longer be deemed to have Beneficial Ownership of any accounts not

1In accordance with foreign regulations, this would include, without limitation, any security with which the Access Person is linked as a result of: (i) directly or indirectly controlling the security (in particular, but without limitation, by way of (i) having a majority of the voting rights in that security; or (ii) by being a shareholder in that security and having rights to appoint or remove a majority of the relevant Board, or to exercise a dominant influence over it under a shareholders' agreement); or (ii) having a participating interest in the security, by holding, directly or indirectly, at least 20% or more of the voting rights or capital.

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held jointly with his or her spouse if the person and the spouse are legally separated or divorced and are not living in the same household.

(v)"Exempt Transactions" means the transactions described in the section hereof titled "Exempt Transactions."

(vi)"Personal Security Transaction" means, for any employee or officer, a purchase, sale, gifting or donation of a security in which such person has, had, or will acquire a Beneficial Ownership.

(vii)"Purchase and Sale of a Security" includes, inter alia, the writing of an option to purchase or sell a security or participation in a tender offer. In addition, the "sale of a security" also includes the disposition by a person of that security by donation or gift. On the other hand, the acquisition by a person of a security by inheritance or gift is not treated as a "purchase" of that security under this Code as it is an involuntary purchase that is an Exempt Transaction under clause (iii) of the section titled "Exempt Transactions" below.

(viii)"Security" shall mean any common stock, preferred stock, treasury stock, single stock future, exchange traded fund or note, hedge fund, mutual fund, private placement, limited partnership interest, note, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral-trust certificate, transferable share, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit for a security, fractional undivided interest in oil, gas, or other mineral rights, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security (including a certificate of deposit) or on any group of securities (including any interest therein or based on the value thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign currency, or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a "security," or any certificate of interest or participation in, temporary or interim certificate for, receipt for, guarantee of, or warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing.

RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR ORGANIZATION

Company employees, officers and directors are expected to dedicate their best efforts to advancing the Company's interests and to make decisions that affect the Company based on the Company's best interests, independent of outside influences.

Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when employees' private interests interfere, or even appear to interfere, with the interests of the Company. A conflict situation may arise when employees take actions or have interests that make it difficult for employees to perform Company work objectively and effectively. Each employee's obligation to conduct the Company's business in an honest and ethical manner includes the ethical handling of actual, apparent and potential conflicts of interest between personal and business relationships. This includes full disclosure of any actual, apparent or potential conflicts of interest as set forth below.

As a fiduciary, the Company has an affirmative duty of care, loyalty, honesty, and good faith to act in the best interest of its clients. Compliance with this duty can be achieved by avoiding conflicts of interest or, when

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impracticable to do so, by fully disclosing all material facts concerning any conflict that does arise with respect to any client and following appropriate procedures designed to minimize any such conflict. Employees must try to avoid situations that have even the appearance of conflict or impropriety. Potential conflicts of interest should be brought to the attention of the CCO, who will determine whether further action is warranted (e.g., escalating such issues to the Risk Management Committee and/or Executive Committee, and/or recommending policy changes or additional disclosure).

(i)Conflicts of interest may arise where the Company or its employees have reason to favor the interests of one client over another client. Favoritism of one client over another client constitutes a breach of fiduciary duty.

(ii)Employees are prohibited from using knowledge about pending or currently considered securities transactions for clients to profit personally, directly or indirectly, as a result of such transactions, including by purchasing or selling such securities. Conflicts raised by Personal Security Transactions also are addressed more specifically below.

(iii)If the Company determines that an employee's Beneficial Ownership of a Security presents a material conflict, the employee may be restricted from participating in any decision-making process regarding the security. This may be particularly true in the case of proxy voting, and employees are expected to refer to and strictly adhere to the Company's proxy voting policies and procedures in this regard.

(iv)Employees are required to act in the best interests of the Company's clients regarding execution and other costs paid by clients for brokerage services. Employees are expected to refer to and strictly adhere to the Company's Best Execution policies and procedures.

(v)Access Persons are not permitted to knowingly sell to or purchase from a client any security or other property, except securities issued by the client.

Employees, officers and directors are prohibited from trading, either personally or on behalf of others, while in possession of material, nonpublic information. The Company's Insider Trading Policy is hereby incorporated by reference and employees, officers and directors are required to comply with the provisions therein.

Prohibited Transactions with Respect to Non-Company Securities*

(i)No Access Person or any member of such Access Person's immediate family may enter into a Personal Security Transaction for any security, or related security (e.g., derivatives, convertible instruments, corporate bonds), with actual knowledge that, at the same time, such security is "being considered for purchase or sale" by advisory accounts of the Company, or that such security is the subject of an outstanding purchase or sale order by advisory accounts of the Company except as provided below in the section titled "Employee Trading Exceptions with Respect to Non-Company Securities";

(ii)Except under the circumstances described in the section below titled "Employee Trading Exceptions with Respect to Non-Company Securities," no Access Person or any member of such Access Person's immediate family shall purchase or sell any security,

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or related security, within one business day before or after the purchase or sale of that security by advisory accounts of the Company;

(iii)No Access Person or any member of such Access Person's immediate family shall be permitted to effect a short-term trade (i.e., to purchase and subsequently sell within 60 calendar days, or to sell and subsequently purchase within 60 calendar days) involving the same or equivalent securities;

(iv)No Access Person or any member of such Access Person's immediate family is permitted to enter into a Personal Security Transaction for any security that is named on a Prohibited List;

(v)No Access Person or any member of such Access Person's immediate family shall purchase any security in an Initial Public Offering (other than a security issued by the Company);

(vi)No Access Person or any member of such Access Person's immediate family shall, without the express prior approval of the CCO, acquire any security in a private placement, and if a private placement security is acquired, such employee must disclose that investment when he/she becomes aware of the Company's subsequent consideration of any investment in that issuer, and in such circumstances, an independent review shall be conducted by the CCO;

*For any transactions by employees, directors and certain related persons in the Company's securities, please refer to the separate policy titled "Restrictions on Transactions in the Company's Securities."

Employee Trading Exceptions with Respect to Non-Company Securities*

Notwithstanding the prohibitions of the above section titled "Conflicts of Interest," an employee is permitted to purchase or sell any security, or related security, other than the Company's securities within one business day of the purchase or sale of that security by advisory accounts of the Company if the purchase or sale of the security is approved or allocated only after the Company's advisory accounts have each received their full allocation of the security purchased or sold on that day.

*For any transactions by employees, directors and certain related persons in the Company's securities, please refer to the separate policy titled "Restrictions on Transactions in the Company's Securities."

Exempt Transactions

The following transactions are exempt from the pre-clearance, prohibitions, and reporting provisions of this Code:

(i)Purchases or sales of securities of an open-end mutual fund, index fund, money market fund or other registered investment company that is not advised or subadvised by the Company;

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(ii)Purchases or sales of securities for an account over which an employee has no direct control and does not exercise indirect control (e.g., an account managed on a fully discretionary basis by a third party);

(iii)Involuntary purchases or sales made by an employee;

(iv)Purchases that are part of an automatic dividend reinvestment plan;

(v)Purchases that are part of an automatic investment plan, except that any transactions that override the preset schedule of allocations of the automatic investment plan must be reported in a quarterly transaction report;

(vi)Purchases or sales of U.S. Treasury securities (including purchases directly from the Treasury or a Federal Reserve Bank) and other direct obligations of the U.S. Government, as well as unsecured obligations of U.S. Government sponsored enterprises;

(vii)Purchases or sales of money market instruments, such as bankers acceptances, bank certificates of deposit, commercial paper, repurchase agreements and other high quality short-term debt instruments;

(viii)Purchases or sales of units in a unit investment trust if the unit investment trust is invested exclusively in unaffiliated mutual funds;

(ix)Purchases resulting from the exercise of rights acquired from an issuer as part of a pro rata distribution to all holders of a class of securities of such issuer and the sale of such rights; and

(x)Purchases or sales of futures (except individual stock futures contracts) and commodity contracts.

The following transactions are exempt from the pre-clearance and prohibitions provisions of this Code; however, the reporting requirements of this Code shall apply to:

(i)Purchases or sales of open-end mutual funds advised or subadvised by the Company;

(ii)Purchases or sales of closed-end mutual funds, exchange traded funds or notes (ETF/ETN), and derivatives of such securities;

(iii)Purchases or sales of municipal securities.

Pre-Clearance Requirement

(i)Unless an exception is granted by the CCO, each Access Person and each member of their immediate family must pre-clear all Personal Security Transactions by submitting a request through the Schwab Compliance Technology ("SCT") system and awaiting approval. A pre-clearance request to trade in a security, or related security, that is held in a client account or that is being considered for client purchase or sale, must also be

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accompanied by a fully completed Securities Transaction Pre-Clearance Form, as approved by the CCO (or Alternate). The Securities Transaction Pre-Clearance Forms generally include the signatures of an Approving Officer, the relevant Portfolio Manager, the Portfolio Implementation Desk and the Trading Desk. The SCT system will include a list of all such securities within a "Restricted List." The Securities Transaction Pre- Clearance Form can be found in the SCT system under the "My Policies" link;

(ii)All pre-cleared Personal Security Transactions, with the exception of private placements, must take place on the same day that the clearance is obtained. Personal Security Transactions in foreign markets will be approved for the next trading session in that local market. If the transaction is not completed on the date of clearance, a new clearance must be obtained, including one for any uncompleted portion. Post-approval is not permitted under this Code. If it is determined that a trade was completed before approval was obtained, it will be considered a violation of this Code; and

(iii)In addition to the restrictions contained in the "Conflicts of Interest" section hereof, an Approving Officer or the CCO may refuse to grant clearance of a Personal Security Transaction in his or her sole discretion without being required to specify any reason for the refusal. Generally, an Approving Officer or the CCO will consider the following factors in determining whether or not to clear a proposed transaction:

(1)whether the amount or the nature of the transaction or person making it is likely to affect the price or market of the security; and

(2)whether the individual making the proposed purchase or sale is likely to receive a disproportionate benefit from purchases or sales being made or considered on behalf of any of the advisory clients of the Company.

The pre-clearance requirement does not apply to Exempt Transactions. In case of doubt, the employee may present a Securities Transaction Pre-clearance Request Form to the CCO for consideration.

Reporting Requirements

(i)No later than 10 days after becoming an employee, each individual shall provide a listing of all securities Beneficially Owned by the employee (an "Initial Holdings Report"). The information in the Initial Holdings Report must be current as of a date no more than 45 days prior to the date the person became an employee. The Initial Holdings Report should be furnished to the CCO, Alternate or any other person whom the Company designates, and contain the following information:

(1)The title and type of security, and, as applicable, the exchange ticker symbol or CUSIP number, the number of shares or the principal amount of each reportable security in which the Access Person had any direct or indirect beneficial ownership when the person became an Access Person;

(2)The name of any broker, dealer or bank with whom the Access Person maintains an account in which any reportable securities were held for the direct or indirect benefit of the Access Person, the account number; and

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(3)The date the report is submitted by the Access Person.

(ii)All employees must direct their brokers and/or affiliated mutual fund custodians to supply the CCO on a timely basis with duplicate copies of monthly or quarterly statements for all personal securities accounts as are customarily provided by the firms maintaining such accounts. For all U.S.-based employees, unless otherwise approved by the CCO, brokerage accounts may only be maintained at the brokerage firms that provide the Company with a direct electronic feed through the SCT system. The list of approved brokerage firms is available from the CCO or designee. Accounts that are managed on a fully discretionary basis by an outside adviser (i.e. the employee has no direct control and does not exercise indirect control) are exempt from this requirement.

(iii)Such duplicate statements must contain the following information (as applicable):

(1)The date and nature of each transaction (purchase, sale or any other type of acquisition or disposition), if any;

(2)Title, and as applicable the exchange ticker symbol or CUSIP number (if any), interest rate and maturity date, number of shares and, principal amount of each security and the price at which the transaction was effected;

(3)The name of the broker, dealer or bank with or through whom the transaction was effected; and

(4)The date of issuance of the duplicate statements.

(iv)No later than 30 days after each calendar quarter, all employees covered by this Code shall provide quarterly transaction reports confirming that they have disclosed or reported all Personal Security Transactions and holdings required to be disclosed or reported pursuant hereto for the previous quarter.

(v)Within forty-five days of the end of each calendar year, all employees shall provide annual holdings reports listing all securities Beneficially Owned by the employee (the "Annual Holdings Report"). The information contained in the Annual Holdings Report shall be current as of a date no more than 45 days prior to the date the report is submitted, and shall include:

(1)The title and type of security, and, as applicable, the exchange ticker symbol or CUSIP number, the number of shares or the principal amount of each security in which the Access Person had any direct or indirect beneficial ownership;

(2)The name of any broker, dealer or bank with whom the Access Person maintains an account in which any securities were held for the direct or indirect benefit of the Access Person, the account number; and

(3)The date the report is submitted by the Access Person.

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(vi)Any statement or report submitted in accordance with this section may, at the request of the employee submitting the report, contain a statement that it is not to be construed as an admission that the person making it has or had any direct or indirect Beneficial Ownership in any Security to which the report relates.

(vii)All employees shall certify in writing, annually, that they have read and understand this Code and have complied with the requirements hereof and that they have disclosed or reported all Personal Security Transactions and holdings required to be disclosed or reported pursuant hereto.

(viii)The CCO shall retain records for each employee that shall contain the monthly/quarterly account statements, quarterly and annual reports listed above and all Securities Transaction Pre-clearance Forms.

(ix)With respect to the receipt of gifts and entertainment, all employees shall promptly report on a form designated by the CCO the nature of such gift or entertainment, the date received, its approximate value, the giver and the giver's relationship to the Company.

(x)With respect to reports regarding accounting matters, the Company is committed to compliance with applicable securities laws, rules, and regulations, accounting standards and internal accounting controls. Employees are expected to report any complaints or concerns regarding accounting, internal accounting controls and auditing matters ("Accounting Matters") promptly. Reports may be made to the CCO in person, or by calling the Helpline at 1-888-475-8376. Reports may be made anonymously to the Helpline; or in writing to the CCO at their offices by inter-office or regular mail. All reports will be treated confidentially to the extent reasonably possible. No one will be subject to retaliation because of a good faith report of a complaint or concern regarding Accounting Matters.

Other Prohibitions

Gifts

No Access Person shall accept any gifts or anything else of more than a de minimis value from any person or entity that does business with or on behalf of the Company or any of the advisory accounts of the Company. For purposes hereof, "de minimis value" shall mean a value of less than $100 per calendar year, or such higher amount as may be set forth in FINRA Conduct Rule 3220 from time to time. Furthermore, all gifts to consultants and other decision-makers for client accounts must be reasonable in value and must be pre-approved by the Managing Principal, Marketing and Client Services and the CCO before distribution. The Company has adopted a Business Gift and Entertainment Policy, which is located in the Company's Compliance Manual.

Political Contributions

No Access Person may make political or charitable contributions for the purpose of obtaining or retaining advisory contracts with government entities. In addition, no Access Person may consider the Company's current or anticipated business relationships as a factor in soliciting political or charitable

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contributions. The Company has adopted a Political Contributions Policy which is located in the Company's Compliance Manual.

Outside Business Activities

No director or executive officer of the Company may serve on the board of directors (or similar governing body) of any corporation or business entity without the prior written approval of the Company's management. Non-executive employees of the Company may only serve on the board of directors (or similar governing body) of a corporation or business entity with the prior written approval of the CCO in consultation with the Company's management, and if necessary the Board. Prior written approval of the CCO is also required in the following two (2) additional scenarios:

(1)Advisory Committee positions of any business, government or charitable entity where the members of the committee have the ability or authority to affect or influence the selection of investment managers or the selection of the investment of the entity's operating, endowment, pension or other funds.

(2)Positions on the board of directors, trustees or any advisory committee of a Company client or any potential client who is actively considering engaging the Company's investment advisory services.

Access Persons, subject to prior written supervisory approval and departmental restrictions, are permitted to engage in outside employment or other business activity ("Outside Business Activity") if it is free of any actions that could be considered a conflict of interest. Outside Business Activity must not adversely affect an Access Person's job performance at the Company, and must not result in absenteeism, tardiness or an Access Person's inability to work overtime when requested or required. Access Persons may not engage in Outside Business Activity that requires or involves using Company time, materials or resources.

Company Disclosures

It is Company policy to make full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosure in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations in all reports and documents that the Company files with, or submits to, the SEC and in all other public communications made by the Company.

Employees must complete all Company documents accurately, truthfully, and in a timely manner, including all travel and expense reports. When applicable, documents must be properly authorized. Employees must record the Company's financial activities in compliance with all applicable laws and accounting practices. The making of false or misleading entries, records or documentation is strictly prohibited. Employees must never create a false or misleading report or make a payment or establish an account on behalf of the Company with the understanding that any part of the payment or account is to be used for a purpose other than as described by the supporting documents.

Review

All pre-clearance requests, statements and reports of Personal Security Transactions and completed portfolio transactions of each of the Company's advisory clients shall be compared by or under the supervision of the

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CCO to determine whether a possible violation of this Code and/or other applicable trading procedures may have occurred. Before making any final determination that a violation has been committed by any person, the CCO shall give such person an opportunity to supply additional explanatory information.

If the CCO or Alternate determines that a material violation of this Code has or may have occurred, he or she shall, following consultation with counsel to the Company if needed, submit a written determination and any additional explanatory material provided by the individual to the Company's management, the Board and the Executive Committee as necessary.

No person shall review his or her own report. If a Personal Security Transaction of the CCO or the CCO's spouse is under consideration, an Alternate shall act in all respects in the manner prescribed herein for the CCO.

Reporting Violations

Any violations of this Code including violations of applicable federal securities laws, whether actual, known, apparent or suspected, should be reported promptly to the CCO or to any other person the Company may designate (as long as the CCO periodically receives reports of all violations). It is imperative that reporting persons not conduct their own preliminary investigations. Investigations of alleged violations may involve complex legal issues, and an employee acting on his own may compromise the integrity of an investigation and adversely affect both employees and the Company.

Any reports of violations will be treated confidentially to the extent permitted by law and reasonably possible and investigated promptly and appropriately. Any such reports may also be submitted anonymously. Employees are encouraged to consult the CCO with respect to any transaction that may violate this Code and to refrain from any action or transaction that might lead to the appearance of a violation. Any retaliation against an individual who reports a violation is prohibited and constitutes a further violation of this Code.

The Company has a 24-hour Helpline, 1-888-475-8376, which employees can use to report violations of the Company's policies or to seek guidance on those policies. Employees may report suspected violations to or ask questions of the Helpline anonymously; however, providing such employee's name may expedite the time it takes the Company to respond to such employee's call, and it also allows the Company to contact an employee if necessary during any investigation. Either way, the Company should treat the information that employees provide as confidential.

Background Checks

Employees are required to promptly report any criminal, regulatory or governmental investigations or convictions to which they become subject. Each employee is required to promptly complete and return any background questionnaires that the Company's Legal and Compliance group may circulate.

Sanctions

The Company intends to use every reasonable effort to prevent the occurrence of conduct not in compliance with this Code and to halt any such conduct that may occur as soon as reasonably possible after its discovery. Any violation of this Code shall be subject to the imposition of such sanctions by the CCO as may be deemed appropriate under the circumstances to achieve the purposes of the Rules and this Code, and may include suspension or termination of employment or of trading privileges, the rescission of trades, a written censure,

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imposition of fines or of restrictions on the number or type of providers of personal accounts; and/or requiring equitable restitution.

Required Records

Required Records (as listed in this section) must be kept in an easily accessible place. In addition, no records should be selectively destroyed, and all records must be retained if they are connected with any litigation/government investigation. The CCO shall maintain and cause to be maintained in an easily accessible place, the following records:

(a)A copy of any Code that has been in effect at any time during the past five years;

(b)A record of any violation of this Code and any action taken as a result of such violation for five years from the end of the fiscal year in which the violation occurred;

(c)A copy of each report made by the CCO within two years from the end of the fiscal year of the Company in which such report or interpretation is made or issued (and for an additional three years in a place that need not be easily accessible);

(d)A list of the names of persons who are currently, or within the past five years were, employees;

(e)A record of all written acknowledgements of receipt of this Code for each person who is currently, or within the past five years was, subject to this Code;

(f)Holdings and transactions reports made pursuant to this Code, including any brokerage account statements made in lieu of these reports;

(g)All pre-clearance forms shall be maintained for at least five years after the end of the fiscal year in which the approval was granted;

(h)A record of any decision approving the acquisition of securities by employees in limited offerings for at least five years after the end of the fiscal year in which approval was granted;

(i)Any exceptions reports prepared by Approving Officers or the Compliance Officer;

(j)A record of persons responsible for reviewing employees' reports currently or during the last five years; and

(k)A copy of reports provided to a Fund's board of directors regarding this Code.

For the first two years, the required records shall be maintained in the Company's New York offices.

Record Retention

In the course of its business, the Company produces and receives large numbers of records. Numerous laws require the retention of certain Company records for various periods of time. The Company is committed to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations relating to the preservation of records. The Company's policy is to identify, maintain, safeguard and destroy or retain all records in the Company's possession on a

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systematic and regular basis. Under no circumstances are Company records to be destroyed selectively or to be maintained outside Company premises or designated storage facilities, except in those instances where Company records may be temporarily brought home by employees working from home in accordance with approvals from their supervisors or applicable policies about working from home or other remote locations.

If employees learn of a subpoena or a pending or contemplated litigation or government investigation, employees should immediately contact the General Counsel. Employees must retain and preserve ALL records that may be responsive to the subpoena or relevant to the litigation or that may pertain to the investigation until employees are advised by the Legal and Compliance group as to how to proceed. Employees must also affirmatively preserve from destruction all relevant records that without intervention would automatically be destroyed or erased (such as e-mails and voicemail messages). Destruction of such records, even if inadvertent, could seriously prejudice the Company. If employees have any questions regarding whether a particular record pertains to a pending or contemplated investigation or litigation or may be responsive to a subpoena or regarding how to preserve particular types of records, employees should preserve the records in question and ask the Legal and Compliance group for advice.

Waivers of this Code

Waivers for directors and executive officers may be made by either the Board or the Audit Committee of the Board and must be promptly disclosed as required by law. Waivers for non-executive officers and employees may be made by the CCO.

Corporate Opportunities

Employees and directors owe a duty to the Company to advance its legitimate interests when the opportunity to do so arises. If employees learn of a business or investment opportunity through the use of corporate property or information or an employee's position at the Company, such as from a competitor or actual or potential client, supplier or business associate of the Company, employees may not participate in the opportunity or make the investment without the prior written approval of the CCO. Directors must obtain the prior approval of the Board. Such an opportunity should be considered an investment opportunity for the Company in the first instance. Employees may not use corporate property or information or an employee's position at the Company for improper personal gain, and employees may not compete with the Company.

Protection and Proper Use of Company Assets

We each have a duty to protect the Company's assets and ensure their efficient use. Theft, carelessness and waste have a direct impact on the Company's profitability. We should take measures to prevent damage to and theft or misuse of Company property. When employees leave the Company, all Company property must be returned to the Company. Except as specifically authorized, Company assets, including Company time, equipment, materials, resources and proprietary information, must be used for business purposes only.

Client Information

Current federal regulations are designed to protect the privacy of customers of financial institutions and financial services providers. In this regard, the Company has adopted privacy policies (the "Privacy Policies") by which each employee of the Company must agree to abide. The CCO will ensure that each employee of the Company acknowledges their adherence to the Privacy Policies. A copy of the Privacy Policies is found in the

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Company's Compliance Manual. The Company will keep a copy of the Privacy Policies and will make them available upon request.

Portfolio Company Information

Certain limitations on trading and other activities may result from employees of the Company receiving access to material, nonpublic information regarding the plans, earnings, operations or financial condition of issuers ("Portfolio Companies"). If, in employee conversations, meetings or written communications with Portfolio Company management, employees are told (or have reason to believe) that the information employees have received is not public, employees should notify the CCO immediately. If employees are forewarned that the information employees are about to receive is confidential/not public, employees should ask the person not to disclose the information to employees until employees have a chance to check with the Legal and Compliance group. The Company's Insider Trading Policy more fully discusses material, nonpublic information.

Company Information

Unless employees are doing so in connection with Company duties and responsibilities, employees should not discuss specific details about the Company's business with unauthorized persons, including family members. Even when representing the Company, employees need to be careful about disclosing certain information. Engaging in discussions with outside parties (who are not custodians and brokers or dealers implementing such strategies and transactions for us) about specific strategies or transactions in Portfolio Companies that the Company is or is considering implementing for clients may present a conflict of interest for the Company and may even subject the recipient of such information to this Code (including its personal trading policies). It is very important to remember this when having discussions with personal friends, social acquaintances and former business associates or colleagues who are active investment management professionals (e.g., hedge fund managers, other investment advisers). It is equally important to remember this when employees are discussing the Company's business or clients with colleagues in public places (e.g., elevators, lunch lines). Employees should be particularly careful not to use actual company or client names in any public settings.

Information that is proprietary to the Company should not be shared with others. With regard to what might constitute material that is proprietary and/or should not be shared, employees may use a simple guideline that if we paid for it or if we created it, it is likely proprietary and should not be shared. For example, the Company's proprietary stock analysis software should not be shared with others.

INSIDER TRADING

Various federal and state securities laws and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Section 204A) require every investment adviser to establish, maintain and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed, taking into consideration the nature of such adviser's business, to prevent the misuse of material, nonpublic information in violation of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 or other securities laws by the investment adviser or any person associated with the investment adviser.

The CCO has the primary responsibility for the implementation and monitoring of the Company's Insider Trading Policy, practices, disclosures and recordkeeping. The Company's Insider Trading Policy is designed to detect and prevent illegal insider trading. The Insider Trading Policy covers: (i) the Company, (ii) all persons controlled by, controlling or under common control with the Company (iii) consultants, subtenants, office occupants or other persons who are deemed to be Access Persons under this Code; and (iv) each and every employee, officer, director, general partner and member of the Company and any person described in clause

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(ii)(all persons described in this paragraph are referred to collectively as the "Covered Persons"). The Insider Trading Policy extends to activities both within and outside each Covered Person's relationship with the Company. The CCO will ensure that each employee of the Company acknowledges their adherence to the Insider Trading Policy. The Company will keep a copy of the Insider Trading Policy and will make it available upon request.

FAIR DEALING

The Company depends on its reputation for quality, service and integrity. The way we deal with our clients, competitors and suppliers molds our reputation, builds long-term trust and ultimately determines our success. Employees should endeavor to deal fairly with the Company's clients, suppliers, competitors and other employees. We must never take unfair advantage of others through manipulation, concealment, abuse of privileged information, misrepresentation of material facts or any other unfair dealing practice.

Antitrust Laws

While the Company competes vigorously in all of its business activities, its efforts in the marketplace must be conducted in accordance with all applicable antitrust and competition laws. While it is impossible to describe antitrust and competition laws fully in any code of business conduct, this Code gives an overview of the types of conduct that are particularly likely to raise antitrust concerns. If employees are or become engaged in activities similar to those identified in this Code, employees should consult the Legal and Compliance group for further guidance.

Conspiracies and Collaborations Among Competitors

One of the primary goals of the antitrust laws is to promote and preserve each competitor's independence when making decisions on price, output, and other competitively sensitive factors. Some of the most serious antitrust offenses are agreements between competitors that limit independent judgment and restrain trade, such as agreements to fix prices, restrict output or control the quality of products, or to divide a market for clients, territories, products or purchases. Employees should not agree with any competitor on any of these topics, as these agreements are virtually always unlawful. (In other words, no excuse will absolve employees or the Company of liability.)

Unlawful agreements need not take the form of a written contract or even express commitments or mutual assurances. Courts can -- and do -- infer agreements based on "loose talk," informal discussions, or the mere exchange between competitors of information from which pricing or other collusion could result. Any communication with a competitor's representative, no matter how innocuous it may seem at the time, may later be subject to legal scrutiny and form the basis for accusations of improper or illegal conduct. Employees should take care to avoid involving themselves in situations from which an unlawful agreement could be inferred.

By bringing competitors together, trade associations and standard-setting organizations may raise antitrust concerns, even though such groups serve many legitimate goals. The exchange of sensitive information with competitors regarding topics such as prices, profit margins, output levels, or billing or advertising practices may potentially violate antitrust and competition laws, as may creating a standard with the purpose and effect of harming competition. Employees must notify the Legal and Compliance group before joining any trade associations or standard-setting organizations. Further, if employees are attending a meeting at which

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potentially competitively sensitive topics are discussed without oversight by an antitrust lawyer, employees should object, leave the meeting, and notify the Legal and Compliance group immediately.

Joint ventures with competitors are not illegal under applicable antitrust and competition laws. However, like trade associations, joint ventures present potential antitrust concerns. The Legal and Compliance group should therefore be consulted before negotiating or entering into such a venture.

Distribution Issues

Relationships with clients and suppliers may also be subject to a number of antitrust prohibitions if these relationships harm competition. For example, it may be illegal for a company to affect competition by agreeing with a supplier to limit that supplier's sales to any of the Company's competitors. Collective refusals to deal with a competitor, supplier or client may be unlawful as well. While the Company generally is allowed to decide independently that it does not wish to buy from or sell to a particular person, when such a decision is reached jointly with others, it may be unlawful, regardless of whether it seems commercially reasonable.

Other activities that may raise antitrust concerns are:

(i)discriminating in terms and services offered to clients, where the Company treats one client or group of clients differently than another;

(ii)exclusive dealing agreements, where the Company requires a client to buy only from a particular supplier, or the supplier to sell only to the Company or the client;

(iii)tying arrangements, where a client or supplier is required, as a condition of purchasing or selling one product or service, also to purchase or sell a second, distinct product or service;

(iv)"bundled discounts," in which discount or rebate programs link the level of discounts available on one product or service to purchases of separate but related products or services; and

(v)"predatory pricing," where the Company offers a discount that results in the sales price of a product or service being below the product's or service's cost (the definition of cost varies depending on the court), with the intention of sustaining that price long enough to drive competitors out of the market.

Because these activities are prohibited under many circumstances, employees should consult the Legal and Compliance group before implementing any of them.

Penalties

Failure to comply with the antitrust laws could result in jail terms for individuals and large criminal fines and other monetary penalties for both the Company and individuals. In addition, private parties may bring civil suits to recover three times their actual damages, plus attorney's fees and court costs.

The antitrust laws are extremely complex. Because antitrust lawsuits can be very costly (even when a company has not violated the antitrust laws and is cleared in the end), it is important to consult with the Legal and Compliance group before engaging in any conduct that even appears to create the basis for an allegation

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of wrongdoing. It is far easier to structure employee conduct to avoid erroneous impressions than to explain their conduct in the future when an antitrust investigation or action is in progress. For that reason, when in doubt, consult the Legal and Compliance group with any concerns.

Gathering Information About the Company's Competitors

It is entirely proper for us to gather information about our marketplace, including information about our competitors and their products and services. However, there are limits to the ways that information should be acquired and used, especially information about competitors. In gathering competitive information, employees should abide by the following guidelines:

1.We may gather information about our competitors from sources such as published articles, advertisements, brochures, other non-proprietary materials, surveys by consultants and conversations with our clients, as long as those conversations are not likely to suggest that we are attempting to (a) conspire with our competitors, using the client as a messenger, or (b) gather information in breach of a client's nondisclosure agreement with a competitor or through other wrongful means. Employees should be able to identify the source of any information about competitors.

2.We must never attempt to acquire a competitor's trade secrets or other proprietary information through unlawful means, such as theft, spying, bribery or breach of a competitor's nondisclosure agreement.

3.If there is any indication that information that employees obtain was not lawfully received by the party in possession, employees should refuse to accept it. If employees receive any competitive information anonymously or that is marked confidential, employees should not review it and should contact the Legal and Compliance group immediately.

The improper gathering or use of competitive information could subject employees and the Company to criminal and civil liability. When in doubt as to whether a source of information is proper, employees should contact the Legal and Compliance group.

RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR PEOPLE

Equal Employment Opportunity

It is the policy of the Company to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Our employment practices and decisions adhere to the principles of non-discrimination and equal employment opportunity. All personnel involved in hiring, promotion, transfers, compensation, benefits, termination and all other terms and conditions of employment are made aware of their responsibilities in support of these corporate goals.

Non-Discrimination Policy

The Company is committed to a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Each employee has the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes equal employment

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opportunities and prohibits discriminatory practices, including harassment. Therefore, the Company expects that all relationships among persons in the office will be free of bias, prejudice and harassment.

Anti-Harassment Policy

The Company is committed to maintaining a work environment that is free of discrimination. In keeping with this commitment, we will not tolerate unlawful harassment of our employees by anyone, including any supervisor, co-worker or third party. Harassment consists of unwelcome conduct, whether verbal, physical or visual, that is based on a person's race, color, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, disability or other protected characteristic, that (1) has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment; (2) has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance; or (3) otherwise adversely affects an individual's employment opportunities. Harassment will not be tolerated.

Harassment may include derogatory remarks, epithets, offensive jokes, intimidating or hostile acts, the display of offensive printed, visual or electronic material, or offensive physical actions. Sexual harassment deserves special mention. Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other physical, verbal or visual conduct based on sex constitutes harassment when (1) submission to the conduct is required as a term or condition of employment or is the basis for employment action, or (2) the conduct unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive workplace. Sexual harassment may include propositions, innuendo, suggestive comments or unwelcome physical contact.

Individuals and Conduct Covered

These policies apply to all applicants and employees, and prohibit harassment, discrimination and retaliation whether engaged in by fellow employees, by a supervisor or manager or by someone not directly connected to the Company (e.g., an outside vendor, consultant or client).

Conduct prohibited by these policies is unacceptable in the workplace and in any work-related setting outside the workplace, such as during business trips, business meetings and business related social events.

Retaliation

The Company prohibits retaliation against any individual who reports discrimination or harassment or participates in an investigation of such reports. Retaliation against an employee for reporting discrimination or harassment or for participating in an investigation of a claim of harassment or discrimination is a serious violation of this policy and, like harassment or discrimination itself, will be subject to disciplinary action.

Reporting an Incident of Harassment, Discrimination or Retaliation

The Company strongly urges the timely reporting of all incidents of harassment, discrimination or retaliation regardless of the offender's identity or position. Individuals should file their complaints with their immediate supervisor, the General Counsel, the Chief Human Resources Officer, or any member of senior management before the conduct becomes severe or pervasive. Individuals should not feel obligated to file their complaints with their immediate supervisor first before bringing the matter to the attention of one of the other designated representatives identified above. To the fullest extent practicable, the Company will maintain the confidentiality of those involved, consistent with the need to investigate alleged harassment and take appropriate action. Misconduct constituting harassment, discrimination or retaliation will be dealt with promptly and appropriately.

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Each supervisor and manager is responsible for enforcing these policies against unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation, and maintaining a work environment free from sexual and other unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation. This includes understanding these policies; reporting any complaint of unlawful discrimination, harassment or retaliation received from an employee to the appropriate Company representative; cooperating with investigations into reported allegations, and taking the necessary and appropriate action where such allegations are substantiated.

Employees who have experienced conduct they believe is contrary to this policy have an obligation to take advantage of this complaint procedure.

Leave Policies

The Company provides leaves of absences in accordance with applicable federal, state and local law. The Company's leave policies are outlined in the US Employee Handbook.

Safety in the Workplace

The safety and security of employees is of primary importance. Employees are responsible for maintaining our facilities free from recognized hazards and obeying all Company safety rules. Working conditions should be maintained in a clean and orderly state to encourage efficient operations and promote good safety practices.

Weapons and Workplace Violence

No employee may bring firearms, explosives, incendiary devices or any other weapons into the workplace or any work-related setting, regardless of whether or not employees are licensed to carry such weapons. Similarly, the Company will not tolerate any level of violence in the workplace or in any work-related setting. Violations of this policy must be referred to an employee's supervisor, the Chief Human Resources Officer and the CCO immediately. Threats or assaults that require immediate attention should be reported to the police by calling 911.

Drugs and Alcohol

The Company intends to maintain a drug-free work environment. Except at approved Company functions, employees may not use, possess or be under the influence of alcohol on Company premises.

Employees cannot use, sell, attempt to use or sell, purchase, possess or be under the influence of any illegal drug on Company premises or while performing Company business on or off the premises.

INTERACTING WITH GOVERNMENT

Prohibition on Gifts to Government Officials and Employees

The various branches and levels of government have different laws restricting gifts, including meals, entertainment, transportation and lodging, which may be provided to government officials and government employees. Employees are prohibited from providing gifts, meals or anything of value to government officials or employees or members of their families without prior written approval from the CCO.

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Political Contributions and Activities

Laws of certain jurisdictions prohibit the use of Company funds, assets, services, or facilities on behalf of a political party or candidate. Payments of corporate funds to any political party, candidate or campaign may be made only if permitted under applicable law and approved in writing and in advance by the CCO.

This policy does not prohibit the Company from establishing and maintaining political action committees ("PACs"), such as the Company's PAC, which are permitted under applicable law, nor does this policy prohibit the Company's eligible employees from giving to such PACs. Employee participation in any of these activities is strictly voluntary and employees have the right to refuse to contribute without reprisal.

Employees' work time may be considered the equivalent of a contribution by the Company. Therefore, employees will not be paid by the Company for any time spent running for public office, serving as an elected official, or campaigning for a political candidate. The Company will not compensate or reimburse employees, in any form, for a political contribution that employees intend to make or have made.

Lobbying Activities

Laws of some jurisdictions require registration and reporting by anyone who engages in a lobbying activity. Generally, lobbying includes: (1) communicating with any member or employee of a legislative branch of government for the purpose of influencing legislation; (2) communicating with certain government officials for the purpose of influencing government action; or (3) engaging in research or other activities to support or prepare for such communication.

So that the Company may comply with lobbying laws, employees must notify the Legal and Compliance group before engaging in any activity on behalf of the Company that might be considered "lobbying" as described above.

Bribery of Foreign Officials

Company policy, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the "FCPA"), and the laws of many other countries prohibit the Company and its officers, employees and agents from giving or offering to give money or anything of value to a foreign official, a foreign political party, a party official or a candidate for political office in order to influence official acts or decisions of that person or entity, to obtain or retain business, or to secure any improper advantage. A foreign official is an officer or employee of a government or any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, or of certain international agencies, such as the World Bank or the United Nations, or any person acting in an official capacity on behalf of one of those entities. Officials of government-owned corporations are considered to be foreign officials.

Payments need not be in cash to be illegal. The FCPA prohibits giving or offering to give "anything of value." Over the years, many non-cash items have been the basis of bribery prosecutions, including travel expenses, golf outings, automobiles, and loans with favorable interest rates or repayment terms. Indirect payments made through agents, contractors, or other third parties are also prohibited. Employees may not avoid liability by "turning a blind eye" when circumstances indicate a potential violation of the FCPA.

The FCPA does allow for certain permissible payments to foreign officials. Specifically, the law permits "facilitating" payments, which are payments of small value to effect routine government actions such as obtaining permits, licenses, visas, mail, utilities hook-ups and the like. However, determining what is a

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permissible "facilitating" payment involves difficult legal judgments. Therefore, employees must obtain permission from the Legal and Compliance group before making any payment or gift thought to be exempt from the FCPA.

Amendments and Modifications.

The CCO will periodically review the adequacy of this Code and the effectiveness of its implementation and shall make amendments or modifications as necessary. All material amendments and modifications shall be subject to the final approval of the Company's management, the Board and the Executive Committee as necessary.

Form ADV Disclosure.

In connection with making amendments to this Code, the CCO will review and update disclosure relating to this Code set forth in the Company's Form ADV, Part 2A.

Employee Certification.

Ultimate responsibility to ensure that we as a Company comply with the many laws, regulations and ethical standards affecting our business rests with each of us. Employees must become familiar with and conduct themselves strictly in compliance with those laws, regulations and standards and the Company's policies and guidelines pertaining to them. By completing the annual acknowledgment form, employees acknowledge that they have received and read the terms of this Code. Employees also certify that they recognize and understand the responsibilities and obligations incurred by them as a result of being subject to this Code and they hereby agree to abide by the terms hereof.

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CODE OF ETHICS

July 2020

TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC

7Times Square, 42nd Floor New York, New York 10036 800-541-5156

CODE OF ETHICS

TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC ("TimesSquare") has established a Code of Ethics that sets forth requirements for employee, officer, member and director conduct, establishes policies and procedures over personal trading and provides restrictions on the use of Material, Nonpublic Information. Please note that the Code of Ethics may be revised and/or redistributed on a periodic basis.

TimesSquare utilizes Schwab Compliance Technologies ("Schwab CT"), a secure internet-based application, to support the administration of the Code of Ethics and to facilitate the oversight of personal securities transactions. Each Access Person is provided with unique credentials with which to access Schwab CT.

A copy of the Code of Ethics is available by contacting the Chief Compliance Officer or can be accessed directly through Schwab CT.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

I. Statement of General Principles .............................................................................................................

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II. General Definitions ...............................................................................................................................

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III. Applicability ........................................................................................................................................

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IV. Prohibited and Restricted Personal Covered Securities Transactions by Access Persons ...................

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A. Initial Public Offerings ...........................................................................................................

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B. Private Placements and Limited Offerings .............................................................................

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C. $30 Billion Market Cap Restriction........................................................................................

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D. Blackout Periods.....................................................................................................................

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E. Short-Term Trading Profits.....................................................................................................

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F. Pre-clearance..........................................................................................................................

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G. Exempted Transactions.........................................................................................................

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V. Opening and Maintaining Broker-Dealer Accounts by Access Persons .............................................

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VI. Discretionary Third-Party Managed Accounts ..................................................................................

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VII. Reporting of Personal Covered Securities Transactions and Post-Trade Review ............................

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VIII. Disclosure of Personal Holdings of Covered Securities Required for Access Persons...................

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IX. Prohibitions Against Transactions Based on Material, Non-Public Information...............................

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A. Communications....................................................................................................................

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B. Files.......................................................................................................................................

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C. Other Disclosures .................................................................................................................

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D. Restricted List.......................................................................................................................

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X. Gifts and Business Entertainment .......................................................................................................

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XI. Corporate Directorships and Other Business Relationships ..............................................................

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XII. Reporting Potential Violations/Wrongdoing, Investigations, Whistleblower Rules and Guidance . 19

XIII. Sanctions for Violations..................................................................................................................

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XIV. Records ...........................................................................................................................................

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Explanation of Beneficial Ownership ......................................................................................................

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Broker Confirmation Request Letter........................................................................................................

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CODE OF ETHICS

TIMESSQUARE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC

I. Statement of General Principles

This Code of Ethics (the "Code") is based on the principle that the employees, officers, members and directors of TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC ("TimesSquare" or the "Adviser") (collectively, Access Persons") owe a fiduciary duty to all Clients (as defined in "II. General Definitions" below) to conduct their personal securities transactions and other activities in a manner which does not interfere with investment transactions or otherwise take unfair advantage of their relationship to Clients. All Access Persons must adhere to this general principle as well as comply with Federal Securities Laws and the specific provisions set forth herein. It bears emphasis that technical compliance with these provisions will not automatically insulate an individual from scrutiny of transactions and activities that show a pattern of compromise or abuse of the individual's fiduciary duties to Clients. Accordingly, all Access Persons must seek to avoid any actual or potential conflicts between their personal interests and the interest of our Clients. In summary, all Access Persons shall place the interests of our Clients before our personal interests.

The purpose of the Code is to establish procedures consistent with Rule 204A-1 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the "Advisers Act"), Rule 17j-1 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "1940 Act"), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Accordingly, no Access Person (as defined in "II. General Definitions" below) shall:

1.Employ any device, scheme or artifice to defraud;

2.Make any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they are made, not misleading;

3.Engage in any act, practice or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person; or

4.Engage in any manipulative practice.

The Chief Compliance Officer of TimesSquare is responsible for ensuring that Access Persons understand the Code. The Chief Compliance Officer should encourage Access Persons to discuss questions of business ethics or practices any time they arise and to surface potential questions before any action is taken in order to prevent problems from developing. The Chief Compliance Officer shall review the adequacy of the Code and the effectiveness of its implementation at least annually.

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II. General Definitions

A."Access Person" means any director, officer, member, or employee of the Adviser.

B."Affiliated Mutual Fund" means any registered open-end or closed-end Investment Company advised or sub-advised by the Adviser or whose investment adviser or principal underwriter is an affiliate of the Adviser. Affiliated Mutual Funds are considered "Covered Securities" as further defined below.

C."Beneficial Ownership" generally means that Access Persons will be deemed to have ownership of Covered Securities in the accounts of their spouses, dependent relatives, members of the same household, trustee and custodial accounts or any other account in which they have a financial interest or over which they have investment discretion. Exhibit A defines Beneficial Ownership in greater detail.

D."Chief Compliance Officer" of the Adviser means David Cielusniak.

E."Client" means any corporate, advisory, Investment Company (registered under the Act or otherwise) or other account managed by, or as to which investment advice is given by, the Adviser.

F."Control" shall have the same meaning as that set forth in Section 2(a)(9) of the Act.

G."Covered Securities" means any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, shares of closed-end mutual funds, collateral-trust certificate, pre- organization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit for a security, fractional undivided interest in oil and gas, or other mineral rights, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security, non-bank certificate of deposit, or any group or index of securities (including any interest therein or based on the value thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into a national securities exchange relating to foreign currency, or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a "security," and including Equivalent Covered Securities as defined below, with the exception of those items/instruments specifically excluded from the definition of "Covered Securities" as set forth below.

Covered Securities do not include: direct obligations issued by the Government of the United States; bankers' acceptances; bank certificates of deposit; commercial paper and high quality short-term debt instruments, including repurchase agreements; shares issued by money market funds; shares of registered open-end investment companies (mutual funds), except Affiliated Mutual Funds and Affiliated Closed-End Funds as defined above, which are deemed to be "Covered Securities"; and shares issued by unit investment trusts that are invested exclusively in one or more open-end funds, none of which are Affiliated Mutual Funds.

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For exchange-traded funds and non-affiliated closed-end mutual funds, please see special procedures described in Sections IV and VII below.

H."Discretionary Third-Party Managed Account" means an account: (a) for which an Access Person has granted a trustee or a discretionary third-party manager investment authority over the account; and (b) over which the Access Person has no direct or indirect influence or Control with respect to purchases or sales of securities or allocations of investments.

I."Equivalent Covered Securities" means any security that has substantial economic relationship to another Covered Security. This would include, among other things,

(1)a Covered Security that is convertible into another Covered Security, (2) with respect to an equity Covered Security, a Covered Security having the same issuer (including a private issue by the same issuer) and any derivative, option or warrant relating to that Covered Security, and (3) with respect to a fixed-income Covered Security, a Covered Security having the same issuer, maturity, coupon and rating, or any derivative, option or warrant relating to that Covered Security. Equivalent Covered Securities are subject to the same restrictions and requirements outlined for Covered Securities.

J."Federal Securities Laws" means the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Title V of the Gramm-Leach- Bliley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 any rules adopted by the Commission under any of these statutes, the Bank Secrecy Act as it applies to funds and investment advisers, and any rules adopted thereunder by the Commission or the Department of the Treasury.

K."Investment Company" means a company registered as such under the 1940 Act or any series thereof for which the Adviser is an investment adviser or sub-adviser.

L."Limited Offering" means an offering that is exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933 pursuant to section 4(2) or section 4(6) or pursuant to rules 504, 505 or 506 under the Securities Act of 1933.

M."Material, Nonpublic Information" means, generally, any information that is not generally available to the investing community that might reasonably be expected to affect the market value of Covered Securities or influence investor decisions to buy, sell or hold Covered Securities.

N."Personal Covered Securities Transaction" means any personal Purchase or Sale of a Covered Security on behalf of an account(s) in which an Access Person has direct or Beneficial Ownership.

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O."Purchase or Sale" means any contract or agreement, including the writing of an option, to purchase or sell a Covered Security.

P."Temporary Personnel" means any person who works for TimesSquare on a one- time or periodic basis for less than 90 continuous calendar days in the course of their temporary employment at TimesSquare.

III. Applicability

The Code applies to all Access Persons, and may include part-time employees, consultants and Temporary Personnel as designated by the Chief Compliance Officer.

Dissemination and Acknowledgment of the Code

The following procedures pertain to dissemination and acknowledgment of receipt of the Code and any amendments.

1.The Chief Compliance Officer shall oversee the dissemination and affirmation of the Code to all Access Persons.

2.Access Persons are required to certify upon hire and at least annually thereafter that:

i.they have received, read and understood the Code;

ii.they recognize that they are subject to the Code;

iii.they have complied with the requirements of the Code; and

iv.they have disclosed or reported all Personal Covered Securities transactions required to be disclosed or reported pursuant to the requirements of the Code.

In addition, upon any revision to the Code, the Chief Compliance Officer shall ensure each Access Person receives a copy of the amended Code, and each Access Person must certify in writing that he or she has received, read and understands the amended Code.

3.The Chief Compliance Officer shall ensure that each new full-time and any designated part-time employees, consultants and Temporary Personnel of TimesSquare receive, upon employment, a copy of the Code and the Initial Code of Ethics Certification. Each such employee, consultant, or Temporary Personnel shall execute the Initial Code of Ethics Certification, and annually thereafter the Annual Code of Ethics Certification, through Schwab CT.

Hiring managers shall be responsible for ensuring that any designated part-time employees, consultants and Temporary Personnel receive a copy of the Code and execute the Initial Code of Ethics Certification through Schwab CT.

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IV. Prohibited and Restricted Personal Covered Securities Transactions by Access Persons

A. Initial Public Offerings

No Access Person may acquire any Covered Securities in an initial public offering. However, there may be circumstances where such investments may be permitted, provided they do not represent a conflict of interest, or even the appearance of a conflict of interest. An example may be shares issued by mutual banks and insurance companies that specifically allocate shares to existing Clients. In such cases, the Chief Compliance Officer should be consulted. Any such acquisition requires express prior approval by the Chief Compliance Officer or his designee. Such approval will be recorded in Schwab CT.

B. Private Placements and Limited Offerings

An Access Person may not acquire any private placement security or other Limited Offering without express prior approval by the Chief Compliance Officer or his designee. Such approval will be recorded in Schwab CT.

Any subsequent capital call, further subscription or redemption in a previously approved private placement or Limited Offering must be submitted for pre- clearance by the Access Person in Schwab CT.

Access Persons who have been authorized to acquire a private placement security or Limited Offering must disclose that investment to the Chief Compliance Officer when the Access Person plays a part in any subsequent consideration of an investment by a Client in the issuer of the private placement. In such circumstances, a decision to purchase securities of the issuer for a Client will be subject to an independent review by appropriate personnel with no personal interest in the issuer.

C. $30 Billion Market Cap Restriction

An Access Person may not transact, other than the exemptions provided below, in equity securities with market capitalizations (outstanding shares multiplied by the current price per share) of less than $30 billion (or a corresponding market capitalization in foreign markets). Furthermore, an Access Person may not acquire or transact in any Equivalent Covered Security of an equity security with a market capitalization of less than $30 billion.

In instances where a new employee upon hire discloses ownership of equity securities with a market capitalization of less than $30 billion he or she may sell the position in accordance with the pre-clearance requirements as set forth in Section IV F and G.

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D. Blackout Periods

Except as provided in Section G below, Access Persons are prohibited from executing a transaction in a Covered Security (1) on any day during which any Client has a pending "buy" or "sell" order in the same or an Equivalent Covered Security, (2) within seven calendar days before or after a Client trades in the same or an equivalent Covered Security or (3) which is being considered for Purchase or Sale.

A "pending 'buy' or 'sell' order" exists when a decision to purchase or sell a Covered Security has been made. A security is "being considered for Purchase or Sale" when a recommendation to purchase or sell a security has been made and communicated and, with respect to the person making the recommendation, when such person seriously considers making such a recommendation.

E. Short-Term Trading Profits

Except as provided in Section G below, Access Persons are prohibited from profiting from a purchase and sale, or sale and purchase, of the same or an Equivalent Covered Security (including the securities of Affiliated Mutual Funds) within any 60 calendar day period. The 60-day period is determined on a last-in, first-out basis. If trades are affected during the proscribed period, any profits realized on such trades may be required to be disgorged to a charity approved by the Chief Compliance Officer. Transactions resulting in breakeven or losses are not subject to the 60-day prohibition.

F. Pre-clearance

Except as provided in Section G below, Access Persons must pre-clear all personal Covered Securities including Equivalent Covered Securities transactions through Schwab CT. As an additional internal control, the Chief Executive Officer or his designee will review and approve or deny the personal trade requests of the Chief Compliance Officer. All pre-cleared orders must be executed by the end of the calendar day on which pre-clearance is granted. If any order is not timely executed, a new request for pre-clearance must be submitted through Schwab CT.

The provisions of this Section prohibit all Access Persons from entering limit orders in their personal accounts unless their broker-dealer is further instructed that the order is only good until the end of that calendar day. The provisions of this Section prohibit all Access Persons from entering good-till-cancel orders in their personal accounts.

Access Persons are permitted to execute trades electronically. However, trades entered electronically after the close of business will not be executed until the following business day. Therefore, the Access Person must provide backup

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documentation to the Chief Compliance Officer evidencing the entry date of the transaction (which should coincide with the date pre-clearance was granted).

AMG Stock – In addition to the above pre-clearance requirements, additional procedures for personal trading in the securities of Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (AMG) have been adopted by AMG for its affiliates (including TimesSquare) and their employees, officers and directors. These procedures can be found in the Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. Insider Trading Policy and Procedures (the "AMG Policy") which is attached hereto as Exhibit B.

G. Exempted Transactions

1.The following transactions will be exempt from the provisions of Pre-clearance, Blackout Periods, and Short-Term Trading Profits noted above:

a.Purchases or sales of Covered Securities effected in Discretionary Third- Party Managed Accounts (requirements regarding such accounts are described in Section VI);

b.Purchases or sales of Covered Securities which are non-volitional on the part of the Access Person;

c.Purchases that are made by reinvesting cash dividends pursuant to an automatic dividend reinvestment program ("DRIP") (this exception does not apply to optional cash purchases or to the decision to begin or stop participating in a DRIP); and

d.Any purchases or sales of exchange-traded funds and non-affiliated closed- end funds and non-affiliated mutual funds, so long as such transactions are reported in accordance with Section VII and so long as such transactions, individually and in the aggregate, are not unreasonable in any way, including volume, trading frequency, type of fund (including the scope of such fund's investment style), and the like. As described generally in Section VII (B), transactions in exchange-traded funds and non-affiliated closed-end mutual funds will be reviewed periodically by the Chief Compliance Officer or his designee, and any concerns will be discussed with the relevant Access Person. To the extent that the Chief Compliance Officer believes that any of such transactions may violate the spirit, intent or procedures established by this Code, the Access Person may be subject to reversal of such trades (and disgorgement of any profits) and/or other sanctions, as further described in Section XIII. As a general matter, TimesSquare is not typically active in trading exchange-traded funds or non- affiliated closed-end mutual funds as part of its investment management strategy on behalf of its Clients; however, if TimesSquare becomes more active in these securities, TimesSquare may further restrict personal trading in these securities.

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2.The prohibitions of Section IV(D) (Blackout Periods) and IV (E) (Short-Term Trading Profits) will not apply to the following (though pre-clearance and reporting will still be required):

a."De Minimis" Transactions - Any equity Covered Securities transaction, or series of related transactions effected over a 30 calendar day period, involving 500 shares or less in the aggregate, if (i) the Access Person has no prior knowledge of activity in such security by a Client, (ii) the issuer is listed on a major securities exchange (including, but not limited to, NYSE and AMEX) or the NASDAQ National Market and has a market capitalization (outstanding shares multiplied by the current price per share) greater than $30 billion (or a corresponding market capitalization in foreign markets), and (iii) Adviser-managed portfolios in the aggregate own less than 1% of the outstanding equity shares of the issuer;

b.Purchases effected upon the exercise of rights issued by an issuer pro rata to all holders of a class of its securities, to the extent such rights were acquired from such issuer; and

c.Purchases or sales of Covered Securities which receive the prior approval of the Chief Compliance Officer (such person having no personal interest in such purchases or sales), based on a determination that no abuse is involved and that such purchases and sales are not likely to have any economic impact on a Client or on its ability to purchase or sell Covered Securities of the same class or other Covered Securities of the same issuer.

V.Opening and Maintaining Broker-Dealer Accounts by Access Persons

Access Persons must disclose all broker-dealer accounts in which there is direct or Beneficial Ownership, including Discretionary Third-Party Managed Accounts, to the Chief Compliance Officer. When opening new accounts, Access Persons must use one of the following firms: Charles Schwab, Chase Investment Services, CitiGroup Global Markets, E*TRADE, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, JP Morgan Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Pershing Advisor Solutions, Raymond James, RBC, Scottrade, TD Ameritrade, or UBS.. In addition, the Chief Compliance Officer shall be notified prior to effecting any trades in the new account(s) via the execution of a Certification of Brokerage Accounts in Schwab CT.

In addition, Access Persons must either (i) provide the Chief Compliance Officer with electronic access to their account via Schwab CT or (ii) supply the Chief Compliance Officer with a written statement to be sent to the broker-dealer(s) authorizing the broker- dealer to send duplicate copies of transaction confirmations and periodic statements for all accounts directly to the Compliance Department. A sample Brokerage Confirmation Request Letter is attached hereto as Exhibit C.

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Access Persons must notify the Chief Compliance Officer when broker-dealer account ownership changes occur and when accounts are closed.

VI. Discretionary Third-Party Managed Accounts

Access Persons may maintain Discretionary Third-Party Managed Accounts subject to the disclosure and reporting requirements described below. Provided they comply with all requirements of this Code, such accounts are exempt from the pre-clearance, black-out period and short-term profit provisions as further described in Section IV (D) and Section IV (E) respectively.

Disclosure Requirements for Discretionary Third-Party Managed Accounts – All Access Persons who maintain Discretionary Third-Party Managed Accounts must disclose such accounts in Schwab CT. Such disclosure must include the following information:

a.Account owner's name;

b.Account number;

c.Name and contact information of the trustee or discretionary third-party manager;

d.The trustee's or third-party manager's firm; and

e.Description of the Access Person's relationship to the trustee or discretionary third-party manager, including any affiliation or family relationship that may exist between the Access Person and the person or firm managing the account.

Additionally, the Access Person must attest upon inception of the account, and then on a quarterly basis thereafter, that he or she does not have direct or indirect influence or control of the account, including with respect to the purchase or sale of securities, or allocation of investments. Access persons must notify the Chief Compliance Officer when there are changes to Discretionary Third-Party Managed Account arrangements.

TimesSquare may periodically request confirmation from the trustee or third-party manager to confirm the account continues to be discretionary and that there have been no instances where the Access Person had direct or indirect influence or control of the account.

Reporting Requirements for Discretionary Third-Party Managed Accounts – Access Persons who maintain Discretionary Third-Party Managed Accounts must also comply with the reporting requirements described in Section VII below.

VII. Reporting of Personal Covered Securities Transactions and Post-Trade Review

A.Access Persons are required to direct their broker-dealers to supply to the Chief Compliance Officer, on a timely basis, duplicate copies of confirmations of all Personal Covered Securities Transactions, securities transactions in Affiliated Mutual Funds and any exchange-traded funds or non-affiliated closed-end funds,

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and copies of periodic statements for all accounts in which the Access Person has a direct or Beneficial Ownership interest, including Discretionary Third-Party Managed Accounts. This requirement may be fulfilled through electronic feeds from broker-dealers to Schwab CT when available. Compliance with this Code requirement will be deemed to satisfy the transaction reporting requirements imposed by applicable securities laws provided the duplicate confirmations are submitted within 30 days of the calendar quarter-end and include the required information. Any transactions in Covered Securities, Affiliated Mutual Funds, exchange-traded funds or non-affiliated closed-end funds not executed through a broker-dealer must be reported quarterly to the Chief Compliance Officer within 30 calendar days of the end of the quarter. A Personal Securities Transaction Report is available on Schwab CT.

For any new account established by the Access Person during the quarter for the direct or indirect benefit of the Access Person or in which the Access Person has Beneficial Ownership, a report containing the following must be submitted within

30 calendar days of the end of the quarter:

f.Name of the account holder;

g.Name of the broker, dealer or bank with which the account is established;

h.Date the account was established; and

i.Date the report is submitted by the Access Person.

B. The Chief Compliance Officer or other designated compliance personnel will periodically review and monitor the personal investment activity of all Access Persons and all reports and/or brokerage confirmations and statements filed with the Adviser in accordance with the Code.

VIII. Disclosure of Personal Holdings of Covered Securities Required for Access Persons

Within 10 calendar days of employment, and thereafter on an annual basis, all Access Persons must disclose all personal Covered Securities holdings and holdings in Affiliated Mutual Funds and exchange-traded funds (both open-end and unit investment trusts) in which the Access Person has direct or Beneficial Ownership. The information provided must be current as of a date no more than 45 days before the individual becomes an Access Person or before the annual holdings report is submitted. Compliance with the annual disclosure requirement may be satisfied through electronic feeds from broker-dealers to Schwab CT when available or by periodic broker-dealers' statements sent directly to the Chief Compliance Officer. Covered Securities, Affiliated Mutual Funds and exchange- traded funds not included in broker-dealers' reports must be reported separately using the Security Holdings form available on Schwab CT.

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IX. Prohibitions Against Transactions Based on Material, Nonpublic Information

No Access Person will cause a Purchase or Sale of a Covered Security to be made for a Client or a personal account while in possession of Material, Nonpublic Information with respect to the issuer of such Covered Security. You must be careful to avoid any impropriety, or even the appearance of an impropriety, in all investment transactions.

A. Communications

At all times, Access Persons must be aware that any information which is considered or suspected to be material and/or nonpublic should not be disclosed to anyone who does not have a business need to know such information, and any recipient of such information must be made aware that the information is material and nonpublic.

On occasion, a broker or company representative may reach out to TimesSquare to discuss a potential transaction or offering by a company that has not been publicly disseminated. These communications should be immediately directed to the Chief Compliance Officer in order to determine if there is potential Material Nonpublic Information. If Material Nonpublic Information may be received and an Access Person would like to proceed with the discussion with such broker or representative (commonly referred to as "Over the Wall"), the Chief Compliance Officer will require and confirm that the appropriate issuer is placed on the Restricted List (as described below) prior to the commencement of the discussion. The issuer will remain on the Restricted List until the information which resulted in the issuer being placed on such Restricted List is no longer material or is now public.

B. Files

Release of any materials which may contain Material, Nonpublic Information (or conclusions or opinions based thereon) is only allowed on a need-to-know basis.

C. Other Disclosures

Access Persons should also exercise diligence in other areas where the possibility exists that Material, Nonpublic Information may be inadvertently disclosed to anyone who does not have a need to know. For example, documents should not be left in conference rooms, or on copy or fax machines. Care should be taken to properly file or discard documents.

D. Restricted List

The Restricted List is maintained by the Chief Compliance Officer. This list includes issuers as to which Material, Nonpublic Information has been received by Access Persons. It also identifies issuers as to which the release of such information violates contractual restrictions. In addition, it includes those issuers

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the trading of whose securities is limited by other policy or legal considerations. The Restricted List may be distributed to all traders, portfolio managers and analysts of public securities, persons responsible for private secondary market trading, and others as determined by the Chief Compliance Officer.

If any individual believes that he or she is in possession of Material, Nonpublic Information with respect to an issuer having publicly-traded securities outstanding, such as through an interaction with any (i) insider of a publicly-traded company, (ii) outside consultant arranged by an "expert network" firm, or (iii) other individual who may otherwise contain information about investments, he or she must immediately advise the Chief Compliance Officer of the fact so that the issuer name can be added to the Restricted List. If the individual is uncertain as to the materiality of the information, he or she should immediately meet with the Chief Compliance Officer to review the information and make a determination if it is appropriate to add the issuer to the Restricted List. If there is any doubt, the issuer will be placed on the Restricted List while the issues are reviewed by senior management. An issuer placed on the Restricted List because of Material, Nonpublic Information will not be removed from such Restricted List until the information which resulted in the issuer being placed on such Restricted List is no longer material or is now public.

No transaction will be made in a Covered Security for the account of a Client or any Access Persons receiving the Restricted List, the issuer of which is on the Restricted List, unless such transaction has been approved by the Compliance Department.

As noted above, additional requirements for personal trading in the securities of AMG have been adopted by AMG for its affiliates (including TimesSquare) and their employees, officers and directors. These procedures can be found in the Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. Insider Trading Policy and Procedures (the "AMG Policy") which is attached hereto as Exhibit B. Access Persons must acknowledge that they have received read and understood the AMG Policy through Schwab CT. See the AMG Policy for an expanded discussion of the term "Material, Nonpublic Information".

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X. Gifts and Business Entertainment

A. Gifts

Access Persons are prohibited from giving or receiving any gift or any series of gifts within a calendar year, of more than $100 in aggregate value to or from any person or entity with whom TimesSquare has a business relationship. All gifts given or received, regardless of amount, must be reported through Schwab CT.

Business relationships are presumed to exist with Clients, prospective Clients, consultants, broker-dealers, vendors, and anyone with whom TimesSquare is likely to have any business dealings.

Gifts include any prize, present, favor or gratuity to or from someone with whom TimesSquare has a business relationship, including tickets, admission or entrance fees, meals, entertainment, transportation or lodging where the sponsoring host is not present. Under no circumstances may Access Persons receive or give gifts in the form of cash or cash equivalents, including gift cards/gift certificates.

Exempted from the $100 aggregate gift limit are promotional or branded gifts of nominal value. Gifts are considered promotional or branded if the sponsoring entity's logo is prominently displayed on the item, the item is of nominal value, and the receipt of such items is of reasonable volume. Examples of promotional gifts include pens, calendars, clothing, bags and umbrellas. Such gifts must be reported through Schwab CT in accordance with the Firm's gift reporting requirement.

B. Business Entertainment

Access Persons may attend or participate in occasional business meals or business entertainment. Business entertainment requiring an admittance fee, paid ticket or of a participatory nature is limited to eight events per calendar year, with no more than three such events in a calendar quarter and must be reported through Schwab CT. All business entertainment in excess of $50 must be reported to Compliance.

Business entertainment may include meals, sporting (including greens fees or court fees), theater, music, or other events, as well as business conferences. Business entertainment requires that the host is present, and may not be excessive, lavish or so frequent as to raise any question of propriety.

Meals provided at industry group meetings (defined as 6 or more attendees) which are conducted for business purposes (e.g., broker luncheons or dinners), are exempt from the $50 reporting requirement and the eight events per calendar year limit.

Entertainment permitted under the paragraphs above is not subject to, and need not be aggregated with other gifts, for purposes of the $100 annual gift limit set forth above.

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Any item of value given or received that does not meet the definition or requirements of business entertainment will be considered a gift for purposes of the Code of Ethics, and subject to the gift reporting and aggregate value requirements.

Compliance should be consulted in any circumstance where an Access Person is unsure about the value, appropriateness or type of gift or proposed entertainment.

C.In general, TimesSquare will be responsible for all business travel expenses incurred by its Access Persons which are consistent with corporate travel policy. As a matter of policy, TimesSquare does not allow sponsors of trips who are broker- dealers or issuers of Covered Securities, or other investable assets, to pay for travel or lodging expenses for our Access Persons.

Exceptions to this policy may be granted by the Chief Compliance Officer if the trip sponsor arranges for group travel or lodging which is not available through normal commercial channels for the convenience of the group or is a de minimis expense to the sponsor because of the nature of its business (e.g., airline or hotel companies). In both of these cases, it should be clear that the sponsor is paying for reasons of convenience rather than to curry favor.

D.In addition to the requirements stated in this policy, Access Persons who are also registered representatives of AMG Distributors, Inc., ("ADI") are required to also comply with the gifts and non-cash compensation policies maintained in ADI's Supervisory Procedures Manual. ADI must make and retain a record of all gifts and gratuities in any amount known to TimesSquare. All registered representatives are required to report to the Chief Compliance Officer the giving or receiving of any such gifts or gratuities through Schwab CT.

E.The improper influencing of public officials through gifts, excessive entertainment or other means is prohibited. In addition, certain states require that gifts beyond a certain dollar threshold to one or more public employees be reported to that particular state's Ethics Commission or similar agency. Therefore, all Access Persons of TimesSquare must obtain prior approval from the Chief Compliance Officer for all gifts to public employees on behalf of TimesSquare.

F.TimesSquare does not contribute financial or other support to political parties or candidates for public office. TimesSquare Access Persons may participate personally in political activities that may include contributions and donations to political candidates (subject to all applicable laws and TimesSquare's Political Contributions Policy); however, at no time will Access Persons be reimbursed by the Firm for such activities.

TimesSquare strictly prohibits any Access Person from making contributions or expenditures to or for any candidates for any public office, or to any persons for any political purpose whatsoever as a quid pro quo for receiving or with the expectation

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of securing now or in the future business from any public official, or any federal, state, or local government agency.

Your personal political contributions, and those of certain of your family members, could impact TimesSquare's ability to continue to do business or bid on new business with government entities within certain jurisdictions in the United States. Specifically, Rule 206(4)-5 of the Advisers Act, which applies to all registered investment advisers, including TimesSquare, places limits on individual contributions of certain investment adviser employees, and may prohibit an investment adviser from managing money for state or local government entity Clients for a specified period following any disqualifying contributions. In addition, a number of jurisdictions have enacted so-called "pay-to-play" laws that prohibit certain employees of service providers to state or local agencies and departments from making political contributions to state or local officials that are covered by these laws. Even if a personal political contribution is not prohibited, these laws may require that any contribution be reported to the state or locality. If you have any questions about a political contribution that you intend to make, please contact the Chief Compliance Officer.

For additional information on this topic, please see TimesSquare's Compliance Manual for the procedure entitled "Political Contributions and Other Restricted Payments."

G.It is the policy of TimesSquare to occasionally make charitable contributions to worthy causes. All charitable contributions by TimesSquare must be approved by the Chief Compliance Officer. In the event an Access Person receives a request from a Client that TimesSquare make a charitable contribution, the request should be presented to the Chief Compliance Officer for approval. Attendance at charity events and personal contributions do not require approval.

XI. Corporate Directorships and Other Business Relationships

In order that even the appearance of impropriety be avoided, it is important that TimesSquare's Access Persons not be involved in investment decisions which relate to other business enterprises of which they are "insiders." For purposes of this policy, a person is an "insider" of a business enterprise if he or she is one of its directors or officers, or otherwise has a confidential relationship with it, or has a Beneficial Ownership of 1% of its voting stock. A regulated Investment Company is not a business enterprise for this purpose.

TimesSquare's Access Persons should make written disclosure of any insider relationships to the Compliance Department through Schwab CT. No new insider relationships should be accepted without the written approval of the Chief Compliance Officer. The continuation of any insider relationship is at the discretion of the Chief Compliance Officer and is to be terminated upon request.

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Additionally, Access Persons may not engage in any other business, or be employed or compensated by any other person, or serve as an officer, director, partner or employee of another business organization, or have any direct or indirect financial interest in any other organization, unless the Access Person has received approval from Compliance and provided the appropriate disclosures through Schwab CT.

XII. Reporting Potential Violations/Wrongdoing, Investigations, Whistleblower Rules and Guidance

All Access Persons are required to act honestly and ethically in support of the culture of integrity that we have all fostered within TimesSquare. Since every Access Person is a valued member of the TimesSquare team, this broad requirement includes acting in what each individual believes to be TimesSquare's best interest, which includes reporting any concerns regarding any potential violations of any applicable law, rule or policy, or any other potential wrongdoing, by TimesSquare, any of our Access Persons, or any of our service providers. If TimesSquare's management is unaware of such activities, these potential violations may ultimately have an adverse effect on all of us as members of TimesSquare.

Actual or potential violations of any applicable law, rule or Firm policy should be discussed with the Chief Compliance Officer upon discovery. In addition, any supervisor or member of management who receives a report of an actual or potential violation or wrongdoing should consult with the Chief Compliance Officer upon receipt of the report. If the Chief Compliance Officer is involved in the actual or potential violation or wrongdoing, the Access Person may report the matter to any member of senior management.

Good faith reporting of suspected violations by others shall not subject the reporting person to penalty, reprisal, or retaliation by TimesSquare or any of its Access Persons. Please see the Whistleblower Rules section below for additional information.

"Violations" should be interpreted broadly, and may include, but are not limited to, such items as:

•noncompliance with laws, rules, and regulations applicable to the business of TimesSquare;

•fraud or illegal acts involving any aspect of TimesSquare's business;

•material misstatements in regulatory filings, internal books and records, Clients' records, or reports;

•activity that is harmful to Clients, including any fund shareholders; and

•deviations from required internal controls, policies and procedures that safeguard Clients and TimesSquare.

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All such reports will be taken seriously, investigated promptly and appropriately, and treated with the appropriate confidentially as determined by TimesSquare in light of the circumstances.

Investigation and Sanctions. Potential violations of Firm policies, including the Code, shall be promptly investigated by the Chief Compliance Officer, his designee, and/or other senior management. During the course of the investigation, the Chief Compliance Officer, his designee, or other senior management may provide an update to the reporting Access Person on the status of the investigation as appropriate. In addition, the reporting Access Person may request an update at any time. Such investigative procedures may include notification to the Chief Executive Officer of the violation or possible violation, and discussion of the violation or possible violation with the relevant parties to determine whether the policies and procedures of the Firm were followed. Each investigation may be documented, as determined by TimesSquare under the circumstances.

The Chief Compliance Officer, his designee or other senior management will report their findings as necessary to the Chief Executive Officer. The decision as to whether a violation has occurred will be subject to review by the Chief Compliance Officer.

Following TimesSquare's investigation, Access Persons who are deemed to have committed violations or other wrongdoing may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see Section XIII below for additional detail regarding sanctions.

Whistleblower Rules. Nothing in this Code or in any other agreements you may have with TimesSquare is intended to or shall preclude or impede you from cooperating with any governmental or regulatory entity or agency in any investigation, or from communicating any suspected wrongdoing or violation of law to any such entity or agency, including, but not limited to, reporting pursuant to the "whistleblower rules" promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (Securities Exchange Act Rules 21F-1, et seq.). For the avoidance of doubt, you are not required to give the Firm prior notice of, or obtain the Firm's prior written consent in connection with regulatory communications contemplated under the SEC's or other regulatory entity or agency's "whistleblower rules."

Retaliation of any type against an Access Person who reports a suspected violation or assists in the investigation of such conduct (even if the conduct is not found to be a violation) is strictly prohibited and constitutes a further violation of the Code and these procedures.

Guidance. All Access Persons are encouraged (and have the responsibility) to ask questions and seek guidance from the Chief Compliance Officer or other senior management with respect to any action or transaction that may constitute a violation and to refrain from any action or transaction which might lead to the appearance of a violation. The Chief Compliance Officer will also provide periodic training to TimesSquare's Access Persons regarding the requirements of these policies and procedures.

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XIII. Sanctions for Violations

The Chief Compliance Officer shall be responsible for determining whether it is appropriate to impose sanctions or take other actions against an Access Person for violations of Federal Securities Laws or Firm policies, and may consult the Chief Executive Officer regarding material or serious matters. The Chief Compliance Officer shall make such determination in light of all relevant facts and circumstances, including the nature and seriousness of the violation, the extent to which the violation reflects a willful disregard of the Access Person's responsibilities under the Code and the Access Person's past history of compliance or non-compliance with the Code. Such sanctions or other actions may include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following:

•Warning (verbal or written);

•Reprimand;

•Reassignment of duties;

•Suspension of personal trading privileges;

•Require the Access Person to sell the security in question and disgorge all profits to a charity approved by the Chief Compliance Officer;

•Require the trade to be reversed at the Access Person's expense;

•Monetary fine (which may include a reduction in salary or bonus);

•Suspension or termination of employment;

•Reporting to the appropriate regulatory authorities if applicable; or

•Any combination of the foregoing.

XIV. Records

In accordance with Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act and Rule 204-2 under the Advisers Act, TimesSquare shall maintain records in the manner and to the extent set forth below:

A.A copy of the Code and any other Code of Ethics which is, or at any time within the past 5 years has been, in effect shall be preserved in an easily accessible place;

B.A record of any violation of the Code and of any action taken as a result of such violation shall be preserved in an easily accessible place for a period of not less than 5 years following the end of the fiscal year in which the violation occurs;

C.A copy of each report made by, or brokerage confirmation and statement filed on behalf of, an Access Person pursuant to the Code shall be preserved for a period of not less than 5 years from the end of the fiscal year in which it is made, the first 2 years in an easily accessible place;

D.A record of all persons who are, or within the past 5 years have been, required to make reports pursuant to the Code or who are or were

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responsible for reviewing the reports, shall be maintained in a easily accessible place;

E.Records evidencing prior approval of, and the rationale supporting, an acquisition by an Access Person of Covered Securities in an initial public offering , private placement or other Limited Offering shall be preserved for a period of not less than 5 years from the end of the fiscal year in which the approval is granted;

F.A record of all written acknowledgements of receipt of the Code and amendments for all persons who are or within the past 5 years were Access Persons shall be preserved for 5 years after the individual ceases to be an Access Person; and

G.A copy of all written annual reports provided by TimesSquare in accordance with Rule 204-2 of the Advisers Act, as amended and Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act, as amended for a period of 5 years following the end of the fiscal year in which they are made, the first 2years in an easily accessible place.

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EXHIBIT A

Explanation of Beneficial Ownership

You are considered to have "Beneficial Ownership" of Covered Securities if you have or share a direct or indirect "Pecuniary Interest" in the Covered Securities.

You have a "Pecuniary Interest" in Covered Securities if you have the opportunity, directly or indirectly, to profit or share in any profit derived from a transaction in the Covered Securities.

The following are examples of an indirect Pecuniary Interest in Covered Securities:

1.Securities held by members of your immediate family sharing the same household; however, this presumption may be rebutted by convincing evidence that profits derived from transactions in these Covered Securities will not provide you with any economic benefit.

"Immediate family" means any child, stepchild, grandchild, parent, stepparent, grandparent, spouse, sibling, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law, and includes any adoptive relationship.

2.Your interest as a general partner in Covered Securities held by a general or limited partnership.

3.Your interest as a manager-member in the Covered Securities held by a limited liability company.

You do not have an indirect Pecuniary Interest in Covered Securities held by a corporation, partnership, limited liability company or other entity in which you hold an equity interest, unless you are a Controlling equity holder or you have or share investment Control over the Covered Securities held by the entity.

The following circumstances constitute Beneficial Ownership by you of Covered Securities held by a trust:

1.Your ownership of Covered Securities as a trustee where either you or members of your immediate family have a vested interest in the principal or income of the trust.

2.Your ownership of a vested interest in a trust.

3.Your status as a settlor of a trust, unless the consent of all of the beneficiaries is required in order for you to revoke the trust.

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EXHIBIT B

Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.

Insider Trading Policy and Procedures

Policy Statement on Insider Trading

Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (the "Company")1 has adopted this Insider Trading Policy and Procedures (the "Policy") that applies to each director, officer and employee of the Company and each officer and employee of the Company's subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, "Covered Persons"). Each Covered Person must, upon request by the Company, acknowledge his or her understanding of the Policy and agreement to be bound by the Policy. In the case of a Covered Person who is an officer or employee of an affiliate of the Company where the affiliate has adopted a substantially similar policy that is satisfactory to the Company, the Company may accept a certification from the affiliate with respect to the Covered Person's understanding of, and agreement to be bound by, the affiliate's policy.

This Policy contains a discussion of insider trading, and sets forth trading restrictions applicable to Covered Persons. Under this Policy, a Covered Person (which may under certain circumstances include a person who was formerly a Covered Person) is forbidden from:

(i)trading in any securities of the Company in any capacity (or in options to buy such securities or other derivative securities based on such securities) on the basis of material, non-public information;

(ii)having others trade in such securities for him or her while he or she is in possession of material, nonpublic information; and

(iii)communicating (or "tipping") to others confidential or nonpublic information concerning the Company or other companies.

Discussion: What is "Insider Trading?"

Insider trading is, in addition to being a violation of this Policy, a violation of the federal securities laws. The term "insider trading" is not defined in the federal securities laws, but generally is used to refer to the use of material, nonpublic information to trade in securities (whether or not one is an "insider" of the company that issued the securities) or the communication of material, nonpublic information to others who may trade on the basis of such information.

1The term "Company" refers to Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates, collectively or individually, as the context requires.

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While the law concerning insider trading is not static, it is generally understood that, with respect to the Company and its securities, insiders are prohibited from doing the following:

(i)Trading in any of the Company's securities in any capacity (including derivative securities based on the Company's securities) while in possession of material, nonpublic information concerning the Company. An example of this would be a sale of the Company's securities at a time when a major acquisition was pending but not yet announced.

(ii)Having others trade on the insider's behalf while the insider is in possession of material, nonpublic information.

(iii)Communicating nonpublic information concerning the Company to others who may then trade in securities of the Company or pass on the information to others who may trade in such securities. Such conduct, also known as "tipping," results in liability for the insider of the Company who communicated such information (even if such insider does not actually trade himself) and for the person who received the information if he acts on such information or passes it on to others who may act on it.

The elements of insider trading and the penalties for such unlawful conduct are discussed below.

1.Who is an Insider?

The concept of "insider" is broad and generally includes any person who possesses material, nonpublic information about the Company and who has a duty to the Company to keep this information confidential. In the case of the Company, "insiders" include the Covered Persons. In addition, a person can be a "temporary insider" if he or she enters into a special confidential relationship to serve any such entity and as a result is given access to information in connection with such service. Persons who can become temporary insiders include, among others, the Company's attorneys, accountants, consultants and investment bankers. The Company also reserves the right to apply this Policy and its restrictions on trading to a person who leaves the Company (or an affiliate or subsidiary of the Company) for a period of up to six months following such person's departure by giving notice to such person.

2.What is Material Information?

Trading while in the possession of inside information is not a basis for liability unless the information is "material." Generally, information is "material" if

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there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable investor would consider it important in making an investment decision, or if it is reasonably certain to have an effect on the price, whether it is positive or negative, of an issuer's securities.

There is no bright-line standard for assessing materiality; rather, materiality is based on an assessment of all the facts and circumstances, and is often evaluated by enforcement authorities with the benefit of hindsight. Although there is no precise, generally accepted definition of materiality, information is likely to be "material" if it relates to:

·Earnings information and quarterly results

·Projections of future earnings or losses or other earnings guidance (including confirming previous earnings guidance)

·A pending or proposed merger, joint venture, acquisition, or tender offer, or an acquisition or disposition of significant assets (including significant affiliates)

·Significant new investments or financings or related developments

·Major events regarding the Company's securities (including the declaration of a stock split or dividend, calls of securities for redemption, repurchase plans, changes to the rights of security holders or the offering of additional securities)

·Severe financial liquidity problems

·Significant litigation and regulatory matters

·Changes in auditors or auditor notification that the Company may no longer rely on an audit report

·Expansion or curtailment of significant operations

·Bankruptcy or insolvency

"Inside" information could be material because of its expected effect on the price of the issuer's securities, the securities of another company or the securities of several companies.

Moreover, the resulting prohibition against the misuse of "inside" information includes not only restrictions on trading in the issuer's securities, but restrictions on trading in the securities of other companies affected by the inside information as well (e.g., in the event the issuer was in negotiations to acquire a public company).

3.What is Nonpublic Information?

In order for information to qualify as "inside" information, in addition to being "material," the information also must be "nonpublic." "Nonpublic" information is information that has not been made available to investors generally. This includes information received from sources or in circumstances indicating that the information has not been circulated generally.

At such time as material, nonpublic information is released to the investing public, it loses its status as "inside" information. For "nonpublic" information to become public information, however, it must be disseminated

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through recognized channels of distribution designed to reach the securities marketplace, and sufficient time must pass for the information to become available in the market.

To show that "material" information is public, it generally is necessary to point to some fact that establishes that the information has become generally available, such as disclosure by the filing of a definitive proxy statement, Form 10- Q, Form 10-K, Form 8-K or other report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") or disclosure by release to a national business and financial wire service (e.g., Dow Jones or Reuters), a national news service or a national newspaper (e.g., The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times). The circulation of rumors or "talk on the street," even if accurate, widespread and reported in the media, may not constitute the requisite public disclosure.

Material, nonpublic information is not made public by selective dissemination. Material information improperly disclosed only to institutional investors or to an analyst or a favored group of analysts may retain its status as "nonpublic" information, the use of which is subject to insider trading laws. Similarly, partial disclosure does not constitute public dissemination. So long as any material component of the "inside" information has yet to be publicly disclosed, the information is deemed "nonpublic" and may not be traded upon.

The Company generally does not consider quarterly and annual earnings results to have been disclosed publicly until the morning of the third business day after a press release regarding such earnings (with the date of the earnings press release being counted as the first business day). For example, if the earnings press release was issued on a Tuesday, such earnings results would be considered public on Thursday morning. Similarly, other material information will generally not be considered public until the third business day after public disclosure in the manner described previously.

4.Penalties for Insider Trading.

Penalties for trading on or communicating material nonpublic information are severe, both for the individuals involved in such unlawful conduct and, potentially, for their employers. A person can be subject to some or all of the penalties below even if he does not benefit personally from the violation. Penalties include:

·jail sentences

·disgorgement of profits

·civil fines for the person who committed the violation of up to three times the profit gained or loss avoided, whether or not the person actually benefited (i.e., if the violation was one for tipping information), as well as criminal fines of up to$1,000,000

·fines for the employer or other controlling person of the violator of up to the greater of $1,000,000 or three times the amount of the profit gained or loss avoided

In addition, any violation of this Policy can be expected to result in serious sanctions by the Company, which may include dismissal of the person involved.

Trading Procedures

The following Trading Procedures are applicable to you because you are a director, officer or employee of the Company or of a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (in each such case, a "Company Insider") or an officer or employee of an affiliate of the Company (in each such case, an "Affiliate Insider") who may, by virtue of your duties or work conditions, have access to material, nonpublic information concerning the Company.

1.Trading Windows and Pre-Clearance.

There are times when the Company may be aware of a material, nonpublic development.

Although you may not know the specifics of the development, if you engage in a trade before such development is disclosed to the public or resolved you might expose yourself and the Company to a charge of insider trading that could be costly and difficult to refute. In addition, a trade by you during such a development could result in adverse publicity and sanctions for both the Company and you.

Therefore, if you are a Company Insider, you, your spouse and members of your immediate family sharing the same household may purchase or sell securities of the Company only during the "trading windows" that occur each quarter, as specified below; provided, that, such person is not in possession of material, nonpublic information (as provided generally herein). In addition, you (or your spouse or member of your immediate family sharing the same household) must pre-clear your (or their) intent to trade within any "trading window" with one of the Company officers listed on Schedule A hereto, as may be updated from time to time (each, a "Clearance Officer" for so long as such individual is employed by the Company).

For Company Insiders, the trading window is the period in any fiscal quarter beginning on the morning of the third business day after the Company's issuance of a press release regarding quarterly or annual earnings (an "Earnings Release") (with the date of the Earnings Release being counted as the first business day), and ending on the 15 calendar day of the third month of the fiscal quarter (i.e., March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15, as applicable). For example, if the Earnings Release was issued on a Tuesday (January 29th), the trading window would open Thursday morning (January 31st) and close at the end of the day on March 15.

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If you are an Affiliate Insider, you, your spouse or member of your immediate family sharing the same household may purchase or sell securities of the Company at any time and in any capacity other than during the blackout period beginning on the date of an Earnings Release or other public disclosure of material information and ending on the morning of the third business day following such Earnings Release or public disclosure (with the date of the Earnings Release or public disclosure being counted as the first business day); provided, that, such person is not in possession of material, nonpublic information. For example, if the Earnings Release was issued on a Tuesday, the blackout period would end on Thursday morning. In addition, you (or your spouse or member of your immediate family sharing the same household) must pre-clear your (or their) intent to trade at any time with a Clearance Officer.

In accordance with the procedure for waivers described below, in special circumstances a waiver may be given to a Company Insider to allow a trade to occur outside of a trading window.

If you intend to engage in any trade in any capacity or for any account, you must first receive permission from a Clearance Officer as set forth above.2 Authorization to trade the Company's securities will not be granted if the Company has unannounced pending material developments. This would occur, for example, if the Company was in discussions concerning a major acquisition during the period following an Earnings Release. If the trading window for Company Insiders ended before the transaction was announced and the "blackout" was lifted, trading by Company Insiders would next be permitted during the trading window following the next quarterly Earnings Release. Any Clearance Officer may refuse to permit any transaction if he or she determines that such trade could give rise to a charge or appearance of insider trading. The Clearance Officer may consult with the Company's counsel/outside counsel before responding to your request.

After receiving permission from a Clearance Officer to engage in a trade, you should complete your trade within 48 hours or make a new trading request.

Even if you have received pre-clearance, neither you, your spouse nor any member of your immediate family sharing your household may trade in any securities (including options and other derivative securities) of the Company if you or such other person is in possession of material, nonpublic information about the Company.

Options and Warrants. The exercise of an option or warrant issued to you by the Company to purchase securities of the Company is generally not subject to the Trading Procedures outlined above, but the securities so acquired may not be sold except during a trading window (for Company Insiders), after authorization from a

2If the Clearance Officers will be absent from the office or unavailable for a significant period of time, they will designate someone to handle trading requests.

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Clearance Officer has been received, and after all other requirements of this Policy have been satisfied. The so-called "cashless exercise" of stock options through a broker, or any other market sale for the purposes of generating cash needed to pay the exercise price of an option, is covered by the Trading Procedures and therefore requires pre-clearance.

Rule 10b5-1 Plans. Pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), individuals may be able to avoid insider trading liability if they can demonstrate that the purchase or sale in question was made pursuant to a binding contract, instruction or written plan that satisfies the requirements of Rule 10b5-1(c) (a "10b5-1 Plan"). You may not enter into, amend, suspend or terminate any 10b5-1 Plan except with the prior approval of a Clearance Officer. Once you establish a 10b5-1 Plan in accordance with the foregoing, you will not need to clear in advance transactions made pursuant to the terms of the 10b5-1 Plan and transactions under such 10b5-1 Plan may occur at any time.

2.Post-Trade Reporting.

You are required to report to a Clearance Officer any transaction in any securities of the Company in any capacity by you, your spouse or any immediate family member sharing your household immediately, and in any event not later than 5:00 p.m. on the day on which such transaction was effected. Each report you make to a Clearance Officer should include the date of the transaction, quantity, price and broker-dealer through which the transaction was effected.

This reporting requirement may be satisfied by sending (or having your broker send) duplicate confirmations of trades to a Clearance Officer, provided that such information is received by the Clearance Officer by 5:00 p.m. on the day on which such transaction was effected.

The foregoing reporting requirement is designed to help monitor compliance with the Trading Procedures set forth herein and to enable the Company to help those persons who are subject to reporting obligations under Section 16 of the Exchange Act to comply with these reporting obligations. Each director and executive officer, however, and not the Company, is personally responsible for ensuring that his or her transactions do not give rise to "short swing" liability under Section 16 and for ensuring that timely reports of his or her transactions in Company securities are filed with the SEC, as required by Section 16 of the Exchange Act.

3.Prohibition on Day Trading, Use of Derivatives and Short Sales.

Neither you, your spouse nor any immediate family member sharing your household may

(i)engage in any day trading of the Company's securities, (ii) enter into trade puts, calls, options, warrants or other derivative instruments in respect of any of the Company's securities, or (iii) engage in short selling or any economically equivalent transactions that would result in a net short exposure to the Company.

30

Unauthorized Disclosure

As discussed above, the disclosure of material, nonpublic information to others can lead to significant legal difficulties, fines and punishment. Therefore, you should not discuss material, nonpublic information about the Company or its affiliates or subsidiaries with anyone, including other employees, except as required in the performance of your regular duties.

In addition, the Company has strict policies relating to safeguarding the confidentiality of its internal, proprietary information. These include procedures regarding identifying, marking and safeguarding confidential information and employee confidentiality agreements. You are required to comply with these policies at all times.

It is important that only specifically designated representatives of the Company discuss the Company and its affiliates and subsidiaries with the news media, securities analysts and investors. Inquiries of this type received by any employee should be referred to a Clearance Officer.

Post-Termination Transactions

This Policy continues to apply to transactions in Company securities even after termination of service to the Company. If an individual is in possession of material, nonpublic information when his or her service terminates, that individual may not trade in Company securities until that information has become public or is no longer material.

Reporting of Violations

If you know or have reason to believe that this Policy, including the Trading Procedures described above, has been or is about to be violated, you should bring the actual or potential violation to the attention of a Clearance Officer immediately.

Modifications; Waivers

The Company reserves the right to amend or modify this Policy, including the Trading Procedures set forth herein, at any time. Waiver of any provision of this Policy in a specific instance may be authorized in writing by a Clearance Officer (or his designee), and any such waiver shall be reported to the Board of Directors of the Company at its next regularly scheduled meeting.

Questions

If you have any questions regarding this Policy or the Trading Procedures set forth herein, you are encouraged to contact a Clearance Officer, who may refer the question to the Company's counsel/outside counsel before responding.

As of September 24, 2019

31

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I have read the Insider Trading Policy and Procedures (the "Policy") of Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (the "Company"). I understand that, if I am an officer or employee of the Company or an officer or employee of one of its affiliates or subsidiaries, my failure to comply in all respects with the Policy, including the Trading Procedures set forth therein, is a basis for termination of my employment from the Company or an affiliate or subsidiary, as the case may be. I further acknowledge and agree that the Policy is in addition to, and operates in conjunction with, any other policies of my employer regarding trading.

Name:Date:

This document states a policy of the Company and is not intended to be regarded as the rendering of legal or other advice.

32

EXHIBIT C

Broker Confirmation Request Letter

Date

Name

BD Name

BD Fax Number or Address

Re: Employee Name, Account Number (s)

I am an employee of TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC (the "Firm"), a registered investment adviser. In compliance with the Firm's Code of Ethics, please send duplicate copies of confirmations of any securities transactions in the above referenced account and periodic account statements to the Firm at the following address:

Chief Compliance Officer

TimesSquare Capital Management, LLC

7 Times Square

42nd Floor

New York, New York 10036

Very truly yours,

TimesSquare Employee

Cc: TimesSquare Chief Compliance Officer

33


Code of Ethics

Personal investing Gifts and entertainment Outside activities Client confidentiality

1 June 2020

Brendan J. Swords

Chairman and Chief

Executive Officer

The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.

– Ancient proverb

A message from our CEO

Our business is built on a foundation of trust — the trust of our clients, earned over many years. It is our most valuable asset, and if lost, it cannot easily be regained. There are examples across our industry of companies that have lost sight of this lesson, and they serve as strong reminders that our business requires a mindset of eternal vigilance.

Each and every one of us has a role to play in sustaining our clients' trust. We must test every decision we make, no matter how small, against our fiduciary obligations and our high ethical standards. If there is the slightest doubt about whether a decision is in the best interests of our clients, then bring it to someone's attention — your manager, the Legal and Compliance team, or any of my direct reports. But don't just let it go. This is what it means to be a fiduciary: complete dedication to conscientious stewardship of client assets.

To support this mandate, our Code of Ethics sets out standards for our personal conduct, including personal investing, acceptance of gifts and entertainment, outside activities, and client confidentiality. Please take the time to read the Code, familiarize yourself with the rules, and determine what you need to do to comply with them. Remember, too, that while our Code of Ethics is reviewed and updated regularly, no set of rules can address every possible circumstance. And so I ask you to remain vigilant, exercise good judgment, ask for help when you need it, consider

not just the letter but the spirit of the laws that govern our industry, and do your part to safeguard our clients' trust.

Sincerely,

Brendan J. Swords Chief Executive Officer

Contents

Standards of conduct . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

.

.

.

. . . .

. 1. . . . . . . . . . .

Who is subject to the Code of Ethics?

. . . . . . .

.

.

.

. . . . .

.1. . . . .

Personal investing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . .

.

. .

.

. . . . . .

. 2

Which types of investments and related activities

are prohibited? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Which investment accounts must be reported? . . . . . . . . . . . 3 What are the reporting responsibilities for all personnel? . . . . . . . 4 What are the preclearance responsibilities for all personnel? . . . . . 5 What are the additional requirements for investment professionals? . . 6

Gifts and entertainment . . . . . . . . . .

. .

.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. .

7

Outside activities . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.

.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. .8. . . . . . .

Client confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . .

.

.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.

8. . . .

How we enforce our Code of Ethics .

. .

.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. .

8

Exceptions from the Code of Ethics

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.

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.9. . . . .

Closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.

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.

.9. . . . . . . . .

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

1

Standards of conduct

Our standards of conduct are straightforward and essential. Any transaction or activity that violates either of the standards of conduct below is prohibited, regardless of whether it meets the technical rules found elsewhere in the Code of Ethics.

1.We act as fiduciaries to our clients. Each of us must put our clients' interests above our own and must not take advantage of our management of clients' assets for our own benefit. Our firm's policies and procedures implement these principles with respect to our conduct of the firm's business. This Code of Ethics implements the same principles with respect to our personal conduct. The procedures set forth in the Code govern specific transactions, but each of us must be mindful at all times that our behavior, including our personal investing activity, must meet our fiduciary obligations to our clients.

2.We act with integrity and in accordance with both the letter and the spirit of the law. Our business is highly regulated, and we are committed as a firm to compliance with those regulations. Each of us must also recognize our obligations as individuals to understand and obey the laws that apply to us in the conduct of our duties. They include laws and regulations that apply specifically to investment advisors, as well as more broadly applicable laws ranging from the prohibition against trading on material nonpublic information and other forms of market abuse to anticorruption statutes such as the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act. The firm provides training on their requirements. Each of us must take advantage of these resources to ensure that our own conduct complies with the law.

Who is subject to the Code of Ethics?

Our Code of Ethics applies to all employees of Wellington Management and its affiliates around the world. Its restrictions on personal investing also apply to temporary personnel (including co-ops and interns) and consultants whose tenure with Wellington Management exceeds 90 days and who are deemed by the Chief Compliance Officer to have access to nonpublic investment research, client holdings, or trade information.

All Wellington Management personnel receive a copy of the Code of Ethics (and any amendments) and must certify, upon joining the firm and annually thereafter, that they have read and understood it and have complied with its requirements.

Adherence to the Code of Ethics is a basic condition of employment. Failure to adhere to our Code of Ethics may result in disciplinary action, including termination of employment.

If you have any doubt as to the appropriateness of any activity, believe that you have violated the Code, or become aware of a violation of the Code by another individual, you should consult the manager of the Code of Ethics Team, Chief Compliance Officer, General Counsel, or Chair of the Ethics Committee. You also have the right to report violations of law or regulation directly to relevant governmental agencies. You do not need the firm's prior authorization to make any such report or disclosures and are not required to notify the firm that you have done so.

For additional information regarding our Code of Ethics Policy refer to the Guide to Our Policy document available on the firm's Intranet.

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

2

Personal investing

As fiduciaries, each of us must avoid taking personal advantage of our knowledge of investment activity in client accounts. Although our Code of Ethics sets out a number of specific restrictions on personal investing designed to reflect this principle, no set of rules can anticipate every situation. Each of us must adhere to the spirit, and not just the letter, of our Code in meeting this fiduciary obligation to our clients.

Which types of investments and related activities are prohibited?

Our Code of Ethics prohibits the following personal investments and investment-related activities:

•Purchasing or selling the following:

–Initial public offerings (IPOs) of any securities

–Securities of an issuer being bought or sold on behalf of clients until one trading day after such buying or selling is completed or canceled

–Securities of an issuer that is the subject of a new, changed, or reissued but unchanged action recommendation from a global industry research or fixed income credit analyst until two business days following issuance or reissuance of the recommendation

–Securities of an issuer that is mentioned at the Morning Meeting or the Early Morning Meeting until two business days following the meeting

–Securities that are the subject of a firmwide restriction

–Single-stock futures

–Options with an expiration date that is within 60 calendar days of the transaction date

–Securities of broker/dealers (or their affiliates) that the firm has approved for execution of client trades

–Securities of any securities market or exchange on which the firm trades on behalf of clients

•Purchasing an equity security if your aggregate ownership of the equity security exceeds 0.05% of the total shares outstanding of the issuer

•Taking a profit from any trading activity within a

60 calendar day window

•Using a derivative instrument to circumvent a restriction in the Code of Ethics

Short-term trading

You are prohibited from profiting from the purchase and sale (or sale and purchase) of the same or equivalent securities within 60 calendar days. For example, if you buy shares of stock (or options on such shares) and then sell those shares within 60 days at a profit, an exception will be identified and any gain from the transactions must be surrendered. Gains are calculated based on a last in, first out (LIFO) method for purposes of this restriction. This short-term trading rule does not apply to securities exempt from the Code's preclearance requirements.

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

3

Which investment accounts must be reported?

You are required to report any investment account over which you exercise investment discretion or from which any of the following individuals enjoy economic benefits: (i) your spouse, domestic partner, or minor children, and (ii) any other dependents living in your household,

and

that holds or is capable of holding any of the following covered investments:

•Shares of stocks, ADRs, or other equity securities (including any security convertible into equity securities)

•Bonds or notes (other than sovereign government bonds issued by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, or the United States, as well as bankers' acceptances, CDs, commercial paper, and high-quality, short-term debt instruments)

•Interest in a variable annuity product in which the underlying assets are held in a subaccount managed by Wellington Management

•Shares of exchange-traded funds (ETFs)

•Shares of closed-end funds

•Options on securities

•Securities futures

•Interest in private placement securities (other than Wellington Management sponsored products)

•Shares of funds managed by Wellington Management (other than money market funds)

Please see Appendix A for a detailed summary of reporting requirements by security type.

For purposes of the Code of Ethics, these investment accounts are referred to as reportable accounts. Examples of common account types include brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, employee stock compensation plans, and transfer agent accounts. Reportable accounts also include those from which you or an immediate family member may benefit indirectly, such as a family trust or family partnership, and accounts in which you have a joint ownership interest, such as a joint brokerage account.

Accounts not requiring reporting

You do not need to report the following accounts via the Code of Ethics System since the administrator will provide the Code of Ethics Team with access to relevant holdings and transaction information:

•Accounts maintained within the Wellington Retirement and Pension Plan or similar firm-sponsored retirement or benefit plans identified by the Ethics Committee

•Accounts maintained directly with Wellington Trust Company or other Wellington Management

Sponsored Products

Although these accounts do not need to be reported, your investment activities in these accounts must comply with the standards of conduct embodied in our Code of Ethics.

Non-volitional transactions include:
Investments made through automatic dividend reinvestment or rebalancing plans and stock purchase plan acquisitions
Transactions that result from corporate actions applicable to all similar security holders (such as splits, tender offers, mergers, and stock dividends)

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

4

Managed account exemptions

An account from which you or immediate family members could benefit financially, but over which neither you nor they have any investment discretion or influence (a managed account), may be exempted from the Code of Ethics' personal investing requirements upon written request and approval. An example of a managed account would be a professionally advised account about which you will not be consulted or have any input on specific transactions placed by the investment manager prior to their execution.

Designated Brokers For U.S. Reportable Accounts

U.S-based reportable accounts must be held at one or more of the brokers on the Designated Brokers List. This requirement does not apply to managed accounts that are exempt from certain provisions of the Code of Ethics, employee stock purchase and stock option plans and other accounts (including pension, retirement and compensation accounts) required to be held at a specific broker.

New employees must transfer all reportable accounts to a Designated Broker within 45 days from the start of their employment.

What are the reporting responsibilities for all personnel?

Initial and annual holdings reports

You must disclose all reportable accounts and all covered investments you hold within 10 calendar days after you begin employment at or association with Wellington Management. You will be required to review and update your holdings and securities account

information annually thereafter.

For initial holdings reports, holdings information must be current as of a date no more than 45 days prior to the date you became covered by the Code of Ethics. Please note that you cannot make personal trades until you have filed an initial holdings report via the Code of Ethics System on the Intranet.

For subsequent annual reports, holdings information must be current as of a date no more than 45 days prior to the date the report is submitted. Please note that your annual holdings report must account for both volitional and non-volitional transactions.

At the time you file your initial and annual reports, you will be asked to confirm that you have read and understood the Code of Ethics and any amendments.

Quarterly transactions reports

You must submit a quarterly transaction report no later than 30 calendar days after quarter-end via the Code of Ethics System on the Intranet, even if you did not make any personal trades during that quarter. In the reports, you must either confirm that you did not make any personal trades (except for those resulting from non-volitional events) or provide information regarding all volitional transactions in covered investments.

Duplicate statements and trade confirmations

For each of your reportable accounts, you are required to provide duplicate statements and duplicate trade confirmations to Wellington Management.

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

5

What are the preclearance responsibilities for all personnel?

Preclearance of publicly traded securities

You must receive clearance before buying or selling stocks, bonds, options, and most other publicly traded securities in any reportable account. A full list of the categories of publicly traded securities requiring preclearance, and of certain exceptions to this requirement, is included in Appendix A. Transactions in accounts that are not reportable accounts do not require preclearance or reporting.

Preclearance requests must be submitted online via the Code of Ethics System, which is accessible through the Intranet. If clearance is granted, the approval will be effective for a period of 24 hours. If you preclear a transaction and then place a limit order with your broker, that limit order must either be executed or expire at the end of the 24-hour period. If you want to execute the order after the 24-hour period expires, you must resubmit your preclearance request.

Please note that preclearance approval does not alter your responsibility to ensure that each personal securities transaction complies with the general standards of conduct, the reporting requirements, the restrictions on short-term trading, or the special rules for investment professionals set out in our Code of Ethics..

Caution on short sales, margin transactions, and options

You may engage in short sales and margin transactions and may purchase or sell options provided you receive preclearance and meet all other applicable requirements under our Code of Ethics (including the additional rules for investment professionals described on page 7). Please note, however, that these types of transactions can have unintended consequences. For example, any sale by your broker to cover a margin call or to buy in

a short position will be in violation of the Code unless precleared. Likewise, any volitional sale of securities acquired at the expiration of a long call option will be in violation of the Code unless precleared. You are responsible for ensuring any subsequent volitional actions relating to these types of transactions meet the requirements of the Code.

Preclearance of private placement securities

You cannot invest in securities offered to potential investors in a private placement without first obtaining prior approval. Approval may be granted after a review of the facts and circumstances, including whether:

•an investment in the securities is likely to result in future conflicts with client accounts (e.g., upon a future public offering), and

•you are being offered the opportunity due to your employment at or association with Wellington Management.

Investments in our own privately offered investment vehicles (our Sponsored Products), including collective investment funds and common trust funds maintained by Wellington Trust Company, na, our hedge funds, and our non-US domiciled funds, have been approved under the Code and therefore do not require the submission of a Private Placement Approval Form.

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

6

What are the additional requirements for investment professionals?

If you are a portfolio manager, research analyst, or other investment professional who has portfolio management responsibilities for a client account (e.g., designated portfolio manager, backup portfolio manager, investment team member), or who otherwise has direct authority to make decisions to buy or sell securities in a client account (referred to here as an investment professional), you are required to adhere to additional rules and restrictions on your personal securities transactions. However, as no set of rules can anticipate every situation, you must remember to place our clients' interests first whenever you tr ansact in securities that are also held in client accounts you manage.

The following provisions of the code are intended to allow investment professionals to make long-term investments in securities. However, you may not be able to sell personal investments for extended periods of time and therefore should consider the liquidity, tax planning, market, and similar risks associated with making personal investments in securities of an issuer that are or may be held in client accounts.

•Investment Professional Blackout Periods — You cannot buy or sell a security for a period of

14 calendar days before or after any transaction in the same issuer by a client account for which you serve as an investment professional. In addition, You may not sell personal holdings in a security of the same issuer that is held by a client account for which you serve as an investment professional until the later of the following periods: (i) one calendar year from the date of your last purchase and (ii) 90 calendar days after all of your client accounts liquidate all holdings of the same issuer.

If you anticipate receiving a cash flow or redemption request in a client portfolio that will result in the purchase or sale of securities that you also hold in your personal account, you should take care to avoid transactions in those securities in your personal account in the days leading up to the client transactions. However, unanticipated cash flows and redemptions in client accounts and unexpected market events do occur from time to time, and a personal trade made in the prior 14 days should never prevent you from buying or selling a security in a client account if the trade would be in the client's best interest. If you find yourself in that situation and need to buy or sell a security in a client account within the 14 calendar days following your personal transaction in a security of the same issuer, you should attempt to notify the Code of Ethics Team or your local Compliance Officer in advance of placing the trade. If you are unable to reach any of those individuals and the trade is time sensitive, you should proceed with the client trade and notify the Code of Ethics Team promptly after submitting it.

•Short Sales by an Investment Professional — An investment professional may not personally take a short position in a security of an issuer in which he or she holds a long position in a client account.

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

7

Gifts and entertainment

Our guiding principle of "client, firm, self" also governs the receipt of gifts and entertainment from clients, consultants, brokers/dealers, research providers, vendors, companies in which we may invest, and others with whom the firm does business. As fiduciaries to our clients, we must always place our clients' interests first and cannot allow gifts or entertainment opportunities to influence the actions we take on behalf of our clients. In keeping with this standard, you must follow several specific requirements:

Accepting Gifts — You may only accept gifts of nominal value, which include logoed items, flower arrangements, gift baskets, and food, as well as other gifts with an approximate value of less than US$100 or the local equivalent per year from a single source. You may not accept a gift of cash, including a cash equivalent such as a gift card, regardless of the amount. If you receive a gift that violates the Code, you must return the gift or consult with the Chief Compliance Officer to determine appropriate action under the circumstances.

Accepting Business Meals — Business meals are permitted provided that neither the cost nor the frequency is excessive and there is a legitimate business purpose. If the host is a broker/dealer or research provider, the host must be reimbursed for the full amount of your proportionate share of the total cost of the meal if the approximate value of the meal is more than US$100 or the local equivalent.

Accepting Entertainment Opportunities — The firm recognizes that participation in entertainment opportunities with representatives from organizations with which the firm does business, such as con- sultants, broker/dealers, research providers, vendors, and companies in which we may invest, can help to further legitimate business interests. However, participation in such entertainment opportunities should be infrequent and is subject to the following conditions:

1.A representative of the hosting organization must be present;

2.The primary purpose of the event must be to discuss business or to build a business relationship;

3.You must receive prior approval from your business manager;

4.If the host is a broker/dealer or research provider, the host must be reimbursed for the full amount of the entertainment opportunity; and

5.For all other entertainment opportunities, the host must be reimbursed for the full face value of any entertainment ticket(s) if:

•the entertainment opportunity requires a ticket with a face value of more than US$200 or the local equivalent, or is a high-profile event (e.g., a major sporting event),

•you wish to accept more than one ticket, or

•the host has invited numerous Wellington Management representatives.

Business managers must clear their own participation under the circumstances described above with the Chief Compliance Officer or Chair of the Ethics Committee.

Please note that even if you pay for the full face value of a ticket, you may attend the event only if the host is present.

Lodging and Air Travel — You may not accept a gift of lodging or air travel in connection with any entertainment opportunity. If you participate in an entertainment opportunity for which lodging or air travel is paid for by the host, you must reimburse the host for the equivalent cost, as determined by Wellington Management's travel manager.

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

8

Soliciting Gifts, Entertainment Opportunities, or Contributions — In your capacity as an employee of the firm, you may not solicit gifts, entertainment opportunities, or charitable or political contributions for yourself, or on behalf of clients, prospects, or others, from brokers, vendors, clients, or consultants with whom the firm conducts business or from companies in which the firm may invest.

Sourcing Entertainment Opportunities — You may not request tickets to entertainment events from the firm's Trading department or any other Wellington Management department, or employee, nor from any broker, vendor, company in which we may invest, or other organization with which the firm conducts business.

Outside activities

While the firm recognizes that you may engage in business or charitable activities in your personal time, you must take steps to avoid conflicts of interest between your private interests and our clients' interests. As a result, all significant outside business or charitable activities (e.g., additional employment, consulting work, directorships or officerships) must be approved by your business manager and by the Chief Compliance Officer, General Counsel, or Chair of the Ethics Committee prior to the acceptance of such a position (or if you are new, upon joining the firm). Approval will be granted only if it is determined that the activity does not present a significant conflict of interest. Directorships in public companies (or companies reasonably expected to become public companies) will generally not be authorized, while service with charitable organizations generally will be permitted.

Client confidentiality

Any nonpublic information concerning our clients that you acquire in connection with your employment at the firm is confidential. This includes information regarding actual or contemplated investment decisions, portfolio composition, research recommendations, and client interests. You should not discuss client business, including the existence of a client relationship, with outsiders unless it is a necessary part of your job responsibilities.

How we enforce our Code of Ethics

Legal and Compliance is responsible for monitoring compliance with the Code of Ethics. Members of Legal and Compliance will periodically request certifications and review holdings and transaction reports for potential violations. They may also request additional information or reports.

It is our collective responsibility to uphold the Code of Ethics. In addition to the formal reporting requirements described in this Code of Ethics, you have a responsibility to report any violations of the Code. If you have any doubt as to the appropriateness of any activity, believe that you have violated the Code, or become aware of a violation of the Code by another individual, you should consult the manager of the Code of Ethics Team, Chief Compliance Officer, General Counsel, or Chair of the Ethics Committee.

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

9

Potential violations of the Code of Ethics will be investigated and considered by representatives of Legal and Compliance and/or the Ethics Committee. All violations of the Code of Ethics will be reported to the Chief Compliance Officer. Violations are taken seriously and may result in sanctions or other consequences, including:

•a warning

•referral to your business manager and/or senior management

•reversal of a trade or the return of a gift

•disgorgement of profits or of the value of a gift

•a limitation or restriction on personal investing

•termination of employment

•referral to civil or criminal authorities

If you become aware of any potential conflicts of interest that you believe are not addressed by our Code of Ethics or other policies, please contact the Chief Compliance Officer, the General Counsel, or the manager of the Code of Ethics Team.

Exceptions from the Code of Ethics

The Chief Compliance Officer may grant an exception from the Code, including preclearance, other trading restrictions, and certain reporting requirements on a case-by-case basis if it is determined that the proposed conduct involves no opportunity for abuse and does not conflict with client interests. Exceptions are expected to be rare.

Closing

As a firm, we seek excellence in the people we employ, the products and services we offer, the way we meet our ethical and fiduciary responsibilities, and the working environment we create for ourselves. Our Code of Ethics embodies that commitment. Accordingly, each of us must take care that our actions fully meet the high standards of conduct and professional behavior we have adopted. Most importantly, we must all remember "client, firm, self" is our most fundamental guiding principle.

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

10

APPENDIX A – PART 1

No Preclearance or Reporting Required:

Open-end investment funds not managed by Wellington Management1

Interests in a variable annuity product in which the underlying assets are held in a fund not managed by Wellington Management

Direct obligations of the US government (including obligations issued by GNMA and PEFCO) or the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, or the United Kingdom

Cash

Money market instruments or other short-term debt instruments rated P-1 or P-2, A-1 or A-2, or their equivalents2

Bankers' acceptances, CDs, commercial paper

Wellington Trust Company Pools

Wellington Sponsored Hedge Funds

Securities futures and options on direct obligations of the US government or the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, or the United Kingdom, and associated derivatives

Options, forwards, and futures on commodities and foreign exchange, and associated derivatives

Transactions in approved managed accounts

Reporting of Securities Transactions Required (no need to preclear and not subject to the 60-day holding period):

Open-end investment funds managed by Wellington Management1 (other than money market funds)

Interests in a variable annuity or insurance product in which the underlying assets are held in a fund managed by Wellington Management

Futures and options on securities indices

ETFs listed in Appendix A – Part 2 and derivatives on these securities

Gifts of securities to you or a reportable account

Gifts of securities from you or a reportable account

Non-volitional transactions (splits, tender offers, mergers, stock dividends, dividend reinvestments, etc.)

Preclearance and Reporting of Securities Transactions Required:

Bonds and notes (other than direct obligations of the US government or the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, or the United Kingdom, as well as bankers' acceptances, CDs, commercial paper, and high-quality, short-term debt instruments)

Stock (common and preferred) or other equity securities, including any security convertible into equity securities

Closed-end funds

ETFs not listed in Appendix A – Part 2

American Depositary Receipts

Options on securities (but not their non-volitional exercise or expiration)

Warrants

Rights

Unit investment trusts

Prohibited Investments and Activities:

Initial public offerings (IPOs) of any securities

Single-stock futures

Options expiring within 60 days of purchase

Securities being bought or sold on behalf of clients until one trading day after such buying or selling is completed or canceled

Securities of an issuer that is the subject of a new, changed, or reissued but unchanged action recommendation from a global industry research or fixed income credit analyst until two business days following issuance or reissuance of the recommendation

Securities of an issuer that is mentioned at the Morning Meeting or the Early Morning Meeting until two business days following the meeting

Securities on the firmwide restricted list

Profiting from any short-term (i.e., within 60 days) trading activity

Securities of broker/dealers or their affiliates with which the firm conducts business

Securities of any securities market or exchange on which the firm trades

Using a derivative instrument to circumvent the requirements of the Code of Ethics

Purchasing an equity security if your aggregate ownership of the equity security exceeds 0.05% of the total shares outstanding of the issuer

This appendix is current as of 1 June 2020, and may be amended at the discretion of the Ethics Committee.

1A list of funds advised or subadvised by Wellington Management ("Wellington-Managed Funds") is available online via the Code of Ethics System. However, you remain responsible for confirming whether any particular investment represents a Wellington-Managed Fund.

2If the instrument is unrated, it must be of equivalent duration and comparable quality.

Wellington Management Code of Ethics

11

APPENDIX A – PART 2

Wellington Management

ETFs approved for personal trading without preclearance (but requiring reporting)

 

All regional/country exchange share listings of ETFs listed are also approved

 

Ticker

Name

United

States: Equity

AAXJ

ISHARES MSCI ALL COUNTRY ASIA

ACWI

ISHARES MSCI ACWI INDEX FUND

BRF

MARKET VECTORS BRAZIL SMALL-CA

DIA

SPDR DJIA TRUST ETF

DVY

ISHARES DOW JONES SELECT DIVID

ECH

ISHARES MSCI CHILE INVESTABLE

EEB

GUGGENHEIM BRIC ETF

EEM

ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS

EFA

ISHARES MSCI EAFE INDEX FUND

EFG

ISHARES MSCI EAFE GROWTH INDEX

EFV

ISHARES MSCI EAFE VALUE INDEX

EPI

WISDOMTREE INDIA EARNINGS FUND

EPP

ISHARES MSCI PAC EX-JAPAN FUND

EWA

ISHARES MSCI AUSTRALIA INDEX FUND

EWC

ISHARES MSCI CANADA INDEX FUND

EWG

ISHARES MSCI GERMANY INDEX FUND

EWH

ISHARES MSCI HONG KONG IDX FUND

EWJ

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN IDX FUND

EWM

ISHARES MSCI MALAYSIA IDX FUND

EWS

ISHARES MSCI SINGAPORE INDEX FUND

EWT

ISHARES MSCI TAIWAN INDEX FUND

EWU

ISHARES MSCI UK INDEX FUND

EWY

ISHARES MSCI SOUTH KOREA INDEX

EZU

ISHARES MSCI EMU INDEX FUND

FXI

ISHARES FTSE CHINA 25 INDEX

GDX

MARKET VECTORS GOLD MINERS

GDXJ

MARKET VECTORS JUNIOR GOLD MIN

IBB

ISHARES BIOTECH INDEX FUND

ICF

ISHARES COHEN & STEERS REALTY

IEV

ISHARES S&P EUROPE 350 INX FUND

IGE

ISHARES S&P GSSI NAT RES INDEX

IJH

ISHARES S&P MIDCAP 400 IDX FUND

IJJ

ISHARES S&P MIDCAP 400/VALUE

IJK

ISHARES SP MCAP 400/BARRA GTH

IJR

ISHARES SP SMALLCAP 600 IDX FUND

IJS

ISHARES S&P SMALLCAP 600/BARRA

IJT

ISHARES SP SMCAP 600/BARRA GTH

ILF

ISHARES S&P LATIN AMER 40 INDEX

INPTF

IPATH MSCI INDIA INDEX ETN

IOO

ISHARES S&P GLOBAL 100 INDEX FUND

IVE

ISHARES SP 500/BARRA VALUE

IVV

ISHARES S&P 500 INDEX FUND

IVW

ISHARES S&P 500/BARRA GRTH INDEX

IWB

ISHARES RUSSELL 1000 INDEX

IWD

ISHARES RUSSELL 1000 VALUE INDEX

IWF

ISHARES RUSSELL 1000 GROWTH

IWM

ISHARES RUSSELL 2000 INDEX

IWN

ISHARES RUSSELL 2000 VALUE

IWO

ISHARES RUSSELL 2000 GROWTH

IWP

ISHARES RUSSELL MIDCAP GROWTH

IWR

ISHARES RUSSELL MIDCAP INDEX FUND

IWS

ISHARES RUSSELL MIDCAP VALUE I

IWV

ISHARES RUSSELL 3000 INDEX

IXC

ISHARES S&P GLOBAL ENERGY SECT

IYR

ISHARES DOW JONES US RE INDEX

IYW

ISHARES DJ US TECH SECTOR INDEX

MDY

SPDR S&P MIDCAP 400 ETF TRUST

MOO

MARKET VECTORS–AGRI

OEF

ISHARES S&P 100 INDEX FUND

PBW

POWERSHARES WILDERHILL CLEAN E

PFF

ISHARES S&P US PREFERRED STOCK

PGX

POWERSHARES PREFERRED PORTFOLI

PHO

POWERSHARES GLOBAL WATER PORTF

QID

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT QQQ

QLD

PROSHARES ULTRA QQQ

QQQPOWERSHARES QQQTRUST

RSP RYDEX S&P EQUAL WEIGHT

RSX MARKET VECTORS RUSSIA ETF

RWM

PROSHARES SHORT RUSS

RWR

SPDR DOW JONES REIT ETF

RWX

SPDR DJ INTL REAL ESTATE

Ticker

Name

SCZ

ISHARES MSCI EAFE SMALL CAP INDEX

SDS

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT S&P500

SDY

SPDR DIVIDEND ETF

SH

PROSHARES SHORT S&P500

SKF

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT FINANCIAL

SPY

SPDR S&P 500 ETF TRUST

SRS

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT REAL ESTATE

SSO

PROSHARES ULTRA S&P500

TWM

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT RUSS2000

UWM

PROSHARES ULTRA RUSSELL

UYG

PROSHARES ULTRA FINANCIALS

VB

VANGUARD SMALL-CAP VIPERS

VBK

VANGUARD SMALL-CAP GROWTH VIPE

VBR

VANGUARD SMALL-CAP VALUE VIPER

VEA

VANGUARD MSCI EAFE ETF

VEU

VANGUARD FTSE ALL-WORLD EX-US

VGK

VANGUARD MSCI EURO ETF

VIG

VANGUARD DIVIDEND APPRECIATION

VNQ

VANGUARD REIT VIPERS

VO

VANGUARD MID-CAP VIPERS

VOO

VANGUARD S&P 500 ETF

VPL

VANGUARD MSCI PACIFIC ETF

VTI

VANGUARD TOTAL STOCK MARKET

VTV

VANGUARD VALUE VIPERS

VUG

VANGUARD GROWTH VIPERS

VVVANGUARD LARGE-CAP VIPERS

VWO VANGUARD MSCI EM MAR

VXUS

VANGUARD INTERNATIONAL STOCK ETF

VXX

IPATH S&P 500 VIX

XLB

MATERIALS SEL SECTOR SPDR FUND

XLE

ENERGY SELECT SECTOR SPDR FUND

XLF

FINANCIAL SEL SECTOR SPDR FUND

XLI

INDUSTRIAL SELECT SECTOR SPDR

XLK

TECHNOLOGY SELECT SECTOR SPDR

XLP

CONSUMER STAPLES SELECT SPDR

XLU

UTILITIES SELECT SECTOR SPDR

XLV

HEALTH CARE SELECT SECTOR SPDR

XLY

CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY SPDR

XME

SPDR S&P METALS & MINING ETF

XOP

SPDR S&P OIL & GAS EXPL AND PROD

United States: Fixed Income

AGG

ISHARES BARCLAYS AGGREGATE

BIV

VANGUARD INTERMEDIATE-TERM BON

BND

VANGUARD TOTAL BOND MARKET

BOND

PIMCO TOTAL RETURN BOND ETF

BSV

VANGUARD SHORT-TERM BOND ETF

BWX

SPDR BARCLAYS INT TREA BND ETF

BZF

WISDOMTREE DREYFUS BRAZILIAN REAL FUND

CYB

WISDOMTREE DREYFUS CHINESE YUA

ELD

WISDOMTREE EMERGING MARKETS LO

EMB

JPM EMERGING MARKETS BOND ETF

HYG

ISHARES IBOXX $ HIGH YIELD COR

IEF

ISHARES BARCLAYS 7-10 YEAR

IEI

ISHARES BARCLAYS 3-7 YEAR TREAS

JNK

SPDR BARCLAYS HIGH YIELD BOND

LQD

ISHARES IBOXX INVESTMENT GRADE

MBB

ISHARES MBS BOND FUND

MUB

ISHARES S&P NATIONAL MUNICIPAL

PCY

POWERSHARES EM MAR SOV DE PT

PST

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT LEH 7

SHY

ISHARES BARCLAYS 1-3 YEAR TREA

TBF

PROSHARES SHORT 20+ TREASURY

TBT

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT LEHMAN

TIP

ISHARES BARCLAYS TIPS BOND FUND

TLT

ISHARES BARCLAYS 20+ YEAR TREAS

VCSH

VANGUARD SHORT-TERM CORPORATE

United

States: Commodity Trusts and ETNs

AMJ

JPMORGAN ALERIAN MLP INDEX ETN

CORN

CORN ETF

COWTF

IPATH DJ-UBS LIVESTOCK SUBINDX

DBA

POWERSHARES DB AGRICULTURE FUND

DBB

POWERSHARES DB BASE METALS FUND

Ticker

Name

DBC

DB COMMODITY INDEX TRACKING FUND

DBE

POWERSHARES DB ENERGY FUND

DBO

POWERSHARES DB OIL FUND

DBP

POWERSHARES DB PRECIOUS METALS

DGZ

POWERSHARES DB GOLD SHORT ETN

DJP

IPATH DJ-UBS COMMIDTY

DNO

UNITED STATES SHORT OIL FUND L

GAZZF

IPATH DJ-UBS NAT GAS SUBINDEX

GLD

SPDR GOLD SHARES

GLL

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT GOLD

GSG

ISHARES S&P GSCI COMMODITY INDEX

JJATF

IPATH DJ-UBS AGRICULTURE SUBINDEX

JJCTF

IPATH DJ-UBS COPPER SUBINDEX

JJETF

IPATH DJ-UBS ENERGY SUBINDEX

JJGTF

IPATH DJ-UBS GRAINS SUBINDEX

JJMTF

IPATH DJ-UBS INDUSTRIAL METALS

JJNTF

IPATH DJ-UBS NICKEL SUBINDEX

JJSSF

IPATH DJ-UBS SOFTS SUBINDEX

JJUFF

IPATH DJ-UBS ALUMINUM SUBINDEX

SGGFF

IPATH DJ-UBS SUGAR SUBINDEX TR

SLV

ISHARES SILVER TRUST

UCO

PROSHARES ULTRA DJ-UBS CRUDE

UGA

UNITED STATES GASOLINE FUND LP

UGL

PROSHARES ULTRA GOLD

UHN

UNITED STATES HEATING OIL LP

UNG

UNITED STATES NATL GAS FUND LP

USO

UNITED STATES OIL FUND LP

ZSL

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT SILVER

United

States: Currency Trusts

DBV

POWERSHARES DB G10 CURRENCY HA

EUO

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT EURO

FXA

CURRENCYSHARES AUD TRUST

FXB

CURRENCYSHARES GBP STERL TRUST

FXC

CURRENCYSHARES CAD

FXE

CURRENCYSHARES EURO TRUST

FXF

CURRENCYSHARES SWISS FRANC

FXM

CURRENCYSHARES MEXICAN PESO

FXS

CURRENCYSHARES SWEDISH KRONA

FXY

CURRENCYSHARES JPY TRUST

UDN

POWERSHARES DB US DOLLAR IND

UUP

POWERSHARES DB US DOL IND BU

YCS

PROSHARES ULTRASHORT YEN

 

 

Australia: Equity

STW.AX

 

SPDR S&P/ASX 200 FUND

England:

Equity

EUN.L

 

ISHARES STOXX EUROPE 50

IEEM.L

 

ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS

FXC.L

 

ISHARES FTSE CHINA25

IJPN.L

 

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN FUND

ISF.L

 

ISHARES PLC- ISHARES FTSE 100

IUSA.L

 

ISHARES S&P 500 INDEX FUND

IWRD.L

 

ISHARES MSCI WORLD

England:

Fixed Income

IEBC.L

 

ISHARES BARCLAYS CAPITAL EURO

Hong Kong: Equity

2800 HK

TRACKER FD OF HONG KONG

2823 HK

ISHARES FTSE/ XINHUA A50 CHINA

2827 HK

BOCI-PRUDENTIAL – W.I.S.E. - C

2828 HK

HANG SENG INVESTMENT INDEX FUND

2833 HK

HANG SENG INVESTMENT INDEX FUND

Hong Kong: Fixed Income

2821 HK

ABF PAN ASIA BOND INDEX FUND

Japan:

Equity

1305.T

DAIWA ETF – TOPIX

1306.T

NOMURA ETF – TOPIX

1308.T

NIKKO ETF – TOPIX

1320.T

DAIWA ETF – NIKKEI 225

1321.T

NOMURA ETF – NIKKEI 225

1330.T

NIKKO ETF – 225

This appendix is current as of 1 June 2020, and may be amended at the discretion of the Ethics Committee

G2529_2


Code of Ethics

Do the right thing

October, 2020

Table of Contents

 

Message from our CEO

 

The Code of Ethics at a Glance...........................................................................................................................

2

Section 1. Background.........................................................................................................................................

4

Section 2. Standards of Conduct.........................................................................................................................

4

2.1. Conflicts of Interest

 

(a)When can conflicts of interest arise?

(b)What types of conflicts of interest must I avoid?

(c)Which conflicts of interest do I need to disclose?

(d)When and how do I disclose conflicts of interest?

Section 3. Outside Business Activities ...............................................................................................................

8

3.1 Outside Business Activity Requirements

 

(a)Am I prohibited from engaging in any outside business activities?

(b)Am I required to obtain preclearance for any outside business activities?

(c)What outside business activities do not require preclearance?

(d)When and how do I preclear an outside business activity?

Section 4. Gift and Entertainment Policy............................................................................................................

10

Section 5.

Anti-Bribery Policy ............................................................................................................................

10

Section 6.

Antitrust and Competition Policy ......................................................................................................

12

Section 7. Duty of Confidentiality.......................................................................................................................

12

Section 8. Personal Trading and Reporting Requirements .................................................................................

14

8.1General Trading Prohibitions and Reporting Requirements

(a) What are the general trading prohibitions?

(b) Am I required to maintain Securities in a brokerage account at Vanguard?

(c) What am I required to report?

8.2 Additional Trading and Reporting Requirements for Investment Persons ..................................................

15

(a)Which Securities trades am I required to preclear?

(b)How do I obtain preclearance?

(c)How long is my preclearance approval valid?

(d)Am I required to obtain preclearance before investing in a Private Placement?

(e)Are there Securities transactions that I do not need to preclear?

(f)Am I subject to restrictions on my personal trading in Covered Securities?

(g)Am I prohibited from engaging in certain Securities transactions?

(h)What happens if I make a "short-term trade" in a Vanguard Fund?

(i)Are there any additional reporting requirements that apply to me?

Table of Contents (continued)

 

8.3 Additional Trading Prohibitions and Reporting Requirements for Fund Access Persons ...........................

20

(a) Which Securities trades am I required to preclear?

 

(b) How do I obtain preclearance?

 

(c) How long is my preclearance approval valid?

 

(d) Am I required to obtain preclearance before investing in a Private Placement?

 

(e) Are there Securities transactions that I do not need to preclear?

 

(f) Am I subject to restrictions on my personal trading in Covered Securities?

 

(g) Am I prohibited from engaging in any Securities transactions?

 

(h) What happens if I make a "short-term trade" in a Vanguard Fund?

 

(i) Are there any additional reporting requirements that apply to me?

 

8.4 Additional Trading Prohibitions and Reporting Requirements for VAI Access Persons ..............................

24

(a) Am I required to preclear Security trades?

 

(b) Am I required to obtain preclearance before investing in a Private Placement?

 

(c) Am I prohibited from engaging in any Securities transactions?

 

(d) What happens if I make a "short-term trade" in a Vanguard Fund?

 

(e) Are there any additional reporting requirements that apply to me?

 

8.5 Additional Trading Prohibitions for Non-U.S. Crew Members ...................................................................

26

(a)What are the additional trading prohibitions?

(b)What are the Vanguard Fund reporting requirements in Australia?

(c)What are the additional trading restrictions for Japan?

(d)What additional information is required to be reported for accounts where I have Investment Discretion?

Section 9. Certification Requirements..............................................................................................................

28

9.1What am I required to certify initially?

9.2What am I required to certify annually?

Section 10. Penalties and Sanctions..................................................................................................................

28

10.1How are violations administered by Compliance?

10.2How is an appropriate sanction determined?

10.3How is the materiality of a violation determined?

10.4What are my obligations to report a violation?

Section 11. Waivers............................................................................................................................................

29

Appendix A. Definitions.....................................................................................................................................

31

Appendix B. Independent Directors and Trustees.............................................................................................

36

Excellence

Integrity

Responsibility

Do the right thing

At Vanguard, the trust of our clients is our greatest asset. And that trust can only be preserved if each one of us does the right thing on behalf of Vanguard and our clients.

Our Code of Ethics is built on our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of ethical behavior and fiduciary responsibility. Our actions, decisions, and interests should never compete with the interests of Vanguard or our clients.

All crew members are responsible for understanding and complying with our Code of Ethics. Please know and follow the policies that apply to you, and be accountable for your actions. If you are a manager, help your crew to understand and comply with the Code of Ethics through your words and your actions.

Use the Code of Ethics as your guide when faced with challenging decisions or circumstances. But remember, the Code of Ethics is a document. It cannot anticipate every situation. Ultimately, we rely on your sense of personal integrity to protect and enhance Vanguard's reputation. Never underestimate the importance of your own ethical conduct in our mission to treat investors fairly and give them the best chance to succeed.

Mortimer J. Buckley

President and Chief Executive Officer

The Code of Ethics at a Glance

Below are some of the general requirements of the Code of Ethics which may impact you the most. These descriptions are for guidance only. Please consult the applicable provisions of the Code of Ethics for detailed requirements.

1. Clients' Interests Come First

You must serve the interests of Vanguard Clients ahead of your own personal interests.

2. Conflicts of Interest

Your actions, decisions, and interests should not compete or conflict with Vanguard

or Vanguard Clients' interests. You must report any potential conflicts of interest to Compliance.

3. Business Activities Outside of Vanguard

You may engage in outside business activities that do not conflict with Vanguard's interests; however, you must obtain approval from Compliance for certain outside business activities.

4. Gifts and Entertainment

When doing business with Vanguard Clients, vendors, potential Vanguard Clients, and others, you must abide by limitations on giving and receiving gifts and business entertainment. Under the Gift and Entertainment Policy, you must report certain gifts and entertainment to Compliance.

6. Antitrust and Competition

You are prohibited from engaging in activity that could have an anticompetitive effect on the price of goods, services, securities,

or other trading conditions in the global marketplace in which we operate.

7. Insider Trading

You are prohibited from buying or selling any Security while in the possession of material nonpublic information about the issuer of the Security.

8. Personal Trading Activities

You are required to abide by the Code of Ethics requirements related to holding, reporting, and trading Securities for personal benefit. Personal trading restrictions and reporting requirements vary depending on the rules of the country you are working in and whether you are an Access Person or a Non-Access Person.

9. Certification Requirements

On an annual basis, you must acknowledge that you understand the Code of Ethics and will comply with its provisions.

5. Anti-Bribery

You are prohibited from engaging or participating in any form of bribery or corruption.

2

Clients' Interests Come First

You must serve the interests of Vanguard Clients ahead of your own personal interests.

Section 1. Background

The Code of Ethics ("Code") has been approved and adopted by the board of directors of The Vanguard Group, Inc. ("Vanguard"), the boards of trustees of each of the Vanguard Funds, and the boards of directors of each of Vanguard's Affiliates, as applicable. Unless stated otherwise, the Code applies to all Crew Members and Contingent Workers. The Code also contains provisions applicable to Independent Directors and Trustees (Appendix B).

Section 2. Standards of Conduct

Vanguard consistently seeks to earn and maintain the trust and loyalty of our clients by adhering to the highest standards of ethical behavior and fiduciary responsibility. You must adhere at all times to the spirit, and not just the letter, of the Code. Any transaction or activity that violates any of the standards of conduct described below is prohibited, regardless of whether it meets technical rules found elsewhere in the Code. Accordingly, you must conduct yourself in accordance with applicable law and regulations, and the following standards of conduct:

•Always put Vanguard clients' interests first. You must at all times place the interests of Vanguard clients first. In particular, you must avoid serving your own personal interests ahead of the interests of Vanguard clients.

•Avoid conflicts of interest. Your actions, decisions, and interests cannot compete or conflict with Vanguard's interests or the interests of Vanguard clients. You must ensure that you do not have a conflict with your duties for Vanguard and that you do not use Vanguard's name, property, facilities, confidential information, relationships, or other assets for personal benefit or for outside work or other endeavors. Vanguard Affiliates or your specific department may have additional policies regarding conflicts of interest that you must also follow.

•Be candid and clear with clients and provide them with accurate information. To serve our clients well and continue to earn their trust, you must always be truthful and candid with them.

Doing so is both legally required and the proper, ethical thing to do. When providing information or disclosure to clients or the public, you must follow Vanguard policy and procedure, and

the information must be full, fair, timely, and accurate and not potentially misleading. If you have any questions on this topic, seek advice from your manager, the Compliance Department, or the OGC.

•Comply with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and policies. Financial services is a complex and highly regulated business and, as a result, Vanguard and its business lines are subject to various laws, rules, and regulations, including securities, banking, tax, and other federal, state, local, and international laws. We serve our clients best when we understand and comply with the rules. Therefore, you are responsible for reviewing this Policy and the other policies that apply to us and our business lines, and you are also responsible for knowing

– and complying with – the laws, rules, and regulations that apply to your role and the area or department in which you work. Vanguard offers formal and informal procedures, training, and other resources to help you understand the applicable laws, rules, regulations and policies, and you are expected to familiarize yourself with them and complete any required training. When in doubt about applicable laws, rules, regulations, or policies, seek advice from your manager, the Compliance Department, or the OGC.

•Protect against fraud. As set forth more fully in Vanguard's Global Internal and Occupational Fraud Policy and Vanguard's Global External Fraud Policy, we are committed to protecting Vanguard and our clients against fraud, misappropriation, and similar threats, whether internal or external. You must be vigilant in helping to prevent, detect, and manage fraud risk of all types.

To familiarize yourself with examples of fraud schemes, both internal and external, please refer to the Global Fraud Prevention page on CrewNet. If you discover or suspect fraudulent activity, please immediately contact the Global Fraud Prevention Team.

•Speak up. Vanguard encourages an environment of open and honest communication, and we have many ways for you to raise concerns about

4

Conflicts of Interest

Your actions, decisions, and interests should not compete or conflict with Vanguard or Vanguard Clients' interests. You must report any potential conflicts of interest to Compliance.

any issue, including business practices or ethical matters, even if you aren't sure whether or not the issue is problematic. We encourage you to help protect our clients, crew, and Vanguard

by reporting potential concerns related to this Code of Ethics, financial or business integrity, information security and privacy, workplace practices, and alleged violations of policy or regulation. Vanguard has contracted with a third party to offer the Anonymous Reporting Hotline, a toll-free, 24-hour telephone number and secure website to anonymously report any such concerns without fear of retaliation. As always, you can also voice concerns to your manager or to Crew Relations.

2.1 Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest is defined as any situation where financial or other personal factors can compromise independence, objectivity, or professional judgment. A conflict of interest exists when these factors compete, or give the appearance of competing, with your duty to serve the interests of Vanguard and Vanguard Clients.

2.1(a) When can conflicts of interest arise?

Even the perception of a conflict could negatively affect Vanguard and harm our reputation. It's important to understand the following conflict situations:

•Actual conflict of interest. A situation where your personal interests directly conflict with your duties, responsibilities, or the terms of your assignment at Vanguard.

•Perceived conflict of interest. A situation where it appears that your personal interests inappropriately influence the performance of your duties, responsibilities, or the terms of your assignment at Vanguard − whether founded or not.

•Potential conflict of interest. A situation that could arise in the future where your personal interests would affect your duties, responsibilities, or the terms of your assignment at Vanguard.

Depending on your role or the terms of your assignment at Vanguard, the potential for conflict may also arise where an Immediate Family Member is employed by, or associated with, a company with which Vanguard has or is looking to establish a relationship.

Example:Your spouse is employed as a trader at a brokerage firm that executes Vanguard Fund trades − if you are a phone associate, a conflict may not exist; however, if you hold a position in the Investment Management Group or Fund Financial Services, a potential conflict may exist.

2.1(b) What types of conflicts of interest must I avoid?

You need to avoid situations where a conflict of interest could arise, including:

•Any business interest that competes, directly or indirectly, with the interests of Vanguard or Vanguard Clients while working on Vanguard matters.

•Any situation where you would benefit, directly or indirectly, from Vanguard's dealings with others.

2.1(c) Which conflicts of interest do I need to disclose?

You are required to disclose the following information:

•Any situation that may present the potential for a conflict of interest with Vanguard's business or the interests of Vanguard Clients.

•Any employment arrangements or positions (e.g., board member) of an Immediate Family Member that may present the potential for conflict with Vanguard and its activities (e.g., relationships with potential or existing vendors or financial institutions, including banks, with whom Vanguard conducts business).

2.1(d) When and how do I disclose conflicts of interest?

Report any conflicts – whether actual, perceived, or potential – to Compliance as soon as they arise.

6

Business Activities

Outside of Vanguard

You may engage in outside business activities that do not conflict with Vanguard's interests; however, you must obtain approval from Compliance for certain outside business activities.

Gifts and Entertainment

When doing business with Vanguard Clients, vendors, potential Vanguard Clients, and others, you must abide by limitations on giving and receiving gifts and business entertainment. Under the Gift and Entertainment Policy, you must report certain gifts and entertainment to Compliance.

Anti-Bribery

You are prohibited from engaging or participating in any form of bribery or corruption.

Contact Compliance if you encounter a conflict that is not explicitly addressed by our policies, or is potentially significant to a business area or across divisions.

Certain Vanguard Affiliates or departments may have additional policies regarding conflicts of interest. Crew Members and Contingent Workers in those departments must also follow those policies. If in doubt about whether you are subject to additional departmental or Vanguard Affiliate policies, please check with your Vanguard manager or Compliance.

Contingent Workers must also consult with their employer if an actual, perceived, or potential conflict arises.

MCO Resource – To disclose conflicts of interest, complete a Conflicts of Interest Disclosure Form via MCO.

Section 3. Outside Business Activities

You are permitted to engage in certain outside business activities (permanent, part-time, or one-time assignment) during your personal time. However, those activities must not adversely affect Vanguard or present a conflict of interest. Your job at Vanguard must come first over other business opportunities, nonprofit activities, or a second job. Be mindful of conflicts, obtain any necessary approvals, and be aware that you may be required to discontinue an activity if a conflict exists.

While Contingent Workers are exempt from the requirements of Section 3, those Contingent Workers who hold a FINRA license are required to comply with the FINRA Licensing Policy on CrewNet.

In addition to the requirements and restrictions in this section, the following supplemental policies may apply to Crew Members:

•Senior Executive Covered Activity Policy (officers and Crew Members in roles designated as M6/P6/S6 or higher).

•Managing Director Outside Business Activity Policy.

If there is a conflict between a requirement in the Code and a more restrictive requirement in one of these supplemental policies, the more restrictive requirement outlined in the Senior Executive Covered Activity Policy or the Managing Director Outside Business Activity Policy will govern.

Web Resource – If you are FINRA licensed, you are also required to comply with the FINRA Licensing Policy on CrewNet.

3.1 Outside Business Activity Requirements

3.1(a) Am I prohibited from engaging in any outside business activities?

Yes. The following activities are generally prohibited:

•Holding a second job with any company or organization whose activities could create a conflict of interest with your employment at Vanguard. This includes, but is not limited to, selling Securities, term insurance, or fixed or variable annuities; providing investment advice or financial planning or registering as an independent investment advisor; or engaging in any business activity similar to your job at Vanguard.

•Working, including serving as a director, officer, or in an advisory capacity, for any business or enterprise that competes with Vanguard.

•Working for any organization that could benefit from your knowledge of confidential Vanguard information, such as new Vanguard products, services, or technology.

•Serving on the board of a publicly traded company (or on the board of a company reasonably expected to become a public company).

•Using Vanguard time, equipment, services, or property or enlisting Crew Members for the benefit of the outside business activity.

•Allowing your activities, or the time you spend on them, to interfere with the performance of your job.

•Accepting a business opportunity from someone who does, or seeks to do, business with

8

Vanguard if the person made the offer because of your position at Vanguard.

•Selling interests, soliciting investors or referring participants to a Private Securities Transaction.

•Certain elected or appointed political positions.

3.1(b) Am I required to obtain preclearance for any outside business activities?

Yes. You are required to obtain prior written approval for the following outside business activities:

•Compensated positions held outside of Vanguard, including positions with a nonprofit or charitable organization.

•All entrepreneurial activities, including home and family businesses and independent consulting.

•Volunteer positions that involve reviewing, recommending or approving Securities for an organization. This includes, but is not limited to, serving on the finance or investment committee of a nonprofit organization, or serving as treasurer for a homeowners association or on a school board.

•Any activity where your role is similar or closely related to your responsibilities at Vanguard.

•Any government position, whether paid or unpaid, elected or appointed (e.g., an elected official or member, director, officer, or employee of a government agency, authority, advisory board or other board, such as a public school or library board).

•Any official position with any federal, state, or local government authority, or service as a board member or in any representative capacity for any civic, public interest, or regional business interest organization. Example: You are the executive director of a local chamber of commerce or on the board of a wildlife protection organization.

•Any board position, whether compensated or non-compensated, including advisory positions. This includes, but is not limited to, positions on boards of nonprofit organizations, charitable foundations, universities, hospitals, and civic, religious, or fraternal organizations.

•Any position on a panel or committee of an index provider.

•Acting as a real estate agent or conducting any mortgage related activities.

•Any teaching positions where the subject matter relates to Vanguard business that is not in the course of your duties for Vanguard.

•Crypto Mining for Digital Currencies, Digital Utility Tokens, or Digital Security Tokens.

•Engaging in an equity or a debt-based Crowdfunding project or venture.

3.1(c) What outside business activities do not require preclearance?

You are not required to obtain written approval for the following activities:

•Compensated positions in a retail business − for example, positions in retail or department stores or in the food service industry.

•Ownership of a second home, rental property, or investment property, provided that the property does not do business with Vanguard.

•Selling items on online auction sites, so long as it is not operated as a business.

•Unpaid positions with holding companies, trusts, or non-operating entities that hold your or your family's real estate or other Investments, provided the Securities would not otherwise require approval if held directly.

3.1(d) When and how do I preclear an outside business activity?

Other than those outside business activities described in Section 3.1(c), you are required to obtain approval for outside business activities:

•If you are already participating in an activity upon joining Vanguard.

•Before accepting any new activity.

•If there are any changes to a previously reported activity.

In certain situations, you may receive a follow-up form from Compliance requiring you to obtain approval from a Vanguard Officer or Managing Director.

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Note: Vanguard Officers may not accept or participate in any outside business activities unless they have received written approval from a Vanguard Managing Director or the Chief Executive Officer in addition to receiving written approval from Compliance.

MCO Resource – To seek approval, you must complete the Outside Business Activities Form via MCO.

Section 4. Gift and Entertainment Policy

You are subject to Vanguard's Gift and Entertainment Policy, which is considered an integral part of the Code. There are restrictions on the extent to which gifts or entertainment may be received from or provided to any third party.

Web Resource – Refer to the Gift and Entertainment Policy on the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet for information and guidelines.

Section 5. Anti-Bribery Policy

You are subject to Vanguard's Anti-Bribery Policy, which prohibits bribery and corruption in all forms. You must not offer, give, or receive anything of value for the purpose of improperly obtaining business, retaining business or securing an improper advantage for Vanguard.

Web Resource – Refer to the Anti-Bribery Policy on the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet for information and guidelines.

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Antitrust and Competition

You are prohibited from engaging in activity that could have an anticompetitive effect on the price of goods, services, securities, or other trading conditions in the global marketplace in which we operate.

Section 6. Antitrust and

Competition Policy

You are subject to Vanguard's Antitrust and Competition Policy, which prohibits you from engaging in activity that could have an anticompetitive effect on the price of goods, services and/or securities or other trading conditions in the global marketplace in which we operate.

Web Resource – Refer to the Antitrust and Competition Policy on the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet for information and guidelines.

Section 7. Duty of Confidentiality

You must keep confidential any nonpublic information you may have obtained while working at Vanguard or while on assignment at Vanguard. This information includes, but is not limited to information about:

•The Vanguard Funds (e.g., recent or impending Securities transactions, activities of the funds' advisors, offerings of new funds, changes

to fund minimums or other provisions in the prospectus, or closings of funds).

•Current or prospective Vanguard Clients (e.g., their personal information, Investments, or account transactions).

•Other Crew Members, Contingent Workers, or Independent Directors and Trustees (e.g., their pay, benefits, position level, and performance ratings).

•Vanguard business activities (e.g., new services, products, technology, or business initiatives).

You must not disclose confidential information to any other person unless it is necessary for the performance of your duties for Vanguard, there is a business purpose for doing so, and such disclosure is authorized by Vanguard.

Contingent Workers may also be subject to a non-disclosure agreement and/or a service or supply agreement with specific confidentiality

provisions. In addition to the requirements of the Code, you must act at all times in accordance with the specific confidentiality provisions in such agreements. Contact your employer for more information.

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Insider Trading

You are prohibited from buying or selling any Security while in the possession of material nonpublic information about the issuer of the Security.

Section 8. Personal Trading

Activities

You must avoid taking personal advantage of your knowledge of Securities activity in Vanguard Funds or Vanguard Client accounts. The Code includes specific restrictions on personal investing, but cannot anticipate every fact pattern or situation. You should adhere at all times to the spirit, and not just the letter, of the Code. There are additional trading prohibitions and reporting requirements if you are designated as either an Investment Person (Section 8.2), Fund Access Person (Section 8.3), or VAI Access Person (Section 8.4).

Regardless of your designation, Compliance has the authority, with appropriate notice to you, to apply any or all of the trading restrictions within the Code.

8.1GeneralTrading Prohibitions and Reporting Requirements

The requirements of this Section 8.1(a) apply to all persons subject to the Code. The requirements of Section 8.1(c) apply to all Crew Members and Contingent Workers deemed Associated Persons.

8.1(a) What are the general trading prohibitions?

•Engaging in conduct that is deceitful, fraudulent, or manipulative, or that involves false or misleading statements, in connection with the purchase or sale of a Security by a Vanguard Fund or Vanguard Client account.

•Intentionally, recklessly, or negligently circulating false information or rumors that may affect

the securities markets or may be perceived as market manipulation.

•Trading on knowledge of Vanguard Fund activities. Taking personal advantage of knowledge of recent, impending, or planned Securities activities of the Vanguard Funds or their investment advisors. You are prohibited from purchasing or selling - directly or indirectly - any Security or Related Security when you know that the Security is being purchased or sold, or considered for purchase or sale, by a Vanguard Fund (with the exception of an index fund).

These prohibitions apply to all Securities in which you have acquired or will acquire Beneficial Ownership.

•Vanguard InsiderTrading Policies. You are subject to the Insider Trading Policy and/or any similar policy of the Vanguard Affiliate for which you work. Each of these policies are considered an integral part of the Code. Each policy prohibits you from buying or selling any Security while in possession of material, nonpublic information about the issuer of the Security. The policies prohibit you from communicating any nonpublic information about any Security or issuer of Securities to third parties.

•Vanguard FundTrading. When purchasing, exchanging, or redeeming shares of a Vanguard Fund, you and your Immediate Family Members must adhere to the policies and standards

set forth in the fund's prospectus, or offering document, including policies on market-timing and frequent trading.

•Initial Coin Offerings. You are prohibited from participating in an Initial Coin Offering.

Web Resource – Refer to your local Insider Trading Policy on the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet for further information.

8.1(b) Am I required to maintain Securities in a brokerage account at Vanguard?

U.S. Crew Members: Yes. You and your Immediate Family Members are required to maintain all Reportable Securities within a Vanguard Brokerage Account. You may hold Vanguard Funds, other than Vanguard ETFs, outside of Vanguard. Employer- sponsored retirement accounts (e.g., 401(k) and 403(b)), 529 Plans, and Compliance-approved accounts are exempt from this requirement (e.g., Managed Account). Vanguard ETFs must be held within a Vanguard Brokerage Account.

Non-U.S. Crew Members: No. You and your Immediate Family Members are not required to maintain Reportable Securities within a Vanguard Brokerage Account.

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U.S. and Non-U.S. Contingent Workers: No. You and your Immediate Family Members are not required to maintain Reportable Securities within a Vanguard Brokerage Account.

Web Resource – Refer to the U.S. Crew - Securities to be Held at Vanguard document, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

8.1(c) What am I required to report?

The requirements of this Section apply to all Crew Members and Contingent Workers deemed Associated Persons.

Initial Holdings Report – Within ten calendar days of joining Vanguard, you must disclose all Covered Accounts and all Reportable Securities held by you or an Immediate Family Member. This includes Brokerage Accounts held at Vanguard, as well as those held at another financial institution. This information must be current as of 45 calendar days before joining Vanguard.

MCO Resource – You will receive an Initial Certification to complete which will include a section to disclose Covered Accounts and all Reportable Securities via MCO.

In addition, you must notify Compliance if you or an Immediate Family Member has subsequently opened, or intends to open, a Covered Account with a financial institution (e.g., broker, dealer, advisor, or any other professional money manager), has acquired holdings in Reportable Securities,

or if a preexisting Covered Account (including a Vanguard Brokerage Account) becomes associated with you (such as through marriage or inheritance).

MCO Resource – Disclose new Covered Accounts and Reportable Securities via MCO.

Quick Guide: Refer to the Trading and Reporting Requirements for Non-Access Persons document, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

Duplicate statements and transaction confirmations – You must disclose transactions in Reportable Securities made by you and your Immediate Family Members. For any disclosed Vanguard Brokerage Accounts, Compliance will receive transaction confirmations automatically. For each approved Covered Account and any holdings of Reportable Securities held outside of Vanguard, it is your responsibility to ensure duplicate statements and transaction confirmations are delivered to Compliance. If the sponsor of your Covered Account is not able to send statements and daily transaction confirmations (electronic or paper) directly to Vanguard, you will be required to submit copies through MCO immediately after you receive them, unless you receive an exemption from this requirement from Compliance. You do not need to report an account or submit transaction confirmations or statements if the account does not have the ability to hold Securities (e.g., a traditional checking account).

Contingent Workers deemed Associated Persons are required to comply with and are subject to the Securities Account Reporting Obligations on CrewNet.

8.2AdditionalTrading and Reporting Requirements for Investment Persons

The requirements of this Section 8.2 are in addition to the requirements of Section 8.1 and apply to all transactions or holdings in which an Investment Person has, or will acquire, Beneficial Ownership of Securities. To see if you are designated as an Investment Person, reference the Investment Persons Departments list on CrewNet. Note: this designation could apply to Crew Members or Contingent Workers.

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8.2(a) Which Securities trades am I required to preclear?

You must obtain, for yourself and on behalf of your Immediate Family Members, preclearance for any transaction in a Covered Security and in a Vanguard ETF.

By seeking preclearance, you will be deemed to be advising Compliance that you:

•Do not possess any material, nonpublic information relating to the security.

•Do not use knowledge of any proposed trade or investment program relating to the Vanguard Funds for personal benefit.

•Believe the proposed trade is available to any market participant on the same terms.

Non-U.S. Investment Persons may be subject to additional restrictions. See Section 8.5.

Quick Guide: Refer to the Trading and Reporting Requirements for Investment Persons document, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

8.2(b) How do I obtain preclearance?

You must receive preclearance through the MCO system or from an authorized member of Compliance. Transactions in Covered Securities and Vanguard ETFs may not be executed before you receive approval.

Same day limit orders are permitted; however, good 'til canceled orders (such as limit orders that stay open over the course of multiple trading days until a security reaches a specified market price) are not permitted.

Attempting to gain approval after the transaction has occurred is not permitted. Completing a personal trade before receiving approval or after the approval window expires constitutes a violation

of the Code. See Section 10 for more information regarding the sanctions that may be imposed as a result of a violation.

MCO Resource – Preclearance must be obtained via MCO. Once the required information is submitted, your preclearance request will be approved or denied immediately.

8.2(c) How long is my preclearance approval valid?

U.S.: Preclearance approval will expire at the end of the trading day on which it is issued (e.g., if you receive approval for a trade on Monday,

it is effective until the market closes on that Monday). Preclearance for limit orders is good for transactions on the same day that approval is granted only. If you receive approval for a limit order, it must be executed or expire at the close of regular trading on the same business day for which approval was granted. If you wish to execute the limit order after the close of regular trading on the day you received approval, you must submit a new preclearance request for the day you wish to execute the trade.

Non-U.S.: If you receive approval, transactions must be executed no later than the end of trading on the next business day after the preclearance is granted. If the transaction is not placed within that time, you must submit a new request for approval before placing the transaction. If you preclear a limit order, that limit order must either be executed or expire at the end of the next business day. If you want to execute the order after the next business day period expires, you must resubmit your preclearance request.

8.2(d) Am I required to obtain preclearance before investing in a Private Placement?

Yes. You cannot invest in securities offered to potential investors in a Private Placement or other limited investment offering without first obtaining preclearance from Compliance. You must provide documentation describing the investment (e.g., offering memorandum, subscription documents, etc.) so as to enable Compliance to conduct a thorough review of the investment. Approval

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Personal Trading Activities

You are required to abide by the Code of Ethics requirements related to holding, reporting, and trading Securities for personal benefit. Personal trading restrictions and reporting requirements vary depending on the rules of the country you are working in and whether you are an Access Person or a Non-Access Person.

may be granted after a review of the facts and circumstances, including whether:

•An investment in the securities is likely to result in future conflicts with Vanguard Client accounts.

•You are being offered the opportunity due to your employment at, or association with, Vanguard.

If you receive approval to purchase Securities in a Private Placement, you must inform Compliance if that Security goes to public offer or is pending listing on an exchange.

MCO Resource – To seek preclearance of a Private Placement, complete the Outside Business Activities Form via MCO.

8.2(e) Are there Securities transactions that I do not need to preclear?

Yes. You are not required to obtain preclearance for the following:

•Purchases or sales of Vanguard Funds. Note: The purchase or sale of Vanguard ETFs require preclearance.

•Purchases or sales where the person requesting preclearance has no direct or indirect influence or control over the Covered Security (e.g., you have a trust in your name but you are not the trustee who places the transaction, provided you have granted Investment Discretion to the trustee and there has been no prior communication between you and the trustee regarding the transaction).

•Corporate actions in Covered Securities such as stock dividends, stock splits, mergers, consolidations, spin-offs, or other similar corporate reorganizations or distributions.

•Purchases or sales made as a part of an Automatic Investment Program.

•Purchases made upon the exercise of Rights by an issuer in proportion to all holders of a class of its Securities, to the extent such Rights were acquired for such issuer.

•Acquisitions of Covered Securities through gifts or bequests.

8.2(f) Am I subject to restrictions on my personal trading in Covered Securities?

Yes. You may be subject to certain restrictions if you purchase or sell a Covered Security within seven days before or after a Vanguard Fund purchases or sells the same Covered Security or a Related Security (the "blackout period").

If you purchase a Covered Security within seven days before a Vanguard Fund purchases the same Covered Security or a Related Security, you may be required to hold the Covered Security for 6 months before being permitted to sell the Covered Security for a profit.

If you sell a Covered Security within seven days before a Vanguard Fund sells the same Covered Security or a Related Security, you may be required to disgorge any profits earned from your sale of the Covered Security (exclusive of commissions) at a price higher than what the Vanguard Fund received for selling the Covered Security or a Related Security.

In general, you will not receive preclearance to purchase a Covered Security within seven days after a Vanguard Fund trades the same Covered Security or a Related Security. If you execute the transaction without receiving preclearance, you will have violated this Code and must immediately sell the Covered Security and disgorge all profits received from the sale to Vanguard (exclusive of commissions).

In general, you will not receive preclearance to sell a Covered Security within seven days after a Vanguard Fund trades the same Covered Security or a Related Security. If you execute the transaction without receiving preclearance, you will have violated the Code and must disgorge the difference (exclusive of commissions) between the sale price you received and the Vanguard Fund's sale price (as long as your sales price is higher), multiplied by the number of shares you sold.

In addition to these restrictions, local law may dictate the extent to which any gains must be relinquished.

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Quick Guide: For example on the above trade scenarios, refer to Code of Ethics Q&A, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

Compliance may exempt from these restrictions trades during blackout periods that coincide with trading by certain Vanguard Funds (e.g., index funds).

Compliance may waive the blackout period as it applies to the sale of a Covered Security if the Chief Compliance Officer determines its application creates a significant hardship to you (e.g., you need cash for a home purchase or to cover a major medical expense) and, in the opinion of the Chief Compliance Officer, satisfies the requirements for a waiver in Section 11.

Web Resource – Refer to the Hardship Waiver Request Form on the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

Quick Guide: Refer to the Trading and Reporting Requirements for Investment Persons document, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

8.2(g) Am I prohibited from engaging in certain Securities transactions?

Yes. You are prohibited from engaging in the following Securities transactions:

•Futures and Options. You are prohibited from entering into, acquiring, or selling any Futures contract (including single stock futures) or any

Option on any Covered Security (including Options on ETFs).

•Initial Public Offerings and Secondary Offerings. You are prohibited from acquiring Securities in an Initial Public Offering or Secondary Offering.

•Short-Selling. You are prohibited from selling short any Security that you do not own or from otherwise engaging in Short-Selling activities.

•Short-TermTrading. You are prohibited from purchasing and then selling any Covered Security or a Vanguard ETF at a profit, as well as selling and then repurchasing a Covered Security or a Vanguard ETF at a lower price within 60 calendar days. Gains are calculated based on last in, first out method for purposes of this restriction. If you realize profits on short-term trades, you will be required to relinquish the profits. In addition, the trade will be recorded as a violation of the Code.

•Spread Bets. You are prohibited from participating in Spread Betting on Securities, indexes, interest rates, currencies, or commodities.

8.2(h) What happens if I make a "short-term trade" in a Vanguard Fund?

Compliance will monitor trading in Vanguard Funds, other than Vanguard ETFs, and will review situations where Vanguard Fund shares are redeemed within 30 calendar days of purchase (a "short-term trade"). You may be required to relinquish any profit made on a short-term trade and will be subject to disciplinary action if Compliance determines the short-term trade was detrimental to a Vanguard Fund or a Vanguard Client or that there is a history of frequent trading by you or your Immediate Family Members. For purposes of this paragraph:

•A redemption includes a redemption by any means, including an exchange out of a Vanguard Fund.

•This policy does not cover purchases and redemptions/sales (i) into or out of Vanguard money market funds, Vanguard short-term bond funds, or (ii) through an Automatic Investment Program.

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Quick Guide: Refer to the Trading and Reporting Requirements for Investment Persons, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

MCO Resource – Verify and disclose all Covered Accounts and holdings in Reportable Securities via MCO

8.3AdditionalTrading Prohibitions and Reporting Requirements for Fund Access Persons

The requirements of this Section 8.3 are in addition to the requirements of Section 8.1 and apply to all transactions or holdings in which a Fund Access Person has, or will acquire, Beneficial Ownership of Securities. To see if you are designated as a Fund Access Person, reference the Fund Access Persons Departments list on CrewNet. Note: this designation could apply to Crew Members or Contingent Workers.

8.3(a) Which Securities trades am I required to preclear?

You must obtain, for yourself and on behalf of your Immediate Family Members, preclearance for any transaction in a Covered Security.

By seeking preclearance, you will be deemed to be advising Compliance that you:

•Do not possess any material, nonpublic information relating to the security.

•Do not use knowledge of any proposed trade or investment program relating to the Vanguard Funds for personal benefit.

•Believe the proposed trade is available to any market participant on the same terms.

Non-U.S. Fund Access Persons may be subject to additional restrictions. See Section 8.5(a).

Quick Guide: Refer to the Trading and Reporting Requirements for Fund Access Persons document, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

8.3(b) How do I obtain preclearance?

You must receive preclearance through the MCO system or by contacting Compliance. Transactions in Covered Securities may not be executed before you receive approval.

Same day limit orders are permitted; however, good 'til canceled orders (such as limit orders that stay open over the course of multiple trading days until a security reaches a specified market price) are not permitted.

Attempting to gain approval after the transaction has occurred is not permitted. Completing a personal trade before receiving approval or after the approval window expires constitutes a violation of the Code. See Section 10 for more information regarding the sanctions that may be imposed as a result of a violation.

MCO Resource – Preclearance must be obtained via MCO. Once the required information is submitted, your preclearance request will be approved or denied immediately.

8.3(c) How long is my preclearance approval valid?

U.S.: Preclearance approval will expire at the end of the trading day on which it is issued (e.g., if you receive approval for a trade on Monday,

it is effective until the market closes on that Monday). Preclearance for limit orders is good for transactions on the same day that approval is granted only. If you receive approval for a limit

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order, it must be executed or expire at the close of regular trading on the same business day for which approval was granted. If you wish to execute the limit order after the close of regular trading on the day you received approval, you must submit a new preclearance request for the day you wish to execute the trade.

Non-U.S.: If you receive approval, transactions must be executed no later than the end of trading on the next business day after the preclearance is granted. If the transaction is not placed within that time, you must submit a new request for approval before placing the transaction. If you preclear a limit order, that limit order must either be executed or expire at the end of the next business day. If you want to execute the order after the next business day period expires, you must resubmit your preclearance request.

8.3(d) Am I required to obtain preclearance before investing in a Private Placement?

Yes. You cannot invest in securities offered to potential investors in a Private Placement or other limited investment offering without first obtaining preclearance from Compliance. You must provide documentation describing the investment (e.g., offering memorandum, subscription documents, etc.) so as to enable Compliance to conduct a thorough review of the investment. Approval may be granted after a review of the facts and circumstances, including whether:

•An investment in the securities is likely to result in future conflicts with Vanguard Client accounts.

•You are being offered the opportunity due to your employment at, or association with, Vanguard.

If you receive approval to purchase Securities in a Private Placement, you must inform Compliance if that Security goes to public offer or is pending listing on an exchange.

MCO Resource – To seek preclearance of a Private Placement, complete the Outside Business Activities Form via MCO.

8.3(e) Are there Securities transactions that I do not need to preclear?

Yes. You are not required to obtain preclearance for the following:

•Purchases or sales of Vanguard Funds.

•Purchases or sales where the person requesting preclearance has no direct or indirect influence or control over the account (e.g., you have a trust in your name but you are not the trustee who places the transaction, provided you have granted Investment Discretion to the trustee and there has been no prior communication between you and the trustee regarding the transaction).

•Corporate actions in Covered Securities such as stock dividends, stock splits, mergers, consolidations, spin-offs, or other similar corporate reorganizations or distributions.

•Purchases or sales made as a part of an Automatic Investment Program.

•Purchases made upon the exercise of Rights by an issuer in proportion to all holders of a class of its Securities, to the extent, such Rights were acquired for such issuer.

•Acquisitions of Covered Securities through gifts or bequests.

8.3(f) Am I subject to restrictions on my personal trading in Covered Securities?

Yes. You may be subject to certain restrictions if you purchase or sell a Covered Security within seven days before or after a Vanguard Fund purchases or sells the same Covered Security or a Related Security (the "blackout period").

If you purchase a Covered Security within seven days before a Vanguard Fund purchases the same Covered Security or a Related Security, you may be required to hold the Covered Security for 6 months before being permitted to sell the Covered Security for a profit.

If you sell a Covered Security within seven days before a Vanguard Fund sells the same Covered Security or a Related Security, you may be required to disgorge any profits earned from your sale of the

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Covered Security (exclusive of commissions) at a price higher than what the Vanguard Fund received for selling the Covered Security or a Related Security.

In general, you will not receive preclearance to purchase a Covered Security within seven days after a Vanguard Fund trades the same Covered Security or a Related Security. If you execute the transaction without receiving preclearance, you will have violated this Code and must immediately sell the Covered Security and disgorge all profits received from the sale to Vanguard (exclusive of commissions).

In general, you will not receive preclearance to sell a Covered Security within seven days after a Vanguard Fund trades the same Covered Security or a Related Security. If you execute the transaction without receiving preclearance, you will have violated the Code and must disgorge the difference (exclusive of commissions) between the sale price you received and the Vanguard Fund's sale price (as long as your sales price is higher), multiplied by the number of shares you sold.

Quick Guide: For example on the above trade scenarios, refer to Code of Ethics Q&A, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

In addition to these restrictions, local law may dictate the extent to which any gains must be relinquished.

Compliance may exempt from these restrictions certain trades during blackout periods that coincide with trading by certain Vanguard Funds (e.g., index funds).

The blackout period will not apply to a Fund Access Person's sale of any stock for which the market capitalization exceeds US$5 billion, provided that

the total value of any sales of the Security by the Fund Access Person do not exceed US$10,000 in any 30-day rolling period. Sales of securities with market capitalizations below US$5 billion, or that exceed US$10,000 in any 30-day rolling period, will continue to be subject to the blackout periods unless Compliance grants a waiver.

Compliance may waive the blackout period as it applies to the sale of a Covered Security if the Chief Compliance Officer determines its application creates a significant hardship to you (e.g., you need cash for a home purchase or to cover a major medical expense) and, in the opinion of the Chief Compliance Officer, satisfies the requirements for a waiver in Section 11.

Web Resource – Refer to the Hardship Waiver Request Form on the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

8.3(g) Am I prohibited from engaging in any Securities transactions?

Yes. You are prohibited from engaging in the following Securities transactions:

•Futures and Options. You are prohibited from entering into, acquiring, or selling any Futures contract (including single stock futures) or any Option on any Security (including Options on ETFs).

•Initial Public Offerings and Secondary Offerings. You are prohibited from acquiring Securities in an Initial Public Offering or Secondary Offering.

•Short-Selling. You are prohibited from selling short any Security that you do not own or from otherwise engaging in Short-Selling activities.

•Short-TermTrading. You are prohibited from purchasing and then selling any Covered Security at a profit, as well as selling and then repurchasing a Covered Security at a lower price within 60 calendar days. Gains are calculated based on last in, first out method for purposes of this restriction. If you realize profits on short-term trades, you will be

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required to relinquish the profits. In addition, the trade will be recorded as a violation of the Code. Example: You are not permitted to sell a security at $12 that you purchased within the prior 60 days for $10. Similarly, you are not permitted to purchase a security at $10 that you sold within the prior 60 days for $12.

•Spread Bets. You are prohibited from participating in Spread Betting on Securities, indexes, interest rates, currencies, or commodities.

8.3(h) What happens if I make a "short-term trade" in a Vanguard Fund?

Compliance will monitor trading in Vanguard Funds, other than Vanguard ETFs, and will review situations where Vanguard Fund shares are redeemed within 30 calendar days of purchase (a "short-term trade"). You may be required

to relinquish any profit made on a short-term trade and will be subject to disciplinary action if Compliance determines the short-term trade was detrimental to a Vanguard Fund or a Vanguard Client or that there is a history of frequent trading by you or your Immediate Family Members. For purposes of this paragraph:

•A redemption includes a redemption by any means, including an exchange out of a Vanguard Fund.

•This policy does not cover purchases and redemptions/sales (i) into or out of Vanguard money market funds, Vanguard short-term bond funds, or (ii) through an Automatic Investment Program.

Nothing in this section is intended to replace, nullify, or modify any requirements imposed by a Vanguard Fund.

Note: This section applies to transactions in Vanguard Funds other than Vanguard ETFs (e.g., Vanguard mutual funds).

8.3(i) Are there any additional reporting requirements that apply to me?

In addition to the standard reporting requirements set forth in Section 8.1(c), you must also disclose the following:

•Covered Accounts where you exercise Investment Discretion.

•Accounts, 529 college savings plans and annuity or insurance products holding Vanguard Funds.

The information must be updated in MCO no later than ten calendar days after you become a Fund Access Person or joining Vanguard.

QuarterlyTransactions Report – Within 30 days of quarter end, you must certify that all transactions effected in Covered Securities during the quarter have been recorded accurately in MCO. If there are no transactions in Covered Securities the report should state "None." You will not be required

to certify if Compliance receives automated or duplicate confirmations and statements. Note: Compliance receives duplicate confirms and statements for all Vanguard accounts.

Annual Holdings Report – Within 30 calendar days of receipt, you must certify that all Covered Accounts and Reportable Securities are recorded accurately in MCO.

If you are an Investment Person of Vanguard Investments Hong Kong, Limited (VIHK), the holdings disclosure requirement is semi-annual, including the provision of statements.

Quick Guide: Refer to the Trading and Reporting Requirements for Fund Access Persons, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

MCO Resource – Verify and disclose all Covered Accounts and holdings in Reportable Securities via MCO.

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8.4AdditionalTrading Prohibitions and Reporting Requirements for VAI Access Persons

The requirements of this Section 8.4 are in addition to the requirements of Section 8.1 and apply to all transactions or holdings in which a VAI Access Person has, or will acquire, Beneficial Ownership of Securities. To see if you are designated as a VAI Access Person, reference the VAI Access Person Departments list on CrewNet. Note: this designation could apply to Crew Members or Contingent Workers.

8.4(a) Am I required to preclear Security trades?

No. You are not required to preclear transactions in Covered Securities for you and your Immediate Family members.

Quick Guide: Refer to the Trading and Reporting Requirements for VAI Access Persons, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

8.4(b) Am I required to obtain preclearance before investing in a Private Placement?

Yes. You cannot invest in securities offered to potential investors in a Private Placement or other limited investment offering without first obtaining preclearance from Compliance. You must provide documentation describing the investment (e.g., offering memorandum, subscription documents, etc.) so as to enable Compliance to conduct a thorough review of the investment. Approval may be granted after a review of the facts and circumstances, including whether:

•An investment in the securities is likely to result in future conflicts with Vanguard Client accounts.

•You are being offered the opportunity due to your employment at, or association with, Vanguard.

If you receive approval to purchase Securities in a Private Placement, you must inform Compliance if that Security goes to public offer or is pending listing on an exchange.

MCO Resource – To seek preclearance of a Private Placement complete the Outside Business Activities Form via MCO.

8.4(c) Am I prohibited from engaging in any Securities transactions?

Yes. You are subject to the following restrictions with respect to any transaction in which you will acquire any direct or indirect Beneficial Ownership:

•Initial Public Offerings and Secondary Offerings. You are prohibited from acquiring Securities in an Initial Public Offering or Secondary Offering.

•Short-Selling. You are prohibited from selling short any Security that you do not own or from otherwise engaging in Short-Selling activities.

•Short-TermTrading. You are prohibited from purchasing and then selling any Covered Security at a profit, as well as selling and then repurchasing a Covered Security at a lower price within 60 calendar days. A last-in-first-out accounting methodology will be applied to a series of Security purchases when applying this holding rule. If you realize profits on short- term trades, you will be required to relinquish the profits to The Vanguard Group Foundation (exclusive of commissions). In addition, the trade will be recorded as a violation of the Code.

•Short-term trading on options. You may hold options on a Covered Security until you exercise the options or the options expire. However, you may not otherwise close any open positions within 60 calendar days. If you realize profits on such short-term trades, you must relinquish such profits to The Vanguard Group Foundation (exclusive of commissions). For example:

you would not be permitted to sell a Covered Security at $12 that you purchased within the prior 60 days for $10. Similarly, you would not be permitted to purchase a Covered Security at $10 that you had sold within the prior 60 days

24

for $12. Note: These types of transactions can have unintended consequences. For example, your call option could be assigned, causing the underlying Security to be called away within sixty (60) calendar days following the purchase of the Covered Security and will be recorded as a violation of the Code.

8.4(d) What happens if I make a "short-term trade" in a Vanguard Fund?

Compliance will monitor trading in Vanguard Funds, other than Vanguard ETFs, and will review situations where Vanguard Fund shares are redeemed within 30 calendar days of purchase (a "short-term trade"). You may be required to relinquish any profit made on a short-term trade and will be subject to disciplinary action if Compliance determines the short-term trade was detrimental to a Vanguard Fund or a Vanguard Client or that there is a history of frequent trading by the you or your Immediate Family Members. For purposes of this paragraph:

•A redemption includes a redemption by any means, including an exchange out of a Vanguard Fund.

•This policy does not cover purchases and redemptions/sales (i) into or out of Vanguard money market funds, Vanguard short-term bond funds, or (ii) through an Automatic Investment Program.

Nothing in this section is intended to replace, nullify, or modify any requirements imposed by a Vanguard Fund.

Note:This section applies to transactions in Vanguard Funds other than Vanguard ETFs (e.g., Vanguard mutual funds).

8.4(e) Are there any additional reporting requirements that apply to me?

In addition to the standard reporting requirements set forth in Section 8.1(c), you must also disclose the following:

•Covered Accounts where you exercise Investment Discretion.

•Accounts, 529 college savings plans and annuity or insurance products holding Vanguard Funds.

The information must be updated in MCO no later than ten calendar days after you become a VAI Access Person or joining Vanguard.

QuarterlyTransactions Report – Within 30 days

of quarter end, you must certify that all transactions effected in Covered Securities during the quarter have been recorded accurately in MCO. If there are no transactions in Covered Securities the report should state "None." You will not be required to certify if Compliance receives automated or duplicate confirmations and statements. Note: Compliance receives duplicate confirms and statements for all Vanguard accounts.

Annual Holdings Report – Within 30 calendar days of receipt, you must certify that all Covered Accounts and Reportable Securities are recorded accurately in MCO.

Quick Guide: Refer to the Trading and Reporting Requirements for VAI Access Persons, which can be accessed from the Code of Ethics Resource page on CrewNet.

MCO Resource - Verify and disclose all Covered Accounts and holdings in Reportable Securities via MCO.

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8.5AdditionalTrading Prohibitions for Non-U.S. Crew Members

The requirements of this Section 8.5 are in addition to the requirements of Section 8.1 as well as the requirements of Section 8.2, 8.3, or 8.4, as applicable.

8.5(a) What are the additional trading prohibitions?

There are additional trading requirements and restrictions for Crew Members in Australia as well as for Crew Members and Contingent Workers in Japan.

8.5(b) What are the Vanguard Fund reporting requirements in Australia?

You and your Immediate Family Members will be required to disclose Vanguard Fund accounts in MCO but are not required to report transactions in Vanguard Funds to the local Compliance Department. For monitoring purposes, the local Compliance Department will access their records via the transfer agency system maintained at VIA, as required.

Note:Trades in Vanguard ETFs are required to be reported, as these records are not held by VIA.

8.5(c) What are the additional trading restrictions for Japan?

Crew Members and Contingent Workers including their Immediate Family Members are prohibited from activities including, but not limited to engaging in margin transactions, Securities-related derivatives transactions, and specified OTC derivatives transactions on their own account.

8.5(d) What additional information is required to be reported for accounts with third party Investment Discretion?

If you or your Immediate Family Member have an arrangement in place with a third party to manage Securities on a discretionary basis, you must provide a copy of the Discretionary Agreement

Approval request to Compliance in advance of effecting any transactions subject to the agreement.

Web Resource – Request and complete a Discretionary Agreement Approval Request Form.

26

Certification Requirements

On an annual basis, you must acknowledge that you understand the Code of Ethics and will comply with its provisions.

Section 9. Certification

Requirements

9.1 What am I required to certify initially?

Initial Certification – Within 10 calendar days after joining Vanguard, you must certify to Compliance that you have read, understand, and will comply with all applicable requirements of the Code and Code-related policies.

9.2 What am I required to certify annually?

Annual Certification – Within 30 calendar days of receipt, you must certify that you have read, understand, and have and will continue to comply with all applicable requirements of the Code and Code-related policies.

Section 10. Penalties and Sanctions

Any violations and potential violations of the Code will be investigated by Compliance or, if necessary, the Global Code of Ethics Committee. Once it has been determined that there was a violation, you will be subject to sanctions, as described below. Compliance will utilize a rolling 24-month period when evaluating whether to sanction a violation. The terms of the Disciplinary Action Policy will also apply.

For violations involving a Contingent Worker, Compliance will consult with a local Human Resource contact (outside the U.S.) or Crew Relations Specialist (inside the U.S.) and the appropriate employer regarding disciplinary action.

10.1How are violations administered by Compliance?

The sanctions program for non-material violations of the Code (e.g., late certification submissions, missed preclearance of a Covered Security, late in providing account confirms/statements, failure to observe the holding period requirements, etc.) and material violations will generally operate as follows:

The process for addressing non-material and material violations will include the following:

•First non-material violation in a rolling 24-month period - Letter of Education. Compliance will send the applicable Crew Member, his or her direct manager, and Human Resources or Crew Relations a summary of the violation.

•Second non-material violation in a rolling 24-month period - Letter of Caution. Compliance will send a letter of caution to the Crew Member and his or her direct manager for both parties to sign and return to Compliance. Compliance will have the direct manager add a first written warning to Workday. Compliance also will notify the Chief Compliance Officer, the Crew Member's direct officer, and Human Resources or Crew Relations.

•Third non-material violation in a rolling 24-month period - Letter of Violation. Compliance will report the violation to the Global Code of Ethics Committee, which will impose an appropriate sanction (e.g., final written warning) if warranted.

•Material violation. Compliance will report the material violation to the Global Code of Ethics Committee, which will impose an appropriate sanction (e.g., final written warning, termination, etc.) in its discretion.

Prior to imposing a sanction or violation for any second, third, or material violation for crew or contingent workers outside the U.S., Compliance will engage Human Resources to ensure that local employment policies/procedures have been appropriately considered.

10.2How is an appropriate sanction determined?

In addition to the foregoing, Compliance may,

as authorized by the Chief Compliance Officer and in consultation with the appropriate local Human Resource contact (outside the U.S.) or Crew Relations Specialist (inside the U.S.), impose sanctions for violations of the Code that are

28

considered to be necessary and appropriate under the circumstances and in the best interests of Vanguard and Vanguard Clients.

As mentioned above, certain violations will be reported to the Global Code of Ethics Committee, which will impose sanctions in its discretion. These sanctions, subject to local laws, may include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: personal trading suspension, profit disgorgement, negative adjustment to performance review and compensation, final written warning, termination of employment or referral to civil or criminal authorities, or any other sanction as may be determined by the Global Code of Ethics Committee in its discretion.

10.3How is the materiality of a violation determined?

Compliance and/or the Committee will consider a variety of factors including, but not limited to, whether there was a violation of law, the frequency of violations, the monetary value of the violation in question, violations that impact a Vanguard Client, or violations that are egregious, malicious, or repetitive in nature.

10.4What are my obligations to report a violation?

You are required to immediately report a violation of the Code to the local Compliance Department once you become aware of a violation.

Section 11. Waivers

The Chief Compliance Officer may grant exceptions to this Code, including preclearance, other trading restrictions, and certain reporting requirements on a case-by-case basis if it is determined that (1) the proposed conduct involves no opportunity for abuse, (2) the proposed conduct does not conflict with Vanguard's interests, and (3) not granting an exception would result in an unfair or unjust outcome.

The Chief Compliance Officer may waive the applicability of the Code for a Contingent

Worker if the Code's requirements are covered through the applicable service provider's contract with Vanguard.

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Nothing in this section is intended to replace, nullify, or modify any requirements imposed by a Vanguard Fund.

Note:AppendicesThis s ction appl es to transactions in Vanguard Funds other than Vanguard ETFs

(e.g., Vanguard mutual funds). As noted above, Investment Persons are prohibited from purchasing and then selling any Vanguard ETF at a profit, as well

asAppendixselling a d then repurchasing a Vanguard ETF at a lower rice within 60Acalendar. days

Definitions

8.2(i) Are there any additional reporting requirements that apply to me?

InAppendixaddition to the standardB. reporting requirements

set forth in Section 8.1(c), you must also disclose

Independent Directors and Trustees

the following:

•Covered Accounts where you exercise Investment Discretion.

•Accounts, 529 college savings plans and annuity or insurance products holding Vanguard Funds.

The information must be updated in MCO no later than ten calendar days after you become an Investment Person or joining Vanguard.

QuarterlyTransactions Report – Within 30 days of quarter end, you must certify that all transactions effected in Covered Securities during the quarter have been recorded accurately in MCO. If there are no transactions in Covered Securities the report should state "None." You will not be required

to certify if Compliance receives automated or duplicate confirmations and statements. Note: Compliance receives duplicate confirms and statements for all Vanguard accounts.

Annual Holdings Report – Within 30 calendar days of receipt, you must certify that all Covered Accounts and Reportable Securities are recorded accurately in MCO.

If you are an Investment Person of Vanguard Investments Hong Kong, Limited (VIHK), the holdings disclosure requirement is semi-annual, including the provision of statements.

MCO Resource – Verify and disclose all Covered Accounts and holdings in Reportable Securities via MCO.

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Appendix A. Definitions

The following definitions apply throughout the Code.

Term

Definition

 

 

Access Person

Any person designated as an Investment Person, Fund Access Person, or VAI Access Person.

 

 

American Depository

A receipt that represents a specific number of shares of a foreign-based corporation held by a

Receipts (ADRs)

U.S. bank and entitles the holder to all dividends and capital gains. Through ADRs, investors can

 

gain exposure to securities of foreign-based companies while investing in the U.S. instead of in

 

foreign markets.

 

 

Associated Persons

Any person who conducts securities business on behalf of the Vanguard Marketing Corporation

 

(VMC). This includes all FINRA-licensed Contingent Workers, as well as non-licensed Contingent

 

Workers who perform certain operational and administrative functions for VMC.

 

 

Automatic Investment

A program in which regular periodic purchases (or withdrawals) are made automatically in (or

Program

from) Investment accounts, according to a predetermined schedule and allocation. An Automatic

 

Investment Program includes a dividend reinvestment plan.

 

 

Bankers' Acceptance

A time draft drawn on a commercial bank by a borrower usually in connection with an

 

international commercial transaction. Bankers' acceptances are usually guaranteed by the bank.

 

 

Beneficial Ownership

The opportunity to directly or indirectly—through any contract, arrangement, understanding,

 

relationship, or otherwise—share at any time in any economic interest or profit derived from an

 

ownership of or a transaction in a Security. You are deemed to have Beneficial Ownership in the

 

following:

 

• Any Security owned individually by you.

 

• Any Security owned by an Immediate Family Member.

 

• Any Security owned in joint tenancy, as tenants in common, or in other joint ownership

 

arrangements.

 

• Any Security in which an Immediate Family Member has Beneficial Ownership if the Security

 

is held in a Covered Account over which you have decision making authority (for example,

 

you act as a trustee, executor, or guardian or you provide Investment advice).

 

• Your interest as a general partner or manager/member in Securities held by a general or

 

limited partnership or limited liability company.

 

• Your interest as a member of an investment club or an organization that is formed for the

 

purpose of investing in a pool of monies or Securities.

 

• Your ownership of Securities as a trustee of a trust in which either you or an Immediate

 

Family Member has a vested interest in the principal or income of the trust or your

 

ownership of a vested interest in a trust.

 

• Securities owned by a corporation which is directly or indirectly controlled by, or under

 

common control with, such person.

 

 

Bond

A debt obligation issued by a corporation, government, or government agency that entails

 

repayment of the principal amount of the obligation at a future date, usually with interest.

 

 

Bribery

The act of making an illegal payment from one party to another, usually in return for a legal or

 

financial favor.

 

 

Brokerage Account

Any account where you can transact in Securities, including Automatic Investment Programs,

 

employee stock purchase programs, and employee stock option programs.

 

 

Certificate of Deposit

An insured, interest-bearing deposit at a bank that requires the depositor to keep the money

(CD)

invested for a specified period.

 

 

Closed-End Fund

A fund that offers a fixed number of shares. The fixed number of shares outstanding are offered

 

during an initial subscription period, similar to an initial public offering. After the subscription

 

period is closed, the shares are traded on an exchange between investors, like a stock.

 

 

Commercial Paper

A promissory note issued by a company in need of short-term financing.

 

 

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Contingent Workers

A Contingent Worker is a broad term that refers to any person providing services to Vanguard

 

who Vanguard has not designated as a Crew Member.

 

Contingent Workers generally include individuals performing services for or on behalf of Vanguard

 

through staffing firms, consulting firms, service providers, and as independent contractors, other

 

than those who work for an independent organization with expertise in a specific function that is

 

peripheral to Vanguard's core business (e.g., security, landscaping, and food services).

 

Note: Compliance may waive the applicability of the Code for a Contingent Worker if Compliance

 

deems the Code's requirements are covered through their service provider's contract with

 

Vanguard.

 

 

Contract for Difference

A contract between two parties, typically described as buyer and seller, stipulating that the seller

(CFD)

will pay the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time. (If the

 

difference is negative, then the buyer pays instead of the seller.)

 

 

Corporate Action

A corporate action is any activity by an issuer that can change its shareholders' ownership.

 

Examples include mergers, stock splits, dividends, Rights issues, etc.

 

 

Covered Account

A Vanguard Fund account, a Brokerage Account, and any other type of account that holds, or is

 

capable of holding, Reportable Securities.

 

 

Covered Security

Any Security, other than (i) Direct Obligations of a Government; (ii) Bankers' Acceptances,

 

Certificates of Deposit (CD), Commercial Paper, and High-Quality Short-Term Debt Instruments,

 

including Repurchase Agreements; (iii) shares issued by Open-End Funds (although for

 

European subsidiaries, this is limited to UCITS schemes, a non-UCITS retail scheme, or another

 

fund subject to supervision under the law of an European Economic Area (EEA) state which is an

 

index fund or which requires an equivalent level of risk spreading in their assets); (iv) life policies;

 

(v) exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes, and (vi) Digital Security Tokens.

 

 

Crew Member

All employees, officers, directors, and trustees of Vanguard or a Vanguard Fund.

 

 

Crowdfunding

The use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business

 

venture. This is an evolving method of raising capital, typically done through the Internet.

 

 

Crypto Mining

The act of running or facilitating any computational process for purposes of receiving

 

compensation in the form of a Digital Currency, Digital Utility Token, or Digital Security Token.

 

Crypto Mining may be done either directly or indirectly. Indirect Crypto Mining involves any

 

investment or participation in a venture that engages in direct Crypto Mining.

 

 

Debenture

An unsecured debt obligation backed only by the general credit of the borrower.

 

 

Direct Obligations of a

A debt that is backed by the full taxing power of any government. These Securities are generally

Government

considered to be of the very highest quality.

 

 

Digital Currency

A digital asset that: (1) serves solely as a store of value, a medium of exchange, or a unit of

 

account; (2) is not issued or guaranteed by any jurisdiction, central bank, or public authority,; (3)

 

relies on algorithmic techniques to regulate the generation of new units of the digital asset; and

 

(4) has transactions involving the digital asset recorded on a decentralized network or distributed

 

ledger (e.g., blockchain). A Digital Currency is distinguishable from a Digital Security Token or a

 

Digital Utility Token.

 

 

Digital UtilityToken

A digital asset that (1) provides access to a particular network, product, or service; (2) derives its

 

value primarily from providing access to a particular network, product, or service; and (3) does not

 

function as a Digital Currency or Digital Security Token.

 

 

Digital SecurityToken

Any digital asset that is not a Digital Currency or Digital Utility Token. In general, a Digital Security

 

Token may: (1) derive its value primarily from, or represent an interest in a separate asset or pool

 

of assets; or (2) represent an interest an enterprise or venture. A Digital Security Token may

 

provide owners or holders with voting rights, rights to distributions, or other rights associated

 

with ownership. Digital Security Tokens are generally held for speculative investment purposes

 

and not to provide holders with access to a particular network, product, or service. Digital

 

Security Tokens, like other investments, are generally not used as a medium of exchange.

 

Note: Whether or not an asset is a Digital Security Token depends on specific facts and

 

circumstances. Merely referring to an asset as a Digital Currency or Digital Utility Token does not

 

prevent the asset from being a Digital Security Token. Furthermore, an asset may be a Digital

 

Security Token even if it has some purported utility. Please contact Compliance if you have any

 

questions regarding whether an asset is a Digital Security Token

 

 

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Evidence of Indebtedness

Written agreements for enforceable obligations to pay money.

 

 

Exchange-Traded Fund

An investment with characteristics of both mutual funds and individual stocks. Many ETFs

(ETF)

track an index, a commodity, or a basket of assets. Unlike mutual funds, ETFs can be traded

 

throughout the day. ETFs often have lower expense ratios but must be purchased and sold

 

through a broker, which means you may incur commissions.

 

 

Exchange-Traded Note

A senior, unsecured, unsubordinated debt Security issued by a financial institution, whose returns

(ETN)

are based on the performance of an underlying index and backed only by the credit of the issuer.

 

ETNs have a maturity date, but typically pay no periodic coupon interest and offer no principal

 

protection. At maturity an ETN investor receives a cash payment linked to the performance of the

 

corresponding index, less fees.

 

 

Fund Access Person

Any officer (other than officers designated as an Investment Person), director, or trustee of

 

Vanguard or a Vanguard Fund, excluding Independent Directors and Trustees; or anyone who has

 

access to nonpublic information regarding a Vanguard Fund's impending purchases or sales of

 

Securities, or nonpublic information regarding the portfolio holdings of any Vanguard Fund. For

 

anyone not an officer, Compliance designates Fund Access Persons individually or by department

 

number. For a list of Fund Access Person departments, please see the Fund Access Person

 

Departments list on CrewNet.

 

 

Futures/Futures Contract

A contract to buy or sell specific amounts of a commodity or financial instrument (such as grain,

 

a currency, including foreign currencies and Digital Currencies (e.g., Bitcoin), or an index) for an

 

agreed-upon price at a certain time in the future. Sometimes the arrangements in a contract

 

prescribe that settlements are made through cash payments, rather than the delivery of physical

 

goods or Securities; this is called Contract for Difference.

 

 

High-Quality Short-Term

An instrument that has a maturity at issuance of less than 366 days and is rated in one of the

Debt Instrument

two highest ratings categories by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization, or an

 

instrument that is unrated but determined by Vanguard to be of comparable quality.

 

 

Immediate Family

Your spouse, domestic partner (an unrelated adult with whom you share your home and

Members

contribute to each other's support), and minor children

 

 

Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

An initial offer or sale of a Digital Security Token.

 

Note: Whether or not an offering is an ICO depends on specific facts and circumstances.

 

Please contact Compliance before participating in an initial offering of a Digital Currency or

 

Digital Utility Token.

 

 

Initial Public Offering

A corporation's first offering of common stock to the public.

(IPO)

 

 

 

Independent Directors

Any director or trustee who is not an "interested person" of a Vanguard Fund within the meaning

andTrustees

of Section 2(a)(19) of the Investment Company Act of 1940.

 

 

Investment

A monetary asset purchased with the idea that the asset will provide income in the future or

 

appreciate and be sold at a higher price.

 

 

Investment Contract

Any contract, transaction, or scheme whereby a person invests money in a common enterprise

 

and is led to expect profits solely from the efforts of the promoter or third party.

 

 

Investment Discretion

The authority an individual may exercise, with respect to investment control or trading discretion,

 

on another person's account (e.g., executor, trustee, power of attorney).

 

 

Investment Person

Anyone who, in connection with his or her regular functions or duties, makes or participates in

 

making any recommendations regarding the purchase or sale of Securities by a Vanguard Fund;

 

and anyone designated by Compliance including, but not limited to, those who obtain nonpublic

 

information concerning recommendations made to a Vanguard Fund. Compliance will designate

 

Investment Persons individually or by department number. For a list of Investment Persons

 

departments, please see the Investment Persons Departments list on CrewNet.

 

 

Managed Account

A Managed Account is an investment account that is owned by an investor and overseen by a

 

hired professional money manager. The investor has no trading discretion on the account.

 

 

Managed Services

A Contingent Worker who provides services to Vanguard and who is employed by an independent

Workers

organization with expertise in a specific function that is peripheral to Vanguard's core business

 

(e.g., security, landscaping, and food services).

 

 

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Money Market Fund

A type of mutual fund that invests in short-term debt securities with the purpose of providing

 

liquidity and interest at a low risk to shareholders. Money market funds generally seek to

 

maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.

 

 

MyComplianceOffice

MyComplianceOffice (MCO) is a third-party web based application that allows Crew and

(MCO)

Contingent Workers to report and update certain information, as required by the Code.

 

 

Non-Access Person

Anyone who has not been designated as either an Investment Person, a Fund Access Person,

 

or a Vanguard Advisers, Inc. Access Person.

 

 

Note

A financial security that generally has a longer term than a bill, but a shorter term than a Bond.

 

However, the duration of a note can vary significantly and may not always fall neatly into this

 

categorization. Notes are similar to Bonds in that they are sold at, above, or below face (par)

 

value; make regular interest payments; and have a specified term until maturity.

 

 

Open-End Fund

A mutual fund that has an unlimited number of shares available for purchase.

 

 

Option

The right, but not the obligation, to buy (for a call option) or sell (for a put option) a specific

 

amount of a given stock, commodity, currency, including foreign currencies and Digital Currencies

 

(e.g., Bitcoin), index, or debt, at a specified price (the strike price) during a specified period or on

 

one particular date.

 

 

Private Placement

A Security that is not registered or required to be registered under the U.S. federal securities

 

laws. Private Placements are generally sold to a relatively small number of select investors (as

 

opposed to a public issue, in which Securities are made available for sale on the open market) in

 

order to raise capital. Private Placements may include, among others, interests in hedge funds

 

(including limited partnership interests) and shares of private companies. Investors in Private

 

Placements are usually banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds, edge funds,

 

and high net worth individuals. Private Placements are typically held or maintained outside of

 

Vanguard.

 

 

Private Securities

The acquisition, purchase, sale, or disposition of a Private Placement.

Transaction

 

 

 

Real Estate Investment

A publicly traded company that invests in real estate and distributes almost all of its taxable

Trust (REIT)

income to shareholders. REITs often specialize in a particular kind of property. They can, for

 

example, invest in real estate such as office buildings, shopping centers, or hotels; purchase real

 

estate (an equity REIT); and provide loans to building developers (a mortgage REIT). REITs offer

 

the opportunity for smaller investors to invest in real estate.

 

 

Related Security

Any Security or instrument that provides economic exposure to the same company or entity—

 

provided, however, that equity instruments will generally not be considered related to fixed

 

income instruments (other than convertible Bonds) and vice versa. For example, all of the

 

following instruments would be related to the common Stock of Company X: Options, Futures,

 

Rights, and Warrants on Company X common Stock; preferred Stock issued by Company X; and

 

Bonds convertible into Company X common Stock. Similarly, different Bonds issued by Company

 

X would be related to one another.

 

 

Reportable Securities

Any Covered Security (as defined above), ETFs, ETNs, and Digital Security Tokens.

 

 

Repurchase Agreement

An arrangement by which the seller of an asset agrees, at the time of the sale, to buy back the

 

asset at a specific price and, typically, on a given date (normally the next day).

 

 

Rights

A Security giving stockholders entitlement to purchase new shares issued by the corporation

 

issuer at a predetermined price (normally at a discount to the current market price) in proportion

 

to the number of shares already owned. Rights are issued only for a short period of time, after

 

which they expire.

 

 

Security

Any Stock, Bond, money market instrument, Note, evidence of indebtedness, Debenture,

 

Warrant, Option, Right, Investment Contract, ETF, ETN, or any other Investment or interest

 

commonly known as a Security.

 

 

Secondary Offering

The sale of new or closely held shares by a company that has already made an Initial Public

 

Offering.

 

 

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Short-Selling

The sale of a Security that the investor does not own to take advantage of an anticipated decline

 

in the price of the Security. To sell short, the investor must borrow the Security from a broker to

 

make delivery to the buyer.

 

 

Spread-Betting

A way of trading that enables you to profit from movements in a wide range of markets from

 

Shares to currencies, including foreign currencies and Digital Currencies (e.g., Bitcoin),

 

commodities, and interest rates. Spread betting allows you to trade on whether the price quoted

 

for these financial instruments will go up or down.

 

 

Stock

A Security that represents part ownership, or equity, in a corporation. Each share of stock is a

 

proportional stake in the corporation's assets and profits, some of which could be paid out as

 

dividends.

 

 

Undertakings ForThe

A regulatory framework of the European Commission that creates a harmonized regime

Collective Investment Of

throughout Europe for the management and sale of mutual funds. UCITS funds can be

Transferable Securities

registered in Europe and sold to investors worldwide using unified regulatory and investor

(UCITS)

protection requirements.

 

 

Unit InvestmentTrust

An SEC-registered Investment company that purchases a fixed, unmanaged portfolio of

(UIT)

income-producing Securities and then sells shares in the trust to investors, usually in units

 

of at least $1,000.

 

 

Vanguard

The Vanguard Group, Inc. (VGI) and any Vanguard Affiliate.

 

 

Vanguard Advisers, Inc.

Any VAI officer, as well as anyone who is involved in making Securities recommendations to VAI

(VAI) Access Person

clients, or has significant levels of interaction or dealings with VAI clients for the purposes of

 

providing VAI services to clients. Compliance will designate VAI Access Persons individually or

 

by department number. For a list of VAI Access Person departments, please see the VAI Access

 

Person Departments list on CrewNet.

 

 

Vanguard Affiliates

Any direct or indirect subsidiary of VGI.

 

 

Vanguard Clients

The clients of VGI, or any of the International Subsidiaries, and investors in the Vanguard Funds,

 

including the Vanguard Funds themselves.

 

 

Vanguard ETFs

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) sponsored or managed by Vanguard. Vanguard ETFs issue shares

 

that can be bought or sold throughout the day in the secondary market at a market-determined

 

price. A Vanguard ETF may operate as a share class of a Vanguard Fund or as a standalone

 

investment pool.

 

 

Vanguard Funds

Vanguard mutual funds, Vanguard ETFs, and any other accounts sponsored or managed by

 

Vanguard. This includes, but is not limited to, separately managed accounts and collective trusts.

 

 

Vanguard Officers

Those Vanguard Crew Members at a Principal level position or higher.

 

 

Warrant

An entitlement to purchase a certain amount of common Stock at a set price (usually higher than

 

the current price) during an extended period of time. Usually issued with a fixed-income security

 

to enhance its marketability, a Warrant can be transferred, traded, or exercised by the holder.

35

Appendix B. Independent Directors and Trustees

Independent Directors and Trustees are required to report Securities transactions to Compliance only when a transaction is completed within 15 days of a security being purchased or sold by a Vanguard Fund and the Independent Director/Trustee had knowledge (or should have had knowledge) of the transaction.

Additionally, the following Sections of the Code are applicable to Independent Directors and Trustees:

Sections

Section 2 Standards of Conduct (excludes the reporting requirements for conflicts of interest) Section 5 Anti-Bribery Policy

Section 6 Antitrust and Competition Policy Section 7 Duty of Confidentiality

Section 8 Personal Trading Activities 8.1(a) (excludes bullet 6)

36

Do the right thing

© 2020 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.


CODE OF ETHICS

BAILLIE GIFFORD COMPLIANCE MANUAL

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

INDEX OF UPDATES........................................................................................................................................................

3

1. INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................................................

6

1.1

APPLICATION .....................................................................................................................................................................

6

1.2

SCOPE .................................................................................................................................................................................

6

1.3

PURPOSE.............................................................................................................................................................................

6

1.4

STAFF OBLIGATIONS .........................................................................................................................................................

6

1.5

VIOLATIONS .......................................................................................................................................................................

7

1.6

INTERPRETATION AND WAIVER ........................................................................................................................................

7

1.7

MONITORING .....................................................................................................................................................................

7

1.8

MATERIAL CHANGES.........................................................................................................................................................

7

2. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES................................................................................................................................................

7

2.1

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................................

7

2.2

GUIDING ETHICAL PRINCIPLES ........................................................................................................................................

8

2.3

RESOLVING ETHICAL ISSUES ..........................................................................................................................................

10

3. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST .......................................................................................................................................

10

3.1

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................

10

3.2

IDENTIFICATION AND TYPES OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST .............................................................................................

10

3.3

DUTY TO DISCLOSE..........................................................................................................................................................

11

3.4

OUTSIDE BUSINESS INTERESTS AND PERSONAL ASSOCIATIONS ...................................................................................

11

4. PERSONAL ACCOUNT DEALING POLICY..............................................................................................................

15

4.1

HIGH LEVEL OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................................

15

4.2

GENERAL RULE ON PA DEALING ....................................................................................................................................

15

4.3

APPLICATION OF PERSONAL ACCOUNT DEALING POLICY............................................................................................

16

4.4

PROHIBITED AND EXEMPT SECURITIES AND TRANSACTIONS .......................................................................................

16

4.5

PROCEDURES FOR OBTAINING PERMISSION...................................................................................................................

18

4.6

PRACTICAL PROCEDURES TO BE FOLLOWED IN SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES ..................................................................

19

4.7

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS...........................................................................................................................................

19

4.8

SUMMARY TABLE OF SECURITY TYPES AND PRE-CLEARANCE AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.............................

20

5. INDUCEMENTS POLICY ...........................................................................................................................................

22

5.1

GUIDELINES......................................................................................................................................................................

22

5.2

RESTRICTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE SALE OF PACKAGE PRODUCTS, I.E. OEICS .............................................

26

5.3

PACKAGED PRODUCTS GUIDANCE ON REASONABLE INDIRECT BENEFITS ..................................................................

26

5.4

FINRA SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR REGISTERED PERSONS OF BGFS ...................................................................

28

5.5

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR BGA(HK) .....................................................................................................................

28

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND CERTIFICATION .....................................................................................................

28

6.1

RECEIPT AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE CODE .......................................................................................................

28

6.2

ANNUAL REPORT TO BAILLIE GIFFORD BOARDS ..........................................................................................................

28

2

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

Index of Updates

Date

Reason for change

Material

Regulatory

 

 

Change

Requirement

October 2017

Changes made to reflect MiFID II requirements. New requirements on Inducements relating to MiFID, equivalent third

Yes

Yes

 

country or optional exemption business under FCA COBS 2.3A for firms which make personal recommendations to a retail

 

 

 

client in the UK and, in particular, rules on inducements relating to the provision of investment services and ancillary services

 

 

 

that the FCA will adopt under new FCA COBS 2.3A 5R. Chapter 5 updated with minor housekeeping changes throughout.

 

 

May 2018

4.5.1. Separate broker notification letter for BGFS representatives no longer required.

No

No

 

4.5.1. New paragraph added about broker confirmations.

 

 

 

4.8. Minor updates to description of unlisted investments in the summary table.

 

 

 

Minor housekeeping changes throughout the policy to change all references to holdings reports to Code of Ethics Declarations.

 

 

August 2018

Minor updates to summary table in section 4.8 to include references to cryptocurrencies and structured deposits.

No

No

 

 

 

 

September 2018

Removal of references to Baillie Gifford Life Limited. This entity is no longer carrying out insurance business and has applied

No

No

 

for the cancellation of all its regulatory permissions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 2018

New Guidance for partners and staff considering external appointments section added to the Conflicts of Interest chapter of the

No

No

 

Code of Ethics Policy, plus a link to the guidance note. Not a material change as this is the publication of guidance and not a

 

 

 

Code of Ethics Policy change. Summary table in section 4.8 updated to consolidate the two rows relating to exchange traded

 

 

 

funds into one row.

 

 

November 2018

Housekeeping update to the PA dealing policy following changes to the workplace pension arrangements.

No

No

 

 

 

 

January 2019

Additional client requirement added to the list of clients with specific requirements link in section 5.1.15.

No

No

 

Change of job title for Lindsay Gold from Head of Compliance to Compliance Director (Page 5).

No

No

 

Reference to CFTC added in Section 6.0.

No

Yes

 

Changes to ensure BGE is covered by the policy.

No

No

March 2019

Updates to summary table in section 4.8 to reflect the 3 security types added. Certificate of Deposit, Fixed Term Deposit and

No

No

 

Fixed Term Bond.

 

 

April 2019

Changed Lindsay Gold's title from Head of Compliance to Compliance Director and changed Monitoring, Ethics Conduct and

No

No

 

Assurance team name to Monitoring and Ethics team.

 

 

July 2019

Update political contributions sections to confirm that pre-clearance can be obtained from US based Compliance Counsel and

No

No

 

the Code of Ethics team, rather than the Compliance Director.

 

 

September 2019

Updates made to reference the new FCA Conduct Rules introduced under SMCR and make enhancements to the Outside

Yes

Yes

 

Business Interests section.

 

 

September 2019

OBI section of the policy updates to include a new table of examples and a new streamlined process which consolidates the

Yes

No

 

pre-existing Code of Ethics policy and the HR OBI and Employment Policy which has since been decommissioned.

 

 

September 2019

Whistleblowing Policy removed (now standalone), BGA(HK) semi-annual declaration process referenced and various

No

No

 

housekeeping amendments.

 

 

March 2020

Additional conflict disclosure requirements for investment decision makers to reflect an increased industry focus in this area.

Yes

No.

December 2020

Housekeeping changes to change 'unlisted investments' to 'private companies' and clarifying personal associations

No

No

January 2021

Alastair Maclean replaces Lindsay Gold, as Director, Group Compliance and Legal.

No

Yes

 

3

 

 

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

Letter from the Joint Senior Partner and Compliance and Legal Director

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

Dear Colleagues,

The Code of Ethics Policy is a very important area for us because our clients have put a great deal of trust in Baillie Gifford to manage their assets in their long-term interests. For us to respect that trust there are two things that we must focus on:

•Firstly, making sure that we put clients' interests at the heart of everything that we do; and

•Secondly, making sure that we identify and manage any conflicts of interest between our interests and those of the client.

The compliance culture and ethics of a firm are vitally important to clients and regulators alike. Our clients refer to the Code of Ethics Policy as the "window on the culture of the firm". They are interested in adherence with the policy and often ask for information on code violations as an indicator of the overall culture of the firm.

Regulators have also put 'culture' and 'conduct' at the centre of their agenda. Culture is regarded as the DNA of the business; shaping behaviours and ethics. At Baillie Gifford we have built our reputation by our conduct as individuals, acting with integrity and in the interests of our clients.

The Code of Ethics Policy sets out the processes, procedures and principles in this area and we ask you to give it your full attention. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Compliance Monitoring and Ethics team or email  CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com.

Thank you.

Andrew Telfer

Alastair Maclean

Joint Senior Partner of Baillie Gifford & Co

Director, Group Compliance and Legal

5

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

1. Introduction

1.1 Application

The Code of Ethics applies to

•All employees of Baillie Gifford entities

•Partners

•Fixed term, temporary and agency staff

•Interns and summer students

•Secondees

•Individuals providing services via Personal Service Companies

•Contractors (with systems access)

Each of these individuals and in some specified cases, persons who are connected to the individual, are required to comply with the Code of Ethics which forms part of the 'Personal Responsibilities' section of the Group Compliance Manual (located via the Landing Page on the Loop) and their employment contract. These individuals are known as 'access persons' for the purposes of US securities laws.

1.2 Scope

The Code covers all firms within the Baillie Gifford Group and has been adopted by the relevant Boards of Baillie Gifford regulated entities within the Group and the Group's Compliance Committee. It is designed to ensure compliance with relevant regulatory requirements applicable to the Baillie Gifford Group and in particular UK FCA, CBI and US SEC requirements.

The Code of Ethics covers:

•the FCA Conduct Rules which apply to the vast majority of staff11

•guiding ethical principles which apply to all staff

•managing conflicts of interest which may occur between Baillie Gifford and the personal interests of members of staff

•personal dealings in shares

•receiving and giving of gifts, hospitality and other forms of inducement.

1.3Purpose

At Baillie Gifford we have a fiduciary duty to our clients when acting as their investment manager or adviser. This requires us at all times to act in the best interests of our clients and to treat them fairly. We must avoid situations where we place our own interests ahead of the interests of clients. The Code of Ethics is designed to assist us in ensuring we meet these fiduciary standards when acting for clients.

1.4 Staff Obligations

As a member of staff, you are obliged to comply with your regulatory obligations under the various regulatory systems to which the Group is subject, including applicable federal securities laws. You are required to:

•Read and adhere to the Code of Ethics. If you have any questions, please email CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com (secure mailbox); and

•Complete and submit a Code of Ethics Declaration and submit a Certificate of Compliance on first becoming a member of staff and annually thereafter.

1The Conduct Rules do not apply to 'ancillary staff' not performing a financial services role. This would cover our mailroom staff, security guards, cleaning and catering staff.

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

You will be provided with details of any changes to the Code at the time these are made. Training will be provided on the terms of the Code as part of your staff induction and annually thereafter, or more frequently in the event of a material change.

1.5 Violations

Failure on the part of members of staff or their Connected Persons (where applicable) to follow these procedures will be taken seriously and regarded as a disciplinary matter under the rules and procedures set out in the Staff Handbook. If it is determined that gross misconduct has taken place, the member of staff may be subject to instant dismissal without payment in lieu of notice.

In addition, any conduct by a member of staff that violates the Code of Ethics, including the Ethical Principles, will be considered from an FCA Conduct Rule Breach perspective (see section 2.1 below for details of the FCA Conduct Rules). If it is deemed that a Code of Ethics violation is significant in nature (e.g. evidence of intent; client materially affected; trend of repeated violations etc.), it may be escalated within Baillie Gifford to be assessed further by senior members of the HR, Compliance and Business Risk departments. Depending on the severity of the case, a formal Conduct Rule Breach may subsequently be reported to the FCA in accordance with regulatory reporting timelines. Any member of staff who becomes aware of a violation of the Code of Ethics must promptly report that violation to the Compliance Director, who may, at his discretion, refer the violation to the Legal and Compliance Partner as well as the relevant Board and Compliance Committee for resolution in terms of section 1.6 below.

1.6 Interpretation and Waiver

With respect to matters of interpretation or dispute arising under the Code of Ethics, the Compliance Director may refer to the Compliance Committee of Baillie Gifford who may, exercising their reasonable judgment, make determinations as to the meaning and effect of the Code of Ethics. The Compliance Director may, in consultation with the Compliance Committee, grant written waivers of the provisions of the Code in appropriate instances. However, waivers will be granted only in rare instances and some provisions of the Code that are mandated by law or regulation cannot be waived. The Compliance Director is responsible for maintaining appropriate records of and preparing any reports required with respect to, any waivers of provisions of the Code.

1.7 Monitoring

Adherence by staff to the terms of the Code will be monitored by the Compliance Department. The issue, receipt and content of Code of Ethics Declarations and Certificates will be co-ordinated and monitored by that Department. Regular monitoring of personal account dealing, gifts and entertainment records and other forms of inducements will also be undertaken to ensure there are no actions which are contrary to our regulatory obligations and that we always act in the best interests of clients. The results of this monitoring will be reported to the relevant Boards and Compliance Committee.

1.8 Material Changes

Material changes to the Code of Ethics must be ratified by the relevant Boards of the SEC regulated firms and investment companies within the Group and the Group's Compliance Committee.

2. Ethical Principles

2.1 Introduction

7

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

Baillie Gifford's reputation and success is based upon its professional conduct and maintenance of high ethical standards. It is expected and indeed demanded from our clients that we adhere to robust ethical standards in all aspects of our activities.

This section of the Code of Ethics sets out guiding principles which apply to all staff relating to ethical conduct. It also provides some guidance on addressing and resolving ethical issues.

In addition, many individuals within the Group will be subject to ethical principles and codes of conduct which are adopted by various professional organisations to which they are members. Baillie Gifford's Code of Ethics is designed to be complementary to, and consistent, with these other standards.

The FCA's Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) introduces a set of Conduct Rules which reflect the core standards expected of staff who work within the Financial Services industry. These can be found in the FCA's Code of Conduct sourcebook (COCON) and are composed of nine rules, five of which are applicable to all staff (other than 'ancillary staff' referred to earlier) and four additional rules applicable only to Senior Managers. The five Conduct Rules which are applicable to all staff are as follows:

1.You must act with integrity;

2.You must act with due care, skill and diligence;

3.You must be open and cooperative with the FCA, PRA and other regulators;

4.You must pay due regard to the interests of customers and treat them fairly; and

5.You must observe proper standards of market conduct.

These conduct rules compliment Baillie Gifford's own guiding ethical principles and are embedded within these. The four additional rules applicable only to Senior Managers are covered separately in the SMCR Policy.

The Code of Ethics cannot cover every ethical situation that might arise at Baillie Gifford. After having read and understood the content of the Code of Ethics Policy, all members of staff will be responsible for complying not only with its letter, but also with its spirit and principles. These are set out in the Guiding Ethical Principles below.

2.2 Guiding Ethical Principles

Each member of staff must follow these guiding principles:

2.2.1.Fairness

To act fairly at all times when dealing with clients and counterparties of Baillie Gifford. Fairness requires impartiality, objectivity, and honesty.

For example, when communicating with clients you should make every reasonable effort to provide full, fair and accurate information and should avoid withholding any relevant information.

A non-exhaustive list of other examples of conduct that might breach the fairness principle is as follows:

•Misleading a client about the risks of an investment;

•Misleading a client about the likely performance of a product by providing inappropriate projections of future returns; or

•Failing to acknowledge, or seek to resolve, mistakes in dealing with clients.

2.2.2.Honesty and integrity

To act honestly and with integrity in fulfilling the responsibilities of your role and seek to avoid any acts or omissions or business practices which damage Baillie Gifford's reputation or which are deceitful, oppressive, or improper.

For example, Baillie Gifford should only employ fair methods to win or retain business for the firm. Staff should avoid offering unduly lavish or overly frequent gifts and hospitality and should avoid 'pay to play' practices, i.e. making political contributions to those in a position to influence the selection of Baillie Gifford. Baillie Gifford is committed to carrying on business fairly, honestly and openly and has a zero-tolerance approach to bribery.

A non-exhaustive list of other examples of conduct that might breach the honesty and integrity principle is as follows:

•Falsifying documents;

•Providing false or inaccurate information to a client, regulator, auditor, Baillie Gifford itself or a third party;

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

•Mismarking the value of investments;

•Misleading others in Baillie Gifford about the nature of risks being accepted; or

•Failing to disclose personal dealing activity; receipt or provision of gifts and entertainment; political contributions or other outside business interests as required by the Code of Ethics.

2.2.3.Adherence to law and regulation

To observe applicable law, regulations and professional conduct standards when carrying out your activities and to interpret and apply them to the best of your knowledge and ability according to these guiding ethical principles. To be open and cooperative with Baillie Gifford's regulators.

For example, you must familiarise yourself with, and adhere to at all times, the requirements contained in the: Anti- Financial Crime Policy; the Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorist Financing & Sanctions Policy; the Anti- Bribery & Corruption Policy; the Code of Ethics Policy; the Market Abuse and Insider Dealing Policy; Data Protection Policy; and Information Security & Electronic Communications Policy. These policies set out your personal compliance responsibilities and are available to all staff in the 'Personal Responsibilities' section of the Group Compliance Manual.

A non-exhaustive list of conduct that might breach the open and cooperative with regulators principle is as follows:

•Providing false or inaccurate information to regulators;

•Failing to supply a regulator with appropriate documents or information when requested or required to do so and within the time limits attaching to that request or requirement; or

•Failing to attend an interview or answer questions put by a regulator.

2.2.4.Market conduct

When executing transactions or engaging in any form of market dealings, to observe the standards of market integrity, good practice and conduct required by, or expected of, participants in that market. To comply with relevant market codes and exchange rules.

2.2.5.Loyalty to clients

To place the interests of our clients ahead of your own interests and to manage fairly and effectively, and to the best of your ability, any relevant conflict of interest. To the extent feasible, conflicts of interest should be avoided or at least appropriately managed and disclosed in accordance with Baillie Gifford's conflicts procedures.

Baillie Gifford's investment recommendations and other proprietary information are for the exclusive use of our clients. We should not use this proprietary information for personal benefit. If in doubt, refer to the Compliance Department for guidance.

2.2.6.Maintaining confidentiality

To respect the confidentiality of information on current, former and prospective clients which is obtained through your work and refrain from using or disclosing this for unethical purposes or illegal advantage.

For example, you must be extremely careful when sharing confidential client data with an outside party and should only do so if it is absolutely necessary. Authorisation may be required from your Head of Department for this. If in doubt, you should refer to the Information Security and Electronic Communications Policy (located in the Staff Handbook on the Loop) which includes the three levels of data security classification and rules on how to handle this data.

2.2.7.Transparency

If you are in any doubt that you may have a conflict of interest, or if you think that there could be a perception of one, you should disclose the details to your Head of Department, to the Compliance Department or to the relevant chairperson of the board, committee or group concerned, as appropriate.

For example, consider the situation where you have a personal shareholding in a company and you are contributing to an investment discussion on whether to buy or sell this company for clients. It is essential to disclose this potential

9

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

conflict to the chairperson and other members of that decision-making group. Please see section 3.3 for further details on additional disclosure requirements for investment decision makers (investors and CD staff on Portfolio Construction Groups).

2.3 Resolving Ethical Issues

In business life we will be confronted from time to time with ethical issues to determine. In dealing with these an important consideration is any impact the decision may have on clients. Also, has the process of coming to the decision been fair, with full consideration of the facts, issues and alternatives? Has it involved all stakeholders with an interest? Have you identified any competing interests or conflicts of interest? These questions would be relevant where considering whether to accept a gift or entertainment, and also considering the implications of an incident.

3. Conflicts of Interest

3.1 Introduction

Inherent throughout the Code of Ethics is the principle that all members of staff have a responsibility to place the interests of the Group's clients ahead of their own and resolve conflicts in favour of the Group's clients. In order to achieve this, all activities undertaken by members of staff must be conducted in such a manner as to avoid any actual or potential conflicts of interest or any abuse of an individual's position of trust and responsibility. Furthermore, all action taken by staff must be undertaken in a manner which does not interfere with the interests of Baillie Gifford's clients or take unfair advantage of Baillie Gifford's relationship with its clients.

3.2 Identification and Types of Conflict of Interest

3.2.1.What is a conflict of interest?

A conflict of interest arises when personal matters or obligations interfere with business activities and influence the decisions made by members of staff, which have or could have a detrimental effect on the firm's clients. When considering conflicts of interest, it is important to consider how the situation would be viewed by an independent party.

3.2.2.Identification of conflicts of interest

Conflicts of interests which require to be identified by members of staff are those which arise between:

•the Group, its connected persons and a client of the Group; or

•one client of the Group and another client of the Group.

3.2.3.Types of conflicts of interest

When identifying whether a conflict of interest arises in the course of business and whether the existence of this conflict may adversely affect the interests of a client, staff should consider whether the individual, firm or certain persons connected with the firm:

•are likely to make a financial gain or avoid a financial loss at the expense of a client;

•has an interest in the outcome of the service provided to the client or of a transaction carried out on behalf of the client;

•has a financial or other incentive to favour the interest of another client or group of clients over the interests of the client;

•carries on the same business as the client; or

•receives or will receive from a person (other than the client) an inducement in relation to the service provided, in the form of monies, goods or services, other than the standard commission or fee.

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

The Group Compliance Manual (located via the Landing Page on the Loop) contains Baillie Gifford's conflicts policy and matrix. This matrix details potential and actual conflicts of interest which have been recognised by the firm. Please refer to this document for further information regarding the types of conflict which have been identified.

If you are in doubt about whether a conflict has arisen please consult the Compliance Director.

3.3 Duty to Disclose

All members of staff have in the first instance an obligation to manage or avoid all conflicts of interest. If it is not possible to manage or avoid a conflict of interest, then the potential or actual conflict which may impair your objectivity when undertaking your daily activities must be disclosed. All disclosures should be made to your Head of Department and the Compliance Director.

Baillie Gifford does not prohibit investors from investing in the same stocks as our clients. Nevertheless, there is an inherent conflict of interest risk that needs to be carefully managed should investors choose to do this.

Additional disclosure requirements for investment decision makers

Investment decision makers should make the following protective disclosures where appropriate:

•Investment decision makers should declare any pre-existing personal shareholdings in a company if they are contributing to an investment discussion on whether to trade in that company for clients. This potential conflict must be disclosed to the chairperson of the relevant decision-making group, whom failing another member of that decision-making group. On occasion, it may be prudent for an investment decision maker to step out of an investment discussion if it is felt that a conflict, or perception of a conflict, cannot be managed effectively. Such a course of action should be determined on a case by case basis.

•Investment decision makers must also declare any personal trading activity in a company held by clients if they have been, or will be, involved in an investment discussion concerning that company. This disclosure requirement is regardless of whether the company is being traded for clients at the time. Again, this potential conflict must be disclosed to the chairperson of the relevant decision-making group, whom failing another investment decision maker in that decision-making group.

For both scenarios above, Investors have the option of retaining their own contemporaneous record of any disclosures made or notifying the Compliance Department who will record the protective disclosure in the Code of Ethics System. Notifications to Compliance should be emailed to CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com (secure mailbox). An audit trail record would be beneficial in the event of any retrospective enquiry.

3.4 Outside Business Interests and Personal Associations

A personal conflict of interest can arise in relation to certain outside business interests or personal associations. Members of staff must ensure that they do not engage in any activities that would detract, divert from or conflict with, the proper performance of their Baillie Gifford employment or would conflict with the interests of the firm or our clients. Members of staff must also ensure that any personal association does not affect, or reasonably appear to affect, our conduct or actions in Baillie Gifford and therefore conflict with our duties to clients or the firm.

To ensure that we comply with the requirements of global regulation, we require members of staff and Partners to inform Compliance at CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com of any external interests at any time during employment.

3.4.1 Types of Outside Business Interests

11

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

The following table is a non-exhaustive list of potential outside business interests. If you have any other interests or activities that you think may need to be disclosed, please contact the Compliance Monitoring and Ethics team for guidance at CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com (secure mailbox).

Outside Business Interest

Paid work out with Baillie Gifford.

Business related external directorships, non- executive directorships or other external board/committee appointments (e.g. nominations committee).

Business related would include:

•Listed companies;

•Private companies in which Baillie Gifford invests or is likely to invest;

•Trade bodies or professional bodies;

•Clients;

•Suppliers etc.

Non-business related external directorships or non-executive directorships.

Non-business related would include:

•Private family run businesses;

•One-person limited companies;

•Charitable organisations or not for Profit organisations (where not a client).

External investment or finance related roles at educational, charitable, religious or social organisations.

Investment or finance related roles would include:

•investment adviser;

•trustee;

•treasurer etc.

Politically exposed appointments

Disclosure Requirements

In general, all regular paid work outwith Baillie Gifford should be disclosed. It should also be agreed with your line manager and/or head of department as appropriate.

Discretion can be used for any ad hoc paid work that is de minimis in nature and has no obvious connection to Baillie Gifford business. Such paid work is unlikely to require disclosure.

All such appointments must be disclosed and receive prior approval from the Compliance Director.

In addition, all Partners and Chief Executive Officers of Baillie Gifford subsidiary companies should seek prior approval from the joint Senior Partners prior to accepting external appointments.

All such appointments must be disclosed.

No additional approval is required.

All investment adviser related roles should be disclosed.

A politically exposed person, or 'PEP', is an individual who is or has, at any time in the

CODE OF ETHICS

2021

preceding year, been entrusted with prominent public functions, or is an immediate family member, or a known close associate of such a person), whether paid or unpaid.

All such appointments must be disclosed.

3.4.2 Outside Business Interests disclosure procedures

The Compliance Monitoring and Ethics team are the central hub for all outside business interest disclosures. This team will disseminate relevant information as appropriate to the Human Resources Department, Group Governance Services Department and the Compliance Policies, Training and Reporting and Anti-Financial Crime teams. Outside business interest disclosures should be emailed to the Compliance Monitoring and Ethics team (CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com) at the earliest opportunity. Where possible, this should be prior to the commencement of any role or appointment. Disclosures should contain the following information:

•Date the outside business interest commenced or ceased;

•Name of the external company/organisation and brief description of what they do;

•Brief description of your role/involvement;

•Details of any remuneration if applicable;

•Details of any connection to Baillie Gifford (e.g. client or prospective client, investee company, broker, supplier etc.).

If applicable, the Compliance Monitoring and Ethics team will obtain approval from the Compliance Director on your behalf and will either confirm that this has been received or will request further information if required.

Please note that Partners or Chief Executive Officers of Baillie Gifford subsidiary companies who require to seek approval from the joint Senior Partners for external appointments, must seek this approval themselves.

In addition to the above:

-Requirements for FCA Regulated Roles

The Firm is required to ensure that individuals in FCA regulated roles are fit and proper to perform the activities for which they are regulated and that they do not engage in any activities which could conflict with the performance of their role. In addition to the above requirements, individuals in regulated roles must inform Compliance when:

othey become aware that a company, partnership or unincorporated association of which the individual has

been controller, director, senior manager, partner or company secretary (either during the time they held the position or within one year of such involvement) has:

obeen put into liquidation, wound up, ceased trading, had a receiver or administrator appointed or entered into a voluntary arrangement with its creditors

obeen adjudged by a court liable for any fraud, misfeasance, wrongful trading or misconduct

obeen investigated or been involved in an investigation by an inspector appointed under companies or any other legislation, or required to produce documents to the Secretary of State, or any other authority, under

any such legislation

obeen convicted of any criminal offence, censured, disciplined or publicly criticised, by any inquiry, by the Takeover Panel or any governmental or statutory authority, or any other regulatory body

-Specific Requirements for BGFS

Registered Persons of BGFS are required to obtain prior written approval from the Chief Compliance Officer of BGFS for any Contractor, Director, Office or Partner appointments or any work for which they expect to receive compensation outside of their Baillie Gifford employment. Please note that this supersedes the requirement to obtain approval from the Compliance Director.

-Specific Requirements for BGA(HK)

Licensed Persons of BGA(HK) are required to obtain prior written approval from the Compliance Officer of BGA(HK) for any Director appointments or any work for which they will receive compensation outside of

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their Baillie Gifford employment. The Compliance Monitoring and Ethics team will co-ordinate this. In addition to the above, there are also SFC Notification requirements relating to any directorships, partnerships or proprietorships taken on by a licenced representative. The BGA(HK) Compliance Officer will advise on the relevant steps to take with regards to this notification.

3.4.3 Personal Associations

We also must take steps to ensure that any personal interest or personal association does not affect, or reasonably appear to affect, our conduct or actions in Baillie Gifford and therefore conflict with our duties to clients or the firm. Any Significant Relationship with another person working in a relevant business connected to Baillie Gifford may need to be disclosed by email to the Compliance Department (CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com).

Relevant businesses would include:

•Investment managers

•Brokers

•Clients of Baillie Gifford

•Consultants/advisers to clients of Baillie Gifford or investors in Baillie Gifford funds

•Companies in which Baillie Gifford invests on behalf of our clients

•Other organisations with which Baillie Gifford has a contractual relationship.

A relationship with another person would be deemed significant if an independent third party might reasonably consider that it could affect your actions or those of a personal associate (whether or not it does so affect your conduct). If you have a relationship with an associated person that could potentially give rise to a conflict of interest, or the perception of one, then this should be disclosed to the Compliance Department. The Compliance Department will determine if the relationship needs to be recorded and whether any action needs to be taken to manage the conflict.

Please note that personal associations can go further than our definition of connected person under PA Dealing, i.e. this disclosure requirement is not limited to immediate family members living in your household. Some examples of potential personal associations that may need to be disclosed/recorded are as follows:

•A personal friend works at a supplier and is directly involved in the Baillie Gifford account and/or you are directly involved in the appointment of that supplier.

•A close friend works at an audit firm and is directly involved in an external review of your department.

•An extended family member works at a company that Baillie Gifford invests in for clients, in a role where they are likely to have access to sensitive business information.

Please note that none of the personal association examples above would fall under our definition of connected persons for PA Dealing purposes, however potentially would be disclosable under this section of the Code of Ethics. However, please also note that not every instance of the above would necessarily have to be recorded. Each scenario would be considered on a case-by-case basis to establish what, if any, conflict risk there is.

These disclosures are designed to ensure that our work is carried out on behalf of clients in an environment that is free from any suggestion of improper influence. If you are in any doubt as to whether a business interest or personal association or relationship needs to be disclosed, please contact a member of the Compliance Department for guidance.

3.4.4 Record Keeping and Annual Certification

A record of all Outside Business Interests and Personal Associations disclosed to Compliance will be maintained in the Code of Ethics System. These will form part of your personal Annual Code of Ethics Declaration. Updates can be made to these disclosures when completing your annual declaration, or alternately at any point throughout the year by

emailing the details to Compliance  ( CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com).

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4. Personal Account Dealing Policy

4.1 High Level Overview

Baillie Gifford's first priority is in ensuring that in all circumstances, the firm's clients' interests are placed first and each client obtains the best execution of trades which we can arrange on their behalf. In order to ensure that this priority is consistently met, all staff have a responsibility to ensure that in no circumstances will clients be disadvantaged by employee PA Dealing.

The basic premise of Baillie Gifford's PA Dealing Policy is that PA Dealing is permitted subject to a number of restrictions. Baillie Gifford therefore gives general permission to all members of staff and to their Connected Persons (defined later) to carry out investment transactions in designated investments in accordance with the following procedures. All staff must ensure that undertaking PA Dealing activities does not distract them from their day-to-day responsibilities.

4.2 General Rule on PA dealing

A member of staff or their Connected Persons are prohibited from

1.Entering into a PA deal where

a)that person is prohibited from entering into it under the law and regulations governing market abuse and insider dealing as set out in the Baillie Gifford Market Abuse Policy. The Policy requires that no member of staff make personal use of material non-public information or engage in a securities transaction available only by reason of his or her position within Baillie Gifford. If a member of staff is aware that an investment opportunity is being actively considered by Baillie Gifford, they must first ensure that this is made available to Baillie Gifford before taking personal advantage of the opportunity. It is the personal responsibility of the member of staff to ensure that they are familiar with the provisions of that Policy.

b)it involves the misuse or improper disclosure of confidential or proprietary information relating to clients or transactions for clients; or

c)it conflicts or is likely to conflict with an obligation under Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II) or other regulatory obligations which Baillie Gifford owes to its clients.

2.Advising, recommending or procuring any other person to enter into a transaction which would be precluded under 1 above.

3.Disclosing any information or opinion to any other person where it is reasonably likely that the result of that disclosure will lead to an activity precluded under 1 or 2 above.

a)Entering into a PA deal or purchasing a contract of insurance, the purpose of which is to hedge away the risk of any downward adjustment in deferred remuneration which that member of staff may be entitled to receive under the firm's remuneration policy.

A person will be considered to have undertaken such personal hedging if:

a)The staff member enters into a contract with a third party; and

b)The contract requires the third party to make payments directly or indirectly to the staff member that are linked to or commensurate with the amounts by which the staff member's variable remuneration has been reduced.

Failure on the part of members of staff or their Connected Persons to follow these procedures will be regarded as a disciplinary matter under the rules and procedures set out in the Code. If it is determined that gross misconduct has taken place, the member of staff may be subject to instant dismissal without payment in lieu of notice (If you are in any doubt as to whether an intended transaction for yourself or for a Connected Person is subject to the rules of the Policy you should check with the Compliance Department beforehand).

The remainder of this policy details the following information:

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4.3Application of Personal Account Dealing Policy

4.4Prohibited and Exempt Securities and Transactions

4.5Practical Procedures for Obtaining Permission

4.6Practical Procedures to be followed in Special Circumstances

4.7Reporting Requirements

4.8Summary table of Security Types and Pre-Clearance and Reporting Requirements

4.3 Application of Personal Account Dealing Policy

The PA dealing rules apply to the following:

•All those listed in section 1.1 of this Policy

And 'Connected Persons' which include:

•Immediate family (immediate family includes spouses, co-habitees, children under the age of 18 and immediate family members sharing the same household. It would also include parents/in-laws or other persons where decision making as to their investments is taken by them under advice from the member of staff);

•Organisations for whom members of staff have an active investment advisory input (this could include charities, churches, clubs etc);

•Trusts where as trustee the member of staff exercises investment influence (i.e. as sole trustee or a trustee exercising a considerable influence. In this case the trust must be made aware of the connection with Baillie Gifford & Co and must be requested to report transactions in securities of companies under our management to the member of staff serving as a trustee. He should then report the transaction to the Compliance Director); and

•Syndicates where friends/family group together for the purpose of purchasing shares

Throughout this Policy, the above categories are referred to as Connected Persons.

The Policy applies to the following types of instruments ("covered securities"):

•equities

•bonds;

•derivatives;

•BG OEICS;

•Investment Trusts and other close end vehicles;

•private companies; and

•spread betting on financial instruments.

It also applies to any investment in any of the above instruments through a wrapper product such as an ISA, SIPP, share plan, Variable Insurance Product or the Baillie Gifford workplace pension available through Aegon's ARC platform.

The table in section 4.8 sets out various security types and transactions and whether they are covered by the Personal Account Dealing Policy, Preclearance and Reporting Requirements.

If a member of staff is in any doubt as to whether an instrument is included or not in the Policy they should contact the Compliance Monitoring and Ethics Team or email CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com .

4.4 Prohibited and Exempt Securities and Transactions

4.4.1. Prohibited securities and transactions

No member of staff is permitted to purchase or sell, directly or indirectly, any security in which he or she acquires any direct or indirect personal holding and which, to his or her knowledge, is currently being purchased or sold by Baillie Gifford or which, to his or her knowledge, Baillie Gifford is actively considering recommending for purchase or sale. These prohibitions shall continue until the time that Baillie Gifford decides not to recommend such purchase or sale,

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or if this recommendation is made, until the time that Baillie Gifford completes, or decides not to enter into, the recommended purchase or sale. These prohibitions also apply to any purchase and sale by any member of staff of any convertible security, option, warrant or other derivative security, or any private placement of any issuer whose underlying securities are being actively considered for recommendation to, or are currently being purchased or sold by, Baillie Gifford. Any profits realised on trades made by members of staff within the proscribed period may require to be disgorged, particularly where the member of staff had, or was in a position to have had, knowledge of the fact that securities were being purchased or sold on behalf of Baillie Gifford's clients.

4.4.2. Exempt securities and transactions

4.4.2.1 Securities exempt from pre-clearance requirements

The pre-clearance and reporting obligations shall not apply to the following exempt securities:

a)purchases or sales of securities that are direct obligations of the government of the United States or United Kingdom, bankers' acceptances, bank certificates of deposit, commercial paper, high-quality short-term debt instruments (including repurchase agreements);

b)shares of money market mutual funds;

c)shares of registered open-end management investment companies other than the Baillie Gifford sponsored OEICS and mutual funds;

d)shares of US unit investment trusts (i.e. variable insurance contracts that are funded by insurance company separate accounts organised as unit investment trusts) that are invested exclusively in one or more registered investment companies. Please note that UK Investment Trusts are not exempt securities and that pre-clearance requirements apply.

The pre-clearance requirements shall not apply to the following transactions (although revised holdings will need to be disclosed in your Annual Code of Ethics Declaration):-

4.4.2.2 Transactions exempt from pre-clearance requirements

a)purchases effected upon the exercise of rights (e.g. automatic reinvestment of dividends) provided by an issuer pro rata to all holders of a class of its securities to the extent such rights were acquired from such issuer, and sales of such rights so acquired;

b)personal transactions effected under a discretionary portfolio management service where there is no prior communication in connection with the transaction between the portfolio manager and the relevant member of staff or other person for whose account the transaction is executed;

c)personal transactions in any default fund available in Baillie Gifford's workplace pension available through Aegon's ARC platform;

d)ongoing monthly transactions in an automatic investment plan, where permission was obtained for the initial investment and there has been no change to the standing instruction thereafter.

4.4.3.Prohibition on short-term profits

No member of staff may engage in the purchase and sale, or sale and purchase, of the same (or equivalent) securities within 60 calendar days. All profits realised on such short-term trades will normally require to be disgorged. Subject to pre-clearance a securities transaction which occurs within the 60-day period as a result of a change in personal circumstances which takes place or becomes known during the period may not be considered a violation of this section or subject to the disgorgement rule upon review and approval of the Compliance Director.

4.4.4.Investor PA trades ("Blackout Period")

Investment Personnel are not permitted to PA trade in the seven calendar day period after a fund/strategy that they are involved in has traded in the same security.

In addition, Investment Personnel are not permitted to PA trade in the seven calendar day period before a fund/strategy that they are involved in trades in the same security, where they were aware, at the point of requesting permission to trade and at the point of placing their PA dealing instruction, that a client order in that security was pending.

All profits realised on trades by Portfolio Managers within the proscribed period will normally require to be disgorged.

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4.5 Procedures for Obtaining Permission

Prior to undertaking a PA Deal, members of staff are required to:

•obtain permission to use their desired broker (it is only necessary to follow this procedure on the first occasion of using a particular stockbroker); and

•to obtain internal pre-clearance from the Code of Ethics System (every time a PA deal is undertaken).

It is important that members of staff take all reasonable steps to ensure that these procedures are followed by whoever is dealing. The onus is on the member of staff to obtain permission and ensure that contract notes are sent to the Compliance Director where the dealing is for a Connected Person.

4.5.1. Procedures for obtaining broker permission

Before a member of staff or a Connected Person begins to effect a transaction with a particular firm of stockbroker's permission must be obtained to use that broker. It should be noted that this also applies to on-line dealing. The reason for this permission is to inform the Broker that the member of staff works for Baillie Gifford and to ensure that brokers supply to the Compliance Director, no later than 30 days after the end of the quarter in which the trading activity occurred, duplicate copies of confirmations of all personal securities transactions. Such confirmations may also contain a statement declaring that the reporting or recording of any such transaction shall not be construed as an admission that the member of staff making the report has any direct or indirect beneficial ownership in the security.

Each confirmation received from the broker shall be treated confidentially and will be maintained on file by the Compliance Department. The reports are, however, available for inspection by authorised members of the staff of regulatory authorities supervising Baillie Gifford's investment business.

Note: No broker confirmation letters are required for transactions undertaken in an automatic investment plan, including the Baillie Gifford workplace pension available through Aegon's ARC platform. Furthermore, no Non– Executive Director of a Baillie Gifford company shall be required to report or provide broker confirmation unless the Director knew or should have known that during the 15 calendar days before and after such Director's transaction in any security, Baillie Gifford purchased or sold the same security, or Baillie Gifford considered purchasing or selling the same security.

In addition, broker confirmation letters may not be required if your broker operates a transaction data feed to Baillie Gifford's Code of Ethics System (although your broker may require a separate declaration for this). Please contact CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com for further details.

Every member of staff must (for their own dealing and that of a Connected Person):

•Notify the firm of stockbrokers that they work at Baillie Gifford & Co;

•Not accept or request any credit or special dealing facilities in connection with his dealings (The only exception to this rule is that the Management Committee may give special dispensation for members of staff to agree on rates. Where this permission is given the details must be supplied to the Compliance Director);

•Notify the Compliance Director that they or their Connected Person proposes to deal with the particular firm of stockbrokers and obtain his permission to do so;

•Prepare the relevant Broker Authorisation letter (either member of staff letter or Connected Person). Take two copies of the letter, both copies must be signed by the Compliance Director with one being sent to the stockbroker and the other copy sent to the Compliance Director; and

•Ensure that a copy of the contract note is sent by the stockbroker to the Compliance Director or an electronic confirmation if provided through an on-line dealing service.

The 'quick guide' document sets out the procedures for obtaining broker consent through the Code of Ethics System.

Click on the appropriate link below to obtain a copy of the Baillie Gifford Broker Notification Letter:

 Letter 1 (Broker authorisation for member of staff) 

 Letter 2 (Broker authorisation for Connected Persons) 

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4.5.2. Procedures for obtaining internal permission

In addition to broker permission being obtained, members of staff are also required to obtain electronic internal pre- clearance from the Code of Ethics System. Pre-clearance of a PA deal will remain valid until close of business on the next business day from the time permission is obtained. If the proposed transaction is not completed during the period in which the pre-clearance is granted, the member of staff must seek additional pre-clearance prior to completing the transaction. In the case of postal deals (e.g. deals that require an application form or instruction form to be completed, i.e. dealing is not direct through a broker); your dealing instruction should be sent within this pre-clearance period, although the trade itself does not have to be executed.

The 'quick guide' video sets out the procedures for submitting Trade Requests through the Code of Ethics System.

PA Dealing information will be reviewed and monitored by the Compliance Department. Should the monitoring conducted by the Compliance Department detect a potential violation of this Code or any apparent trading irregularity, that Department shall take whatever steps deemed appropriate under the circumstances to investigate said potential violation or trading irregularity. If the Compliance Department reasonably believes a violation or trading irregularity to exist, said violation or trading irregularity shall be reported to the Legal and Compliance Partner.

4.6 Practical procedures to be followed in special circumstances

Remote Access to the Code of Ethics System: Remote access is available on all Baillie Gifford devices. If a member of staff is away from the office (e.g. on business or on holiday), trade requests can be submitted through all BG devices.

Maternity/Parental Leave: If you are out of the office on maternity leave, or a period of flexible parental leave exceeding four weeks, there is no requirement for you to obtain PA dealing permission for any trades conducted by you (or a Connected Person) during this leave. If applicable, shareholdings in the Code of Ethics System can be amended upon your return to the office.

Limit Orders: The use of buy or sell limit orders is not prohibited under this policy, however, these must be carefully managed by members of staff as pre-clearance is only valid until close of business on the next business day from the time permission is obtained. If, upon expiry of the permission period, the limit price has not been met, the member of staff must obtain fresh permission via the Code of Ethics System or ensure the limit instruction is cancelled.

Stop Loss Orders: As for limit orders, stop loss orders (i.e. instruction to automatically sell securities if the share price reaches a pre-determined minimum price) are not prohibited under this policy, however, these must be carefully managed by members of staff as pre-clearance is only valid until close of business on the next business day from the time permission is obtained. If you wish to maintain a stop loss instruction beyond the permission period, fresh permission must be obtained via the Code of Ethics System.

4.7 Reporting Requirements

4.7.1. Initial reporting requirements

All new members of staff are required to disclose all personal securities holdings in which they have any direct or indirect holdings to the Compliance Department, within 10 days of commencing employment. The information provided must be current and no more than 45 days prior to the date the person joined the firm. Initial Code of Ethics Declarations must be submitted to Compliance who will record any holdings in the Code of Ethics System.

4.7.2. Annual reporting requirements

Each member of staff is also required to file an annual report disclosing all personal securities holdings by 1 February of each year. The information must be current as of a date no more than 45 days prior to the date the report was submitted. Annual Code of Ethics Declarations must be submitted electronically via the Code of Ethics System. The 'quick guide' document sets out the procedures for submitting an Annual Declaration via the Code of Ethics System .

Note: Declarations must include shares owned through an automatic investment plan. Each declaration may also contain a statement declaring that the reporting or recording of any such transaction shall not be construed as an admission that the member of staff making the report has any direct or indirect beneficial ownership in the security.

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Non–Executive Directors of Baillie Gifford companies are not required to provide initial or annual Code of Ethics Declarations.

4.7.3. Specific Requirements for BGA(HK)

Semi-Annual Holdings Disclosure – This requirement applies to all BGA(HK) employees, licenced persons, Managers-in-Charge, Directors, other than non-executive directors and it is in addition to the annual declaration. Each member of staff is required to file a report disclosing all personal securities holdings semi-annually in January and July each year. The information must be current and no more than 45 days prior to the date the report is submitted. Holdings reports must include shares owned through an automatic investment plan. This semi-annual exercise is coordinated and managed by the Compliance Department.

4.8 Summary table of Security Types and Pre-Clearance and Reporting Requirements

This list is not all inclusive and may be updated from time to time. Please contact the Compliance Monitoring and Ethics team for guidance as needed or email CodeofEthicsQueries@bailliegifford.com .

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Covered by

 

 

 

 

 

Include in

 

 

 

 

 

 

Code of

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Security Type

 

 

 

 

Pre-clearance

 

 

Code of

 

 

 

 

Ethics Policy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Required?

 

 

Ethics

 

 

 

 

 

 

("Covered

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Declaration?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Security")?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equity securities (publicly traded)

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Derivatives (futures and options)

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Corporate Bonds

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Government securities

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

BG managed Investment Trusts

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Non-BG managed Investment Trusts

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

BG managed OEICs

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Non-BG managed OEICs, Unit Trusts, mutual funds or other open-end vehicles

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

Private companies:

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

• New issues, IPOs, private placements;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•

Equity Crowd funding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Venture Capital Trusts ("VCTs"), Enterprise Investment Scheme ("EIS"), business angel

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

investments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spread betting on a covered security

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Spread betting on financial markets or non-financial instruments

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

ETFs ("Exchange traded fund")

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Cash ISAs

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

Cryptocurrencies

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

Structured Deposits in instruments covered by the Policy, e.g. shares, corporate bonds etc.

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Structured Deposits in instruments not covered by the Policy, e.g. indices, exchange rates

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Certificate of Deposit

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

Fixed Term Deposit

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

Fixed Term Bond

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

Peer-to-peer lending

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

Default fund(s) investments held within Baillie Gifford's workplace pension (ARC)

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

Covered securities held within Baillie Gifford's workplace pension (ARC)

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Investments within the Baillie Gifford Select SIPP

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Covered securities held within an ISA, SIPP, share plan or Variable Insurance Product.

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Covered securities held within a discretionary portfolio management service

 

Yes

 

No

 

Yes

 

Covered securities acquired as a result of a corporate action*:

 

Yes

 

No

 

Yes

 

• Bonus (or Scrip) issues;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•

Rights issues;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•

Takeovers;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•

Reorganisations;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*where the member of staff has no influence over the timing and/or it is a set price (note:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

any subsequent sale of these securities would require pre-clearance).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sale of nil-paid rights or the part sale of nil-paid rights to fund a partial take up of new

 

Yes

 

No

 

Yes

 

shares.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free shares acquired as a result of de-mutualisation (note: any subsequent sale of these

 

Yes

 

No

 

Yes

 

securities would require pre-clearance).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Employee Incentive Share Schemes (Connected Persons):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Putting money aside for the future purchase of shares;

 

No

 

No

 

No

 

• Buying shares at a set date and price;

 

Yes

 

No

 

Yes

 

• Any subsequent sale of these shares

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Monthly direct debit investments (in covered securities):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•

Initial monthly investment;

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

• Ongoing monthly investments (if no change to initial instruction);

 

Yes

 

No

 

Yes

 

• Change to initial instruction (increase, decrease, cancel, switch).

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Transfer of covered security:

 

Yes

 

No

 

Yes*

 

• from one person to another;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• from one product to another;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

where there is no change to the underlying holding (excluding shares sold to cover fees).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* you will need to inform Compliance of the new account where the shares will be held.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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5. Inducements Policy

An area where a conflict of interest may arise is in the context of the giving or receipt of a gift or hospitality which may be viewed as a form of inducement.

Baillie Gifford must take reasonable steps to ensure that it and any person acting on its behalf does not pay or accept any fee or commission or provide or receive any non-monetary benefit if it is likely to conflict to a material extent with any duty that Baillie Gifford owes to its customers or any duty which the recipient firm owes to its customers.

This Inducements Policy sets out the principles and procedures which all members of staff within Baillie Gifford must adhere to with regard to the giving or receipt of a gift or hospitality or anything else which may be viewed as an inducement, such as donations or political contributions.

The overriding principle is that all members of staff should not accept gifts, favours, entertainment, hospitality or other inducements of material value that could be seen as likely to influence their decision-making or make them feel beholden to a person or other firm.

Similarly, Baillie Gifford and its members of staff should not offer gifts, favours, entertainment, hospitality or other inducements of value that could be viewed as overly generous or aimed at influencing decision-making or making the recipient feel beholden to Baillie Gifford or that member of staff.

Note: These general principles apply in addition to the more specific guidelines set out below. However, the guidelines do not attempt to cover every situation and must be interpreted in the light of the particular circumstances of each case. If you are in any doubt about any particular situation, you should consult with your Head of Department or the Compliance Department.

The remainder of this policy details the following information:

5.1Guidelines for Gifts & Entertainment, Donations and Political Contributions.

5.2Restrictions in Connection with the Sale of Packaged Products, i.e. OEICs.

5.3Packaged Products Guidance on Reasonable Indirect Benefits

5.4FINRA Specific Requirements for Registered Persons of BGFS

5.5Specific Requirements for BGA(HK)

5.1 Guidelines

5.1.1. Application to all staff

The general principles and guidelines apply to all staff within Baillie Gifford irrespective of whether they are in direct contact with clients or potential clients or not.

5.1.2. Application to all third parties

Whilst the FCA and CBI requirements relate to managing or minimising conflicts which affect the services provided to our clients and to firms who in turn are advising clients, our principles also apply to other third parties who supply goods or services, whether these are supplied to clients or on the clients' behalf or are supplied to Baillie Gifford itself. This ensures that the standards set are consistently applied by all staff and for all relationships.

5.1.3. No Solicitation

Baillie Gifford expressly prohibits staff from soliciting for themselves or for members of their family or for the firm itself, gifts, hospitality, entertainment or anything of value from a client, potential client, supplier or any other entity with which Baillie Gifford does business (other than fees and expenses properly due and payable).

5.1.4. No Cash Gifts

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No member of staff may give or accept any financial instruments, including cash gifts to or from a client, potential client, or any entity that does business with or on behalf of Baillie Gifford. This applies equally to the giving or receiving of promotional competition prizes.

5.1.5. Donations

As a general rule, no cash donations should be made in connection with our clients or prospective clients. Donations of non-cash prizes are acceptable, providing they meet the criteria in the Inducements policy. Cash donations are more likely to be viewed as giving rise to a conflict and our general policy is that these should be avoided. Any cash donations which are proposed, as an exception to the general rule, should be pre-cleared with the Compliance Director. For example, it may be permissible to make a cash donation to a charity on the death of a long standing contact as a client, although the amount of the donation should be carefully considered.

Please note that this does not affect charitable donations, approved via our Sponsorship Committee, which are not connected with our clients or prospects.

5.1.6. Political Contributions Policy

Political contributions by financial services firms and their personnel have come under increased regulatory scrutiny in the US. Regulators have expressed concern that some in the financial services industry are inappropriately influencing the awarding of business for state and local government entities by making political contributions to officials holding or running for office. These 'pay-to-play' activities are now restricted by numerous federal, state, and local laws. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has enacted a pay-to-play rule for investment advisors. This rule restricts the political contributions and political fundraising activities that may be engaged in by investment advisors and their personnel. The consequences for violations of the SEC rule and other state and local laws are significant. In the event of a violation, Baillie Gifford could be prohibited or restricted from doing business with certain government entities.

Given the scale of our activities in the US, the following procedures apply to all staff within Baillie Gifford, irrespective of whether they are in direct contact with clients or potential clients or not, and to their 'connected persons' (see section 4.3 of the Code of Ethics for a definition of connected persons). There will also be additional reporting obligations for US based staff. The requirements are as follows:

1.All members of staff are required to obtain preclearance from the Compliance Department before either they or a connected person:

•make any political contributions, either directly or indirectly, to US federal, state or local officials; or

•participate in any political fund-raising activity in the US.

Preclearance requests should be submitted by email to Baillie Gifford's US based Compliance Counsel and the Code of Ethics Team.

2.All members of staff must confirm on an annual basis, that they have disclosed to the Compliance Department any political contributions made to US federal, state or local officials and any political fund-raising activity in the US. This disclosure will form part of the Annual Code of Ethics Declaration that staff submit via the Code of Ethics System.

3.In addition to requirement (2) above, US based staff must confirm on a quarterly basis that they have disclosed to the Compliance Department any political contributions made to US federal, state or local officials and any political fund-raising activity in the US. The disclosure should be submitted via the Code of Ethics System upon request from the Compliance Department.

4.Upon joining the firm, all new members of staff must disclose to the Compliance Department any political contributions made to US federal, state or local officials and any political fund-raising activity in the US within the previous two years. This disclosure will form part of the existing Personal Compliance Responsibilities Certificate that all new staff are required to submit upon joining the firm.

Whilst strictly speaking the above requirements apply to US political contributions only, members of staff should also give due consideration to all other political contributions (UK or otherwise) from a general conflict of interest and transparency perspective. Staff should disclose to the Compliance Department, any political contributions that may give rise to an actual conflict of interest, a potential conflict of interest or the perception of one.

5.1.7. De Minimis Gifts

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Gifts given or received which are of a de minimis nature due to their characteristics or likely cost are unlikely to give grounds for suggestions of undue influence and are therefore exempt. Typical examples of de minimis gifts would include umbrellas, diaries and pens with advertising logos for the donor company.

The Compliance Department should be consulted in any questionable situation.

5.1.8. Gifts which are not De Minimis

All gifts given or received which are not de minimis must be recorded in the Code of Ethics System. It is generally acceptable for members of staff to retain gifts received that are below £50 in value (or equivalent in another currency), provided this is not with undue frequency. In the case of gifts received above £50 in value (or equivalent in another currency), the member of staff concerned should consult with their Head of Department as to the appropriate course of action. In the majority of cases gifts above £50 (or equivalent in another currency) which are received should be:

•surrendered to the Events Team for use for charitable purposes or distribution as part of the firm's annual Christmas raffle;

•returned to the third party concerned; or

•distributed amongst the Department in the case of perishable gifts, e.g. hampers.

Where the member of staff wishes to retain a gift above £50 (or equivalent in another currency), then he or she should pay for the estimated cost of the gift above this limit and this amount should be given to the Finance Department for use for charitable purposes.

Similarly, gifts above £50 in value (or equivalent in another currency) should generally not be given by a member of staff.

5.1.9. Promotional Competition/Prizes

In offering any promotional competition or prizes, the member of staff responsible should:

•consider the likely impact or influence the prize would have on the recipient; and

•consult with a Partner or the relevant Board on the likely impact of the competition on the brand of Baillie Gifford.

In all cases the prize offered should be of reasonable value, i.e. it should not be excessive or inappropriate.

Any competition prizes won by a member of staff at a business-related event, e.g. a conference or seminar, should be recorded for transparency in the Code of Ethics System.

5.1.10. Business Lunches/ Dinners

The establishment and maintenance of strong relationships with our clients, suppliers, intermediaries and consultants is integral to our ability to provide effective investment management services. Routine business lunches or dinners are good mechanisms for building and maintaining relationships and are unlikely to give grounds for suggestion of undue influence unless they become overly frequent or are unduly lavish.

Routine business lunches and dinners given do not require to be reported. These should be recorded in Baillie Gifford's expenses system. The Business Expense Claims procedure will provide an adequate control over the magnitude of costs incurred by Baillie Gifford when giving such lunches and dinners.

Many of Baillie Gifford's clients (particularly those covered by ERISA) are subject to specific reporting requirements regarding their acceptance of business lunches and dinners. In order for Baillie Gifford to ensure that it is able to provide clients with their required information, the following additional information should be recorded on the Business Expense Claim Form, with respect to any clients for whom we have hosted a business lunch or dinner:

•The name of the client being entertained;

•The names of the individuals being entertained;

•The total cost of the lunch or dinner.

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Generally, routine business lunches and dinners received do not need to be reported. The exception to this is business lunches and dinners received from UK or European financial institution or intermediary that provides advice or portfolio management services to retail clients (MiFID firms). Such lunches and dinners do need to be recorded in the Code of Ethics System.

5.1.11. Entertainment/Hospitality Given

All members of staff must exercise discretion in offering hospitality. Members of staff should not provide extravagant or excessive entertainment to a client, prospective client, or any person or entity that does or seeks to do business with or on behalf of Baillie Gifford or our clients. Similarly, a member of staff should not provide entertainment to such parties with undue frequency.

With the exception of occasions where the client is a MiFID firm (see below), members of staff may provide entertainment or hospitality, such as a dinner (unconnected with business), sporting, charitable or cultural event of reasonable value provided that the person or Baillie Gifford is present at the event. If the person or Baillie Gifford is not present, then the entertainment becomes a gift and the procedures in section 5.1.8 apply, i.e. gifts above £50 (or equivalent in another currency) should generally not be given by a member of staff.

In considering the hospitality or entertainment event, you should note that attending expensive or exclusive sporting or cultural events can draw criticism. Invitations should not be offered if they could be construed as being unusual or risk creating a sense of obligation to the host or bias in their favour.

In situations of any doubt, consult with your Head of Department.

All entertainment or hospitality must be recorded in the Code of Ethics System.

In many cases the value of an event will not be clear. Here, you should give your best estimate of the value at the time the decision is taken, considering the street value of the event in the eyes of a third party.

An acceptable minor non-monetary benefit is one which is capable of enhancing the quality of service provided to the client and consists of hospitality of a reasonable de minimis value such as food and drink during a business meeting, conference, seminar or training event. Baillie Gifford have set a de minimis limit of £100 (or equivalent in another currency) per head to allow a reasonable level of hospitality at business events. "Standalone" hospitality that is not directly linked to a business event, e.g. sporting events, is no longer permitted. These restrictions apply to hospitality provided to MiFID firms only and not to hospitality provided to UK or Overseas segregated clients or suppliers).

5.1.12. Entertainment/Hospitality Received

All members of staff must exercise discretion in accepting hospitality. Members of staff should not accept extravagant or excessive entertainment from a client, prospective client, a business in which Baillie Gifford invests, or any person or entity that does or seeks to do business with or on behalf of Baillie Gifford or our clients. Similarly, a member of staff should not accept entertainment from such parties with undue frequency.

Members of staff may accept entertainment or hospitality, such as a dinner (unconnected with business), sporting, charitable or cultural event of reasonable value provided that the person or firm providing the entertainment is present at the event. If the person or firm is not present, then the entertainment becomes a gift and the procedures in section

5.1.8apply, i.e. gifts above £50 (or equivalent in another currency) should generally not be accepted by a member of

staff.

It is the policy of the firm not to accept standalone hospitality from broker firms. For this purpose, standalone hospitality would include invitations to and attendance at sporting or cultural events and any associated travel, accommodation, drinks and meals. This policy would not affect routine business lunches or dinners, or reasonable hospitality attached to conferences or other educational events or social events which are distributed widely and of a de minimis nature (i.e. under £100 (or equivalent in another currency) per head). This covers by way of example a broker drinks evening at which the broader Edinburgh asset management community is invited.

In considering the hospitality or entertainment event, you should note that attending expensive or exclusive sporting or cultural events can draw criticism. Invitations should not be accepted if they could be construed as being unusual or risk creating a sense of obligation to the host or bias in their favour.

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In situations of any doubt, consult with your Head of Department.

All entertainment or hospitality must be recorded in the Code of Ethics System.

In many cases the value of an event will not be clear. Here, you should give your best estimate of the value at the time the decision is taken, considering the street value of the event in the eyes of a third party.

Do not hesitate to ask the host for further information about the event (e.g. cost) in order to reach a decision.

5.1.13. Travel/Accommodation Costs

In the case of a member of staff receiving hospitality or entertainment, travel and accommodation costs should be paid for by that member of staff or a request made to the organiser of the event that the individual member of staff be invoiced for these costs. Where the third party has arranged a discounted hotel rate or other reduction in the cost of the accommodation or travel, it is reasonable for the member of staff to accept this reduced rate. Likewise, where the host provides communal transport which is not excessive or unduly lavish, for example the use of a mini bus.

In the case of Baillie Gifford offering hospitality, travel expenses will ordinarily be paid for by the recipient of the entertainment or hospitality. However, there may be occasions where reasonable accommodation costs can be provided by Baillie Gifford subject to this meeting the general principles of this Policy.

5.1.14. Disclosure

A key aspect of Baillie Gifford's Inducements Policy is disclosure. Under our procedures, all gifts (other than de minimis) and hospitality which are given or received are recorded in the Code of Ethics System. Disclosures should be made to your normal gifts and entertainment representatives for Trading, Investors and Clients Department, and Compliance for all other departments.

Likewise, all members of staff should consider if an inducement which has been offered or received should be disclosed to a client, or potential client. This will depend upon the circumstances of each case. As an example, where a fee is paid to a third-party consultant in order to place details of Baillie Gifford on a consultant database, we should disclose this payment to any potential client of the consultant who considers us for an investment mandate.

5.1.15. Client Specific Code of Ethics Requirements

A small number of Baillie Gifford's clients have specific code of ethics requirements which go beyond Baillie Gifford's Inducements Policy. Members of staff, and Client Contacts in particular, should consider these additional requirements when giving gifts and/or entertainment to these clients.

Click on this link to access the current list of clients with specific requirements.

5.2 Restrictions in Connection with the Sale of Package Products, i.e. OEICs

If a firm is required to disclose commission (or commission equivalent) (under COBS 6.4) to a client in relation to the sale of a packaged product, a member of staff should not enter into any of the following arrangements:

•volume overrides where commission (or commission equivalent) paid in respect of several transactions is more than a simple multiple of the commission (or commission equivalent) payable in respect of one transaction of the same kind; and

•an agreement to indemnify the payment of commission (or commission equivalent) on terms that would or might confer an additional financial benefit on the recipient in the event of the commission (or commission equivalent) becoming repayable.

5.3Packaged Products Guidance on Reasonable Indirect Benefits

The general principles at the beginning of this section are particularly important in relation to packaged products. Staff must not pay or accept any fee or commission or provide or receive any non-monetary benefit if it is likely to

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conflict to a material extent with any duty the firm owes to its customers or any duty which the recipient firm (which includes independent intermediaries) owes to its customers.

In relation to the sale of packaged products, we are only able to provide minor non-monetary benefits if they are designed to enhance the quality of service to the client. The list below indicates the kind of benefits that are capable of enhancing the quality of the service provided to a client and, depending on the circumstances, are capable of being given or received without conflicting with client's best interests. However, these need to be considered on a case by case basis.

Benefits are unlikely to give rise to conflicts if they are:

•reasonable and proportionate,

•of a limited scale and nature,

•do not need to be relied upon by the intermediary,

•could reasonably not be expected to result in the channelling of business from the intermediary to Baillie Gifford, and

•do not result in the intermediary recovering more than its reasonable costs.

The list below summarises the kind of reasonable non-monetary benefits which the provider firm can give or receive. This list is summary only and any member of staff should contact the Compliance Department for further guidance before deciding whether to give or accept the benefit (* = only if available to independent intermediaries generally):

1.Gifts, hospitality and promotional competition prizes of a reasonable value. Gifts and corporate hospitality given to intermediaries must not exceed an aggregate limit of £1,000 (or equivalent in another currency) per intermediary firm, per calendar year. This limit applies to gifts and corporate hospitality only and excludes conferences, seminars and training events. For large intermediary firms, the £1,000 (or equivalent in another currency) limit can be applied at regional office level. In addition, events must be designed for business purposes that result in advisers being able to provide a better service to their customers.

2.A product provider can assist another firm to promote its packaged products so that the quality of its service to clients is enhanced.

Points (3) to (6) in relation to joint marketing exercises:

3.Generic product literature (letter heading, leaflets, forms and envelopes) as long as the literature enhances the quality of the service to the client and is not primarily of promotional benefit to the product provider, and the distribution cost is borne by the intermediary.

4.Freepost envelopes*

5.Product specific literature (for example, key features, minimum information) subject to specific conditions.

6.Draft articles, news items and financial promotions for publication in the intermediary's magazine as long as any cost borne by the provider firm is not more than market rate and excludes any distribution costs.

7.Take part or pay towards the cost of seminars and conferences organised by another firm as long as it is:

•For a genuine business purpose

•Reasonable and proportionate.

Any costs paid should be associated with the level of Baillie Gifford's participation and by reference to the time that Baillie Gifford staff have played an active role. Baillie Gifford should not be paying all an advisory firm's costs incurred in running a seminar or conference.

8.Freephone link *

9.Technical services

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•Quotations and projections relating to its packaged products and advice on completion of forms or other documents

•Access to data processing facilities or to data related to the firm's business

•Access to 3rd party electronic dealing or quotation systems

•Software giving information about the firm's packaged products. Any payments to an intermediary that go beyond that which is required to operate software supplied by Baillie Gifford would not be permitted. Likewise, any payments to develop an intermediary's general IT systems would not be permitted.

10.Generic technical information in writing, not necessarily related to the firm's business* or if it is of a specialist nature is made available to a particular class of intermediary.

11.Training facilities (lectures, venues, written material, software) *

If Baillie Gifford is giving an advisory firm training on the features and benefits of its products or services, the training should be made reasonably available to all advisory firms that could recommend Baillie Gifford's products, even if only on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please note, that whilst this section applies to packaged products, the arrangements in (12) above can also be applied to our institutional business, although consideration must be given to overseas clients with specific code of ethics requirements on inducements.

5.4 FINRA Specific Requirements for Registered Persons of BGFS

Registered persons of BGFS are not permitted to give or receive any gifts of value in excess of $100 per individual per year to another FINRA member's registers persons.

Small gifts of less than $100 per year per recipient are aggregated toward the annual gift limit. For further information on BGFS's Gifts and Entertainment policy, please see the BGFS Written Supervisory Procedures.

5.5 Specific Requirements for BGA(HK)

Employees and Licensed Representatives of BGA(HK) are bound by the HKD equivalent (on a day to day basis) of all GBP values quoted within this policy.

As such, employees and Licensed Representatives are not permitted to give or receive any gift of value in excess of the HKD equivalent of £50.

6. Acknowledgement and Certification

6.1 Receipt and Acknowledgement of the Code

All members of staff are required to receive a copy of the Code of Ethics and any amendments to the Code of Ethics. All members of staff are required to complete an annual certification, confirming that they have read the Code of Ethics and acknowledging that they are subject to its requirements. Further, all members of staff confirm through the annual certification that they have complied with the Code and that they have disclosed or reported all information required to be disclosed or reported according to the requirements of the Code.

All certifications of receipt of the Code shall be filed with the Compliance Department by submitting a Certificate of Compliance.

6.2 Annual Report to Baillie Gifford Boards

The Compliance Director will prepare and submit to the appropriate Baillie Gifford Boards an annual report which:

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•certifies that the firm or investment company as appropriate has adopted procedures designed to prevent Access Persons from violating the Code;

•identifies any violations of the current procedures for personal securities investing and management's recommended response; and

•makes any recommended changes in the procedures, as appropriate, based on operating experience under the Code, evolving industry practices or amendments to applicable laws or regulations.

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Baillie Gifford & Co Head Office

Calton Square, 1 Greenside Row, Edinburgh EH1 3AN

Telephone +44 (0)131 275 2000 www.bailliegifford.com


FRONTIER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT COMPANY, LLC

CODE OF ETHICS

This is the Code of Ethics (the "Code") of Frontier Capital Management Company, LLC (the "Firm" or "Frontier").

Things You Need to Know to Use This Code

1.Certain terms have special meanings as used in this Code. To understand the Code, you need to read the definitions of these terms which are defined at the end of the Code.

2.For purposes of this Code, all employees are deemed to be Access Persons. The Firm, at the Chief Compliance Officer's discretion, may also subject certain individuals, including interns, co-ops, temporary employees, contract employees or independent contractors to any part or all of the Firm's Code of Ethics and its requirements.

3.There are a number of Reporting Forms that all personnel and Access Persons who are not personnel have to fill out under this Code. You can get copies of the Reporting Forms from the Chief Compliance Officer.

4.The Chief Compliance Officer has the authority to grant written waivers of the provisions of this Code in appropriate instances. However:

•The Firm expects that waivers will be granted only in rare instances (for example, in the case of a hardship, as described in Part II.C. of this Code), and

•Some provisions of the Code that are mandated by SEC rule cannot be waived. These provisions include, but are not limited to, the requirements that Access Persons periodically report holdings and securities transactions, and obtain pre-approval of investments in private placements.

PART I. FUNDAMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

A.General Principles

The Firm expects all personnel to comply with the spirit of the Code, as well as the specific rules contained in the Code.

The Firm treats violations of this Code (including violations of the spirit of the Code) very seriously. If you violate either the letter or the spirit of this Code, the Firm may take disciplinary measures against you.

Improper trading activity can constitute a violation of this Code. You can also violate this Code by failing to file required reports, or by making inaccurate or misleading reports or statements

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concerning trading activity or securities accounts. Your conduct can violate this Code even if no clients are harmed by your conduct.

If you have any doubt or uncertainty about what this Code requires or permits, you should ask the Chief Compliance Officer. Please do not guess at the answer.

B.Conflicts of Interest

As a fiduciary, Frontier has an affirmative duty of loyalty, honesty, and good faith to act in the best interests of our clients. A conflict of interest occurs when the personal interest of an employee interferes (or could potentially interfere) with the employee's responsibilities to Frontier and our clients. Frontier strives to identify and avoid conflicts of interest with clients and to fully disclose all material facts concerning any conflict that does arise with respect to any client. All employees should strive to avoid conflicts of interest and any situation that may have the appearance of a conflict or impropriety.

1.Conflicts among Client Interests

Access Persons are prohibited from inappropriate favoritism of one client over another client that would constitute a breach of fiduciary duty.

2.Competing with Client Trades

Access Persons are prohibited from using knowledge about pending or currently considered securities transactions for clients to profit personally (directly or indirectly) as a result of such transactions, including by purchasing or selling such securities. Conflicts raised by personal securities transactions also are addressed more specifically below.

3.Disclosure of Personal Interest

Access Persons are prohibited from recommending, implementing or considering any securities transaction for a client without having disclosed any material beneficial ownership, business or personal relationship, or other material interest in the issuer or its affiliates, to the Chief Compliance Officer. If the Chief Compliance Officer deems the disclosed interest to present a material conflict, he will approve and sign off on any decision-making process regarding the securities of that issuer. This provision applies in addition to Frontier's quarterly and annual personal securities reporting requirements.

4.Referrals/Brokerage

Access Persons are required to act in the best interests of Frontier's clients regarding execution and other costs paid by clients for brokerage services. Access Persons must strictly adhere to Frontier's policies and procedures regarding brokerage (including best execution, soft dollars, and directed brokerage).

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5.Vendors and Suppliers

Access Persons must disclose to the Chief Compliance Officer any personal investments or other interests in vendors or suppliers with respect to which that person negotiates or makes decisions on behalf of the Firm. The Chief Compliance Officer in his sole discretion may prohibit an Access Person with such interest from negotiating or making decisions regarding Frontier's business with those companies.

6.No Transactions with Clients

Access Persons are not permitted to knowingly sell to, or purchase from, a client any security or other property, except an Access Person may purchase securities issued by a publicly-traded client, subject to the personal trading procedures described below.

7.Investment Consultant Relationships

Various institutional clients and prospects utilize investment consultants to advise them regarding the selection and oversight of investment advisers. Consultants may also provide various services or systems to investment advisers and may also sponsor events or conferences in which investment advisers are provided with an opportunity to participate. Payment for services provided by investment consultants, or the sponsoring of any event run by investment consultants, may result in the appearance of a conflict of interest. It is Frontier's policy that such payments should only be made to consultants where the services provided are necessary or appropriate for Frontier, or the sponsoring of the event is beneficial to Frontier and Frontier participates in such event. Such payments should not be made with the sole intention of influencing the consultant to recommend Frontier to its clients. Permission must be obtained from the Chief Compliance Officer prior to Frontier paying for any services or system provided by investment consultants or sponsoring of an event run by investment consultants.

C.Service on the Board or as an Officer of Another Company

To avoid conflicts of interest, inside information and other compliance and business issues, the Firm prohibits all its employees from serving as officers or members of the board of any other entity, except with the advance written approval of the Firm. Approval must be obtained through the Chief Compliance Officer, and will ordinarily require consideration by senior management. The Firm can deny approval for any reason. This prohibition does not apply to service as an officer or board member of any parent or subsidiary of the Firm or any not-for-profit, charitable foundation, educational institution or similar entity. In addition, employees must disclose promptly to Frontier's Chief Compliance Officer in the event a member of the employee's Family/Household is employed in the securities industry (e.g., broker-dealers, investment advisers, investment companies, hedge funds, etc.), serves on the board of a public company or holds an executive level position at a public company (e.g., CEO, CFO, etc.).

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D.Compliance with Laws and Regulations

You must comply with all applicable federal securities laws. You are not permitted, in connection with the purchase or sale (directly or indirectly) of a security held or to be acquired by a Frontier client:

•To defraud the client in any manner;

•To mislead the client, including by making a statement that omits material facts;

•To engage in any act, practice or course of conduct which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon the client;

•To engage in any manipulative practice with respect to the client; or

•To engage in any manipulative practice with respect to securities, including price manipulation.

E.Insider Trading

Employees are prohibited from any trading, either personally or on behalf of others, while in possession of material, non-public information. Employees are prohibited from communicating material nonpublic information to others in violation of the law. All employees who come into contact with material nonpublic information must notify the Chief Compliance Officer and are subject to Frontier's prohibitions on insider trading and any potential sanctions, as set forth in Frontier's Insider Trading and Material Non-Public Information policy. Additionally, each employee must comply with the Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. ("AMG") Insider Trading Policy. Collectively, this Code and Frontier's and AMG's insider trading policies comprise Frontier's policies and procedures with respect to insider trading and material, non-public information.

F.Initial and Annual Certification

The Code of Ethics will be distributed initially upon employment and then annually to all employees for review and certification.

PART II. PERSONAL TRADING

NOTE: Certain subsections in this Part, as indicated, apply not only to all personnel, but also to members of your Family/Household.

A.Reporting Requirements (also applies to members of your Family/Household)

NOTE: One of the most complicated parts of complying with this Code is understanding what holdings, transactions and accounts you must report and what accounts are subject to trading restrictions. For example, accounts of certain members of your family and household are covered, as are certain categories of trust accounts, certain investment pools in which you might participate and certain accounts that others may be managing for you. To be sure you understand what

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holdings, transactions and accounts are covered, it is essential that you carefully review the definitions of Covered Security, Family/Household and Beneficial Ownership in the "Definitions" section at the end of this Code.

ALSO: You must file the reports described below, even if you have no holdings, transactions or accounts to list in the reports.

Copies of all reporting forms may be obtained from the Chief Compliance Officer.

1.Initial Holdings Reports

No later than 10 calendar days after you become an Access Person, you must file with the Chief Compliance Officer an Initial Holdings Report. The information provided must be current as of a date no more than 45 days prior to the date you become an Access Person.

The Initial Holdings Report requires you to list all Covered Securities (including Affiliated Mutual Funds) in which you (or members of your Family/Household) have Beneficial Ownership. It also requires you to list all brokers, dealers and banks where you maintained an account in which any securities (not just Covered Securities) were held for the direct or indirect benefit of you or a member of your Family/Household on the date you became an Access Person.

2.Quarterly Transaction Reports

No later than 30 calendar days after the end of each quarter, you must file with the Chief Compliance Officer a Quarterly Transaction Report.

The Quarterly Transaction Report requires you to list all transactions during the most recent calendar quarter in Covered Securities, including Affiliated Mutual Funds (other than transactions in Frontier's employee profit sharing plan) in which you (or a member of your Family/Household) had Beneficial Ownership. Information that must be included on the report includes the title and the amount of the security transacted, the date and nature of the transaction, the price at which the transaction was effected, and the name of the broker with whom the transaction was effected. It is permissible to include in such records a disclaimer where appropriate to the effect that the recording of a transaction pursuant to Rule 204-2 should not be construed as an admission that the Firm or the Access Person has any direct or indirect beneficial ownership in the securities concerned. The report also requires you to list all brokers, dealers and banks where you or a member of your Family/Household established an account in which any securities (not just Covered Securities) were held during the quarter for the direct or indirect benefit of you or a member of your Family/Household.

3.Annual Holdings Reports

By January 30 of each year, you must file with the Chief Compliance Officer an Annual Holdings Report. The information provided must be current as of a date no more than 45 days prior to the date the report is submitted.

The Annual Holdings Report requires you to list all Covered Securities (including Affiliated Mutual Funds outside of Frontier's employee profit sharing plan) in which you (or a member of

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your Family/Household) had Beneficial Ownership as of December 31 of the prior year. It also requires you to list all brokers, dealers and banks where you or a member of your Family/Household maintained an account in which any securities (not just Covered Securities) were held for the direct or indirect benefit of you or a member of your Family/Household on December 31 of the prior year.

4.Exceptions from Reporting Requirements

You are not required to file any Reports for transactions effected pursuant to an automatic investment plan.

5.Duplicate Confirmation Statements

If you or any member of your Family/Household has a securities account with any broker, dealer, or bank, you or your Family/Household member must direct that broker, dealer or bank to send, directly to the Firm's Chief Compliance Officer, contemporaneous duplicate copies of all transaction confirmation statements relating to that account. Frontier has arrangements, through its automated personal trading vendor, pursuant to which the vendor may establish electronic connectivity to allow Frontier to receive and access your, or any member of your Family/Household's, confirmations and/or account statements.

6.Disclosure Requirements for Discretionary Accounts

Access Persons may maintain Discretionary Accounts subject to the disclosure and reporting requirements described below. Provided they comply with all requirements of this Code, such accounts are exempt from the pre-clearance requirements outlined in this Code.

All Access Persons who maintain Discretionary Accounts must disclose such accounts to the Compliance Department. Such disclosure must include the following information:

•Account Owner Name;

•Account Number;

•Name and Contact Information of the trustee or discretionary third party manager;

•The trustee's or discretionary third party manager's firm; and

•Description of the Access Person's relationship to the trustee or discretionary third party Manager, if any, including any affiliation or family relationship that may exist between the Access Person and the person or firm managing the account.

Additionally, the Access Person must promptly notify the Compliance Department when there is a change in the third party managed account arrangements.

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7.Reporting Requirements for Discretionary Accounts

To the extent an Access Person has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Chief Compliance Officer that an account is a Discretionary Account, the Chief Compliance Officer may, in his or her sole discretion, exempt such account from the pre-clearance and reporting requirements set forth herein. No Initial Holdings Report, Annual Holdings Report or Quarterly Transaction Report is required to be filed by an Access Person with respect to securities held in any Discretionary Accounts. Access Persons with Discretionary Accounts generally will be required to provide the Chief Compliance Officer with:

•A notification within 10 days of opening a new Discretionary Account (Exhibit A);

•An initial attestation must completed by the broker for the Discretionary Account within 10 days of the date the account is opened (Exhibit B). In addition, Access Persons must obtain this attestation for all Discretionary Accounts in existence as of the date of this Manual;

•An annual confirmation from the broker via negative consent that the Access Person has no direct influence or control over the relevant accounts. The Chief Compliance Officer will send the initial version of the certification to the broker and if there are no changes, no response from the broker will be required; and

•An annual attestation to be completed by the Access Person for any accounts that are being excluded on the basis that they are Discretionary Accounts (Exhibit C).

Compliance may require the provision of account statements for all Discretionary Accounts periodically to facilitate Compliance's oversight and monitoring of such accounts. The Compliance Department may also require Access Persons to re-certify their arrangements with the trustees or third party managers of the discretionary accounts periodically.

B.Transaction Restrictions

1.Prohibition on Trading in Covered Securities that are Being Considered for Purchase or Sale for a Client

As a Firm policy, you are prohibited from trading in a Covered Security if you have actual knowledge that such security is being considered for purchase or sale on a client's behalf. This prohibition applies during the entire period that the Covered Security is being considered by the Firm for purchase or sale and regardless of whether the Covered Security is actually purchased or sold for the client.

This prohibition does not apply to the following categories of transactions:

•Transactions in securities of limited partnerships for which the Firm serves as the investment advisor;

•Transactions in corporate bonds, municipal bonds or government bonds;

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•Transactions that occur by operation of law or in a Discretionary Account or under any other circumstance in which neither you nor any member of your Family/Household exercises direct or indirect influence or control with respect to purchases or sales of securities or allocations of investments;

•Purchases of Covered Securities pursuant to an automatic dividend reinvestment plan;

•Purchases pursuant to the exercise of rights issued pro rata to all holders of the class of Covered Securities held by you (or Family/Household member) and received by you (or Family/Household member) from the issuer;

•Transactions in auction rate preferred shares of closed-end investment companies; and

•Transactions in exchange traded funds.

NOTE: Because they are not included within the definition of Covered Security (as set forth in the Definitions Section), investments in direct obligations of the U.S. Government, bankers' acceptances, bank certificates of deposit, commercial paper and other high quality short-term debt obligations (including repurchase agreements), and shares of registered mutual funds are also not subject to this prohibition.

2.Prohibition on Trading in Securities on Frontier's Restricted List

In order to avoid any actual or apparent conflict of interest with the Firm's trading on behalf of its clients, Frontier does not permit any purchases of securities that are currently on the Frontier Restricted List (except for those securities with a market cap greater than $28 billion), except in the limited case of a Hardship Exemption (as described in Part II.C of the Code) or in the case of the exceptions identified in Part II.B.1. of the Code above. Sales of securities on the Restricted List are subject to the pre-clearance obligations and other restrictions set forth in the Code. In addition, all sales of securities on the Restricted List must be approved in writing by the Chief Compliance Officer after the Chief Compliance Officer or his designee has confirmed with all relevant Frontier Portfolio Managers that they do not have any intention to transact in the security during the black-out period.

For purposes of this Code, securities with a market cap greater than $28 billion are excluded from the Restricted List, but still must be pre-cleared and reported.

3.Pre-clearance

You and members of your Family/Household are prohibited from engaging in any transaction in a Covered Security for any account in which you or a member of your Family/Household has any Beneficial Ownership, unless you obtain, in advance of the transaction, pre-clearance for that transaction. Pre-clearance is obtained through the Charles Schwab Compliance Technologies personal trading system.

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If pre-clearance is obtained, the approval is valid for the day on which it is granted and the following business day. The Chief Compliance Officer may revoke a pre-clearance any time after it is granted and before you execute the transaction. The Chief Compliance Officer may deny or revoke pre-clearance for any reason. In no event will pre-clearance be granted for any Covered Security if the Firm has a buy or sell order pending for that same security or a closely related security (such as an option relating to that security, or a related convertible or exchangeable security).

Certain categories of transactions are exempt from the pre-clearance requirements. These exempt transactions are listed below:

•Transactions in securities of limited partnerships for which the Firm serves as the investment advisor;

•Transactions in corporate bonds, municipal bonds or government bonds;

•Transactions that occur by operation of law or in a Discretionary Account or under any other circumstance in which neither you nor any member of your Family/Household exercises any discretion to buy or sell or makes recommendations to a person who exercises such discretion;

•Purchases of Covered Securities pursuant to an automatic dividend reinvestment plan;

•Purchases pursuant to the exercise of rights issued pro rata to all holders of the class of Covered Securities held by you (or Family/Household member) and received by you (or Family/Household member) from the issuer;

•Transactions in auction rate preferred shares of closed-end investment companies; and

•Transactions in exchange traded funds.

NOTE: Because they are not included within the definition of Covered Security (as set forth in the Definitions Section), investments in direct obligations of the U.S. Government, bankers' acceptances, bank certificates of deposit, commercial paper and other high quality short-term debt obligations (including repurchase agreements) and shares of registered mutual funds are also not subject to the pre-clearance requirements.

4.Private Placements

Neither you nor any member of your Family/Household may acquire any Beneficial Ownership in any security (not just Covered Securities) in a private placement, except with the specific, advance written approval of the Chief Compliance Officer, which the Chief Compliance Officer may deny for any reason. Private Placements include, but are not limited to, hedge funds, securities purchased under rules 144A, Regulation S, Regulation D, and PIPEs.

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5.Initial Public Offerings

Neither you nor any member of your Family/Household may acquire any Beneficial Ownership in any security (not just Covered Securities) in an initial public offering.

6.Digital Assets

Any Access Person who wishes to purchase, acquire or sell any asset that is issued and transferred using distributed ledger or blockchain technology, including, but not limited to, virtual currencies, cryptocurrencies, digital "coins" or "tokens" ("Digital Assets"), should consult with the CCO as to whether such Digital Asset would be considered a Security, and specifically a "Digital Security", for purposes of this policy. A Digital Asset is likely to be considered a Digital Security if it is offered and sold as an investment contract. On April 3, 2019, the SEC published a framework for investment contract analysis of Digital Assets.1 The CCO may use this framework, among other relevant SEC guidance, to determine whether a Digital Asset would be considered a Digital Security for the purposes of this policy. If the CCO determines that such Digital Asset should be considered a Digital Security, the Digital Asset will be considered a Reportable Security for purposes of this policy.

7.Prohibition on Short-Term Trading

Neither you nor any member of your Family/Household may purchase and sell at a profit, or sell and purchase, a Covered Security, including any Affiliated Mutual Funds (or any closely related security, such as an option or a related convertible or exchangeable security), within any period of 30 calendar days.

This prohibition does not apply to the following categories of transactions:

• Transactions in securities of limited partnerships for which the Firm serves as the investment advisor;

• Transactions in corporate bonds, municipal bonds or government bonds;

• Transactions that occur by operation of law or in a Discretionary Account or under any other circumstance in which neither you nor any member of your Family/Household exercises any discretion to buy or sell or makes recommendations to a person who exercises such discretion;

• Purchases of Covered Securities pursuant to an automatic dividend reinvestment plan;

• Transactions in Frontier's employee profit sharing plan;

• Purchases pursuant to the exercise of rights issued pro rata to all holders of the class of Covered Securities held by you (or Family/Household member) and received by you (or Family/Household member) from the issuer;

• Transactions in auction rate preferred shares of closed-end investment companies; and

• Transactions in exchange traded funds.

1 https://www.sec.gov/files/dlt-framework.pdf

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NOTE: Because they are not included within the definition of Covered Security (as set forth in the Definitions Section), investments in direct obligations of the U.S. Government, bankers' acceptances, bank certificates of deposit, commercial paper and other high quality short-term debt obligations (including repurchase agreements), and shares of unaffiliated mutual funds are also not subject to this prohibition.

8.Prohibition on Excessive Trading

Neither you nor any member of your Family/Household may engage in more than 25 transactions in Covered Securities during a single calendar quarter. For purposes of this prohibition, contemporaneous purchases or sales of the same security on behalf of different accounts for which you or your Family/Household maintain beneficial interest are considered to be a single transaction.

This prohibition does not apply to the following categories of transactions:

•Transactions in securities of limited partnerships for which the Firm serves as the investment advisor;

•Transactions in corporate bonds, municipal bonds or government bonds;

•Transactions that occur by operation of law or in a Discretionary Account or under any other circumstance in which neither you nor any member of your Family/Household exercises any discretion to buy or sell or makes recommendations to a person who exercises such discretion;

•Purchases of Covered Securities pursuant to an automatic dividend reinvestment plan;

•Transactions in Frontier's employee profit sharing plan;

•Purchases pursuant to the exercise of rights issued pro rata to all holders of the class of Covered Securities held by you (or Family/Household member) and received by you (or Family/Household member) from the issuer;

•Transactions in auction rate preferred shares of closed-end investment companies; and

•Transactions in exchange traded funds.

NOTE: Because they are not included within the definition of Covered Security (as set forth in the Definitions Section), investments in direct obligations of the U.S. Government, bankers' acceptances, bank certificates of deposit, commercial paper and other high quality short-term debt obligations (including repurchase agreements), and shares of unaffiliated mutual funds are also not subject to this prohibition.

9.Prohibition on Options

Neither you nor any member of your Family/Household may purchase a put option or sell a call option, either directly or through any Beneficial Ownership, in any Covered Security. This prohibition does not apply to transactions in Covered Securities by Firm-sponsored collective investment vehicles for which the Firm serves as investment advisor as to which you may be deemed to have Beneficial Ownership.

10.Affiliated Mutual Funds

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As mentioned above, neither you nor any member of your Family/Household may purchase and sell at a profit or sell and purchase within any 30 calendar day period, shares in any Affiliated Mutual Fund (other than transactions in Frontier's employee profit sharing plan) (as defined, any mutual fund advised or sub-advised by Frontier or its affiliates). A current list of Affiliated Mutual Funds is provided to employees.

11.Black-Out Period

The 7-day blackout period described below applies to all Access Persons. It is designed to prevent front-running and various other activities that create conflicts with the interests of clients.

No Access Person (including any member of the Family/Household of such Access Person) may purchase or sell any Covered Security within the three trading days immediately before or after a trading day on which any client account managed by the Firm purchases or sells that Covered

Security (or any closely related security, such as an option or a related convertible or exchangeable security). Note that the total blackout period is 7 days (the day of the client trade, plus three trading days before and three days after).

NOTE: Portfolio Managers: It sometimes happens that an Access Person who is responsible for making final investment decisions for client accounts (i.e., a Portfolio Manager) determines, within the three trading days after the day he or she (or a member of his or her Family/Household) has purchased or sold for his or her own account a Covered Security that was not, to the Access Person's knowledge, then under consideration for purchase or sale by any client account, that it would be desirable for client accounts as to which the Access Person is responsible for making investment decisions to purchase or sell the same Covered Security (or a closely related security). In this situation, the Access Person MUST put the clients' interests first and promptly make the investment decision in the clients' interest, rather than delaying the decision for clients to avoid conflict with the blackout provisions of this Code.

NOTE: Research Analysts: It sometimes happens that an Access Person who is responsible for making investment recommendations for client accounts (i.e., a research analyst) determines, within the three trading days after the day he or she (or a member of his or her Family/Household) has purchased or sold for his or her own account a Covered Security that was not, to the Access Person's knowledge, then under consideration for purchase or sale by any client account, that it would be desirable for client accounts as to which the Access Person is responsible for making investment recommendations to recommend the purchase or sale of the same Covered Security (or a closely related security). In this situation, the Access Person MUST put the clients' interests first and promptly make the investment recommendation in the clients' interest, rather than delaying the recommendation for clients to avoid conflict with the blackout provisions of this Code.

The Firm recognizes that certain situations may occur entirely in good faith and will not take disciplinary measures in such instances if it appears that the Access Person acted in good faith and in the best interests of the Firm's clients. The above notes are merely examples and thus are not exhaustive, nor are they intended to specify instances of compliance and non-compliance with the 7-day Blackout Period restrictions, but rather are provided for clarification purposes to help ensure that any apparent or real conflicts that may arise between compliance with the Blackout Period and the pursuit of clients' interests are always resolved in favor of the clients' interests.

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The blackout requirements do not apply to the exempt categories of transactions listed in Part II.B.1 of the Code.

C.Hardship Exemption

An employee may submit to the Chief Compliance Officer a request for an exemption from a particular provision of the Code for a hardship situation (e.g., unforeseen medical or other significant expenses or the purchase of a home). All requests must be in writing and state the reasons for the hardship. Any such request will require the approval of the CCO. Any such waiver request may be denied at the CCO's sole discretion, and any such decision will be final. If the CCO approves an exemption, the Firm may require certain conditions to be met by the employee in conducting the personal trade(s) to ensure that there is no actual or apparent conflict of interest created by the exemption. The CCO shall document in writing the decisions supporting all such approvals or denials to requests for hardship exemptions.

PART III. RECORDKEEPING

Frontier maintains the following records related to the Code in a readily accessible place:

•A copy of each Code that has been in effect at any time during the past five years;

•A record of any violation of the Code and any action taken as a result of such violation for five years from the end of the fiscal year in which the violation occurred;

•A record of written acknowledgements for each person who is currently, or within the past five years was, an Access Person;

•Holdings and transactions reports made pursuant to the Code, including any brokerage confirmation and account statements made in lieu of these reports;

•A list of the names of persons who are currently, or within the past five years were, Access Persons;

•A list of persons who are currently, or within the past five years were, Investment Persons;

•A record of any decision and supporting reasons for approving the acquisition of securities by Access Persons in limited offerings; and

•A record of any decision and supporting reasons for granting any employee a waiver to or from or exception to the Code.

PART IV. FORM ADV DISCLOSURE

The Chief Compliance Officer shall be responsible for providing an updated copy of Frontier's Code to any client or prospective client upon request. The Chief Compliance Officer shall also ensure that Frontier's Form ADV includes an updated description of the Code.

PART V. ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE CODE

1.Monitoring of Personal Securities Transactions

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The Chief Compliance Officer is responsible for periodically reviewing the personal securities transactions and holdings reports of Access Persons. The Chief Operating Officer is responsible for reviewing and monitoring the personal securities transactions of the Chief Compliance Officer and for taking on the responsibilities of the Chief Compliance Officer in the Chief Compliance Officer's absence.

2.Training and Education

The Chief Compliance Officer shall be responsible for training and educating employees regarding the Code. Such training shall be mandatory for all employees and shall occur as determined necessary by the Chief Compliance Officer and at least annually.

3.Annual Review

The Chief Compliance Officer shall review the adequacy of the Code and the effectiveness of its implementation as the Chief Compliance Officer deems appropriate and at least annually.

4.Report to Management Committee

The Chief Compliance Officer shall provide a quarterly report to Frontier's Management Committee showing the review of all employee personal trading activity. Such report shall include a full discussion of any material violations of the Code.

5.Reporting Potential Violations/Wrongdoing

All Access Persons are required to act honestly and ethically in support of the culture of integrity that we have all fostered within Frontier. Since every Access Person is a valued member of the team which makes up Frontier, this broad requirement includes acting in what each individual believes to be Frontier's best interest, which includes reporting any concerns regarding any potential violations of any applicable law, rule or policy, or any other potential wrongdoing, by Frontier, any of our employees or any of our service providers. If Frontier's management is unaware of such activities, these potential violations may ultimately have an adverse effect on all of us as members of Frontier.

Accordingly, every employee of Frontier is required to report any potential violations of any applicable law, rule or policy, or other potential wrongdoing, including "apparent" or "suspected" violations, promptly to the Chief Compliance Officer. In addition, any supervisor or member of management who received a report of a potential violation or wrongdoing must immediately inform the Chief Compliance Officer. If the Chief Compliance Officer is involved in the potential violation or wrongdoing, the employee may report the matter to a member of the Management Committee.

"Violations" should be interpreted broadly, and may include, but are not limited to, such items as:

•Noncompliance with laws, rules and regulations applicable to the business of Frontier;

•fraud or illegal acts involving any aspect of Frontier's business;

•material misstatement in regulatory filings, internal books and records, client records or reports;

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•activity that is harmful to clients, including any fund shareholders; and

•deviations from required internal controls, policies and procedures that safeguard clients and Frontier.

All such reports will be taken seriously, investigated promptly and appropriately, and treated confidentially to the extent permitted by law.

Investigation. Potential violations shall be promptly investigated by the Chief Compliance Officer and/or a member of the Management Committee. During the course of the investigation, the Chief Compliance Officer or Management Committee member will be in contact with the

reporting Access Person to inform the Access Person of the status of the investigation. In addition, the reporting Access Person may check with the investigator on the status at any time. Following Frontier's investigation, Access Persons who are deemed to have committed any violations or other wrongdoing may be subject to disciplinary action as described in Part VI of the Code below.

Retaliation. Retaliation of any type against an Access Person who reports a suspected violation or assists in the investigation of such conduct (even if the conduct is not found to be a violation) is strictly prohibited and constitutes a further violation of the Code and these procedures.

Guidance. All Access Persons are encouraged (and have the responsibility) to ask questions and seek guidance from the Chief Compliance Officer or a member of the Management Committee with respect to any action or transaction that may constitute a violation and to refrain from any action or transaction which might lead to the appearance of a violation. The Chief Compliance Officer will also provide periodic training to Frontier's Access Persons regarding the requirements of these policies and procedures.

Nothing in this Code or in any other agreements you may have with Frontier is intended to or shall preclude or impede you from cooperating with any governmental or regulatory entity or agency in any investigation, or from communicating any suspected wrongdoing or violation of law to any such entity or agency, including, but not limited to, reporting pursuant to the "whistleblower rules" promulgated by the Securities Exchange Commission (Security Exchange Act Rules 21F-1, et seq.).

F.Further Information Regarding the Code.

You should contact the Chief Compliance Officer to obtain any additional information about compliance and ethical issues.

PART VI. CODE OF ETHICS SANCTION GUIDELINES

Violations of the Code of Ethics will be addressed by Frontier's Chief Compliance Officer and his/her designee, and/or by the Management Committee. Violations may result in disciplinary sanctions, including but not limited to oral or written reprimands, disgorgement of profits, suspension of personal trading privileges, fines, reassignment or demotion of employment responsibilities, termination of employment, and notification of appropriate governmental or regulatory authorities. Violation of the Code may also result in criminal prosecution or civil action.

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The Chief Compliance Officer will have discretion to determine the sanctions to be applied in response to violations of the Code, but will obtain the prior approval of the Management Committee for any recommended sanctions other than reprimands or disgorgement of profits. The severity of sanctions will reflect the materiality of the violation and may increase with repeat violations of the Code.

NOTE: Sanctions will be applied whether the violation was committed by the employee or any Family/Household member of the employee, as Family/Household member is defined within the Code.

PART VII. DEFINITIONS

These terms have special meanings in this Code of Ethics:

•Access Person

•Affiliated Mutual Funds

•Beneficial Ownership

•Chief Compliance Officer

•Covered Security

•Discretionary Account

•Family/Household

•Reporting Forms

•Restricted List

The special meanings of these terms as used in this Code of Ethics are explained below. Some of these terms (such as "beneficial ownership") are sometimes used in other contexts, not related to Codes of Ethics, where they have different meanings. For example, "beneficial ownership" has a different meaning in this Code of Ethics than it does in the SEC's rules for proxy statement disclosure of corporate directors' and officers' stockholdings, or in determining whether an investor has to file 13D or 13G reports with the SEC.

IMPORTANT: If you have any doubt or question about whether an investment, account or person is covered by any of these definitions, ask the Chief Compliance Officer. Please do not guess at the answer.

Access Person includes all employees of the Firm. The Firm, at the Chief Compliance Officer's discretion, may also subject certain individuals, including interns, co-ops, temporary employees, contract employees or independent contractors to any part or all of the Firm's Code of Ethics and its requirements.

Affiliated Mutual Funds means any mutual fund to which Frontier or an AMG affiliate acts as investment adviser or sub-adviser. The Chief Compliance Officer will, from time to time, provide a current list of Affiliated Mutual Funds.

Beneficial Ownership means any opportunity, directly or indirectly, to profit or share in the profit from any transaction in securities. It also includes transactions over which you exercise investment discretion (other than for a client of the Firm), even if you don't share in the profits.

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Beneficial Ownership is a very broad concept. Some examples of forms of Beneficial Ownership include:

•Securities held in a person's own name, or that are held for the person's benefit in nominee, custodial or "street name" accounts;

•Securities owned by or for a partnership in which the person is a general partner (whether the ownership is under the name of that partner, another partner or the partnership or through a nominee, custodial or "street name" account);

•Securities that are being managed for a person's benefit on a discretionary basis by an investment adviser, broker, bank, trust company or other manager, unless the securities are held in a "blind trust" or Discretionary Account;

•Securities in a person's individual retirement account;

•Securities in a person's account in a 401(k) or similar retirement plan, even if the person has chosen to give someone else investment discretion over the account;

•Securities owned by a trust of which the person is either a trustee or a beneficiary;

•Securities owned by a corporation, partnership or other entity that the person controls (whether the ownership is under the name of that person, under the name of the entity or through a nominee, custodial or "street name" account); and

•Securities owned by an investment club in which the person participates.

This is not a complete list of the forms of ownership that could constitute Beneficial Ownership for purposes of this Code. You should ask the Chief Compliance Officer if you have any questions or doubts at all about whether you or a member of your Family/Household would be considered to have Beneficial Ownership in any particular situation.

Chief Compliance Officer means the person listed on the Advisor's current Form ADV filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as the Chief Compliance Officer. The Chief Compliance Officer may designate another person to perform the functions of Chief Compliance Officer when he is not available.

Covered Security means anything that is considered a "security" under the Investment Company Act of 1940, except:

•Direct obligations of the U.S. Government;

•Bankers' acceptances, bank certificates of deposit, commercial paper and high quality short-term debt obligations, including repurchase agreements;

•Shares of open-end investment companies that are registered under the Investment Company Act (except Affiliated Mutual Funds); and

•Shares of money market funds.

This is a very broad definition of security. It includes most kinds of investment instruments, including things that you might not ordinarily think of as "securities," such as:

•options on securities, on indexes and on currencies;

•investments in all kinds of limited partnerships;

•investments in foreign unit trusts and foreign mutual funds; and

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•investments in private investment funds and limited partnerships (note that investments in private investment funds and limited partnerships advised by the Firm are not subject to the transaction prohibitions, pre-clearance requirements or blackout provisions set forth in Part II.B. of this Code).

•Certain virtual currencies, cryptocurrencies, digital "coins" or "tokens" as described above.

For the purposes of this Code of Ethics, exchange traded funds are considered Covered Securities and must be reported.

If you have any question or doubt about whether an investment is considered a security or a Covered Security under this Code, ask the Chief Compliance Officer.

Discretionary Account is an account: (a) for which an Access Person has granted a trustee or a discretionary third party manager investment authority over the account; and (b) over which the Access Person has no direct or indirect influence or control with respect to purchases or sales of securities or allocations of investments (e.g. the holder does not make security recommendations to the third party).

Family/Household means the following members:

•Your spouse or domestic partner (unless they do not live in the same household as you and you do not contribute in any way to their support);

•Your children under the age of 18;

•Your children who are 18 or older (unless they do not live in the same household as you and you do not contribute in any way to their support); and

•Any of these people who live in your household: your stepchildren, grandchildren, parents, stepparents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, parents-in-law, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, including adoptive relationships.

NOTE: There are a number of reasons why this Code covers transactions in which members of your Family/Household have Beneficial Ownership. First, the SEC regards any benefit to a person that you help support financially as indirectly benefiting you, because it could reduce the amount that you might otherwise contribute to that person's support. Second, members of your household could, in some circumstances, learn of information regarding the Firm's trading or recommendations for client accounts, and must not be allowed to benefit from that information.

Reporting Forms means the various documents that Access Persons may be required to complete upon being subject to the Code, including a listing of securities holdings and brokerage accounts and a disciplinary questionnaire.

Restricted List means the list of securities, both equities and fixed income, for all of Frontier's investment strategies that are held in Frontier's client accounts; however, securities with a market cap greater than $28 billion are excluded from the Restricted List.

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Exhibit A - Discretionary Accounts Initial Notification Form

I have retained a trustee or third party manager (the "Manager") to manage the following accounts over which I have no direct or indirect influence or control (the "Accounts"):

 

Name of Broker,

 

 

 

 

 

Relationship to Manager

 

 

 

 

Account Number

 

 

(independent professional, friend,

 

 

Dealer, or Bank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

relative, etc.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

⬜ I acknowledge and certify that:

1.I will have no direct or indirect influence or control2 over the Accounts;

2.If my control over the Accounts should change in any way, I will immediately notify the Chief Compliance Officer in writing of such change and will provide any required information regarding holdings and transactions in the Accounts;

3.I agree to provide reports of holdings and/or transactions (including, but not limited to, duplicate account statements and trade confirmations) made in the Accounts at the request of the Chief Compliance Officer;

4.I will not suggest that the Manager make any particular purchases or sales of securities for the Accounts;

5.I will not direct the Manager to make any particular purchases or sales of securities for the Accounts; and

6.I will not consult with the Manager as to the particular allocation of investments to be made in the Accounts.

I certify and acknowledge that the information in this form is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and agree to immediately notify the firm if such information becomes inaccurate in any way.

SIGNATURE:

NAME:

DATE:

2No direct or indirect influence or control means that you do not suggest that the Manager make any particular purchases or sales of securities for the Account (s), direct the Manager to make any particular purchases or sales of securities for the Account, or consult with the Manager as to the particular allocation of investments to be made in the Account.

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Exhibit B – Discretionary Accounts Broker Confirmation Form

[BROKER LETTERHEAD]

[DATE]

Frontier Capital Management Co., LLC

Attn: Chief Compliance Officer

99 Summer Street

Boston, MA 02116

Re: [Insert Broker Name & Account #'s _________] (the Account(s)")

To Whom It May Concern:

For purposes of Frontier's Code of Ethics and its policies regarding personal trading by Access Persons, please accept this letter as confirmation that [NAME OF ACCESS PERSON] (the "Access Person") has "no direct or indirect influence or control" with respect to the purchases and sales of financial instruments in the Account(s).

"No direct or indirect influence or control" means that the Access Person does NOT:

•suggest to anyone that a particular purchase or sale of securities be made for the Account(s);

•direct anyone to make any particular purchases or sales of securities for the Account(s); or

•consult with anyone as to the particular allocation of investments to be made in the Account(s). We will contact you immediately in the event of any changes to the above confirmation.

Regards,

SIGNATURE:

NAME:

TITLE/CAPACITY:__________________________________________

DATE:

20

Exhibit C – Discretionary Accounts Broker Annual Disclosure Form

PLEASE CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX:

⬜I have no Discretionary Accounts (e.g., accounts over which I have no direct or indirect influence or control);

OR

⬜I have retained a trustee or third party manager (the "Manager") to manage certain of my accounts. Following is a list of the accounts over which I have no direct or indirect influence or control (the "Accounts"):

 

 

Relationship to Manager

Name of Broker, Dealer, or

 

(independent professional, friend,

Bank

Account Number

relative, etc.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

⬜I acknowledge and certify that:

1.I have no direct or indirect influence or control3 over the Accounts;

2.If my control over the Accounts should change in any way, I will immediately notify the Chief Compliance Officer in writing of such change and will provide any required information regarding holdings and transactions in the Accounts;

3.I agree to provide reports of holdings and/or transactions (including, but not limited to, duplicate account statements and trade confirmations) made in the Accounts at the request of the Chief Compliance Officer;

4.I did not suggest that the Manager make any particular purchases or sales of securities for the Accounts during the period covered by this report;

1.I did not direct the Manager to make any particular purchases or sales of securities for the Accounts during the period covered by this report;

3No direct or indirect influence or control means that you do not suggest that the Manager make any particular purchases or sales of securities for the Account (s), direct the Manager to make any particular purchases or sales of securities for the Account, or consult with the Manager as to the particular allocation of investments to be made in the Account.

21

Exhibit C – Discretionary Accounts Broker Annual Disclosure Form

2.I did not consult with the Manager as to the particular allocation of investments to be made in the Accounts during the period covered by this report; and

3.I will contact the Chief Compliance Officer immediately in the event that a non-discretionary or fully managed account over which I have direct or indirect beneficial ownership is opened.

I certify and acknowledge that the information in this form is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and agree to immediately notify the firm if such information becomes inaccurate in any way.

SIGNATURE:

NAME:

DATE:

December 2020

22


SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

SCOPE AND PURPOSE

This Code of Ethics (the "Code") for Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. ("SIMNA Inc." or the "Adviser"), is required by The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Investment Company Act of 1940.

The Code applies to all officers, directors and full-time employees of the Adviser ("Access Persons"). Certain part-time employees and consultants to the Adviser may also be deemed as Access Persons and subject to this Code depending on the length of their employment contract and/or their access to sensitive client and/or investment information. Sections of this Code also apply to any persons who work for the firm in a Financial Operations Principal ("FINOPs") capacity. FINOPs are offsite persons who are associated with the firm's affiliated broker dealer, Schroder Fund Advisors LLC ("SFA"). These individuals are deemed "Associated Persons" rather than Access Persons.

In carrying out their job responsibilities, all Access Persons or Associated Persons must, at a minimum, comply with all applicable legal requirements, including applicable securities laws. In addition, all Access Persons or Associated Persons must: maintain professional integrity and behave with ethical conduct; place the interests of clients and the integrity of the investment profession above their own personal interests; use professional judgment when engaging in all professional activities and encourage peers to do the same; and behave in a manner that reflects well on themselves and Schroders.

Any breach by an Access Person or Associated Person of the laws, regulations and procedures outlined in the Code will be deemed to be a violation of the terms of his or her employment and may result in disciplinary action and/or dismissal, in addition to any other penalties or liabilities resulting from such violation.

PERSONAL TRADING

All employees deemed to be Access Persons are subject to the restrictions contained in this Code with respect to their transactions in Covered Securities.

The below securities are considered Covered Securities, and, therefore applicable to the personal trading restrictions and reporting policies contained herein:

•Stocks

•Bonds

•Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

•Closed end mutual funds1

•Derivatives of Covered Securities, including options

1Please note that this includes the Schroders-Hartford Securitized Income Fund. More details on this specific fund follow on the next page.

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

The below securities are NOT considered to be Covered Securities, and, therefore, are NOT required to be reported to Compliance:

•US open end mutual funds that are not Schroders Funds (see Appendix D for more detail)

•Money market funds

•Unit investment trusts that are invested exclusively in open-end funds that are not Schroders Funds

•Direct obligations of the U.S. Government (i.e., Treasuries).

•Bankers' acceptances, bank certificates of deposit, commercial paper, bitcoins, currencies, repurchase agreements and other high quality short-term debt instruments2

Please note that Access Persons are required to report ALL brokerage accounts that hold or have the ability to hold Covered Securities.

PRE-CLEARANCE

Covered Securities require preclearance approval before being traded.

Some key notes on preclearance:

•Preclearance is obtained via an electronic form on the MyCompliance system

•Preclearance expires at the end of the same business day that it is requested

•Preclearance for securities listed on non-US exchanges is valid until the close of business on the following business day in order to compensate for different time zones

•It is Schroders' policy to discourage excessive personal trading by Access Persons. As such, the number of preclearance requests submitted by employees are reported to senior management on a quarterly basis.

Preclearance approval can be influenced by a variety of factors, including: the sensitivity of the position of the person submitting the request, principal amount of the trade, market capitalization, and trading or investment activity in the security for the benefit of clients. When submitting a preclearance request, you are required to attest that you are not in possession of any inside or material non-public information and that the requested trade does not conflict with any pending client orders that you are aware of.

NOTE: If you fail to pre-clear a transaction in a Covered Security, you may be fined and/or be subjected to a personal trading suspension. Violations of this Policy will be reported to senior management and will result in reprimands that could affect your employment with Schroders.

A special note on the Hartford-Schroders Securitized Income Fund:

In addition to preclearance, under Section 16 of the Exchange Act of 1934, these funds require additional reporting to Hartford and the SEC. Failure to comply with these preclearance and reporting

2High quality short-term debt instruments means any instrument having a maturity at issuance of less than 366 days and which is rated in one of the highest two rating categories by a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization, or which is unrated but is of comparable quality.

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

requirements may result in regulatory violations. Please remember to preclear any transaction in these funds and reach out to Compliance with any questions or issues.

The following transactions do not require pre-clearance:

•Transactions in an account over which the Access Person has no influence or control such as where investment discretion is delegated in writing to an independent fiduciary ("Managed Account" – see page 5).

•Transactions which are non-volitional on the part of the Access Person (e.g., receipt of securities pursuant to a stock dividend or merger, a gift or inheritance). However, the volitional sale of securities acquired in a non-volitional manner is treated as any other transaction and subject to pre-clearance.3

•Purchases of the securities of an issuer through an automatic investment plan which makes periodic purchases (or withdrawals) automatically in (or from) investment accounts in accordance with a predetermined schedule and allocation. An automatic investment plan includes a dividend reinvestment plan ("DRIP") 4 . Any such plans should be reported to Compliance prior to them commencing. Any transactions in such a plan other than according to a predetermined schedule are subject to pre-clearance.

•The receipt or exercise of rights issued by an issuer on a pro rata basis to all holders of a class of security and the sale of such rights are permitted without pre-clearance.

•Tender of shares already held into an offer if the tender offer is open on the same terms to all holders of the securities covered by the offer.

•Conversion of convertible securities or participation in exchange offers provided that the conversion or offer is available on the same terms to all holders.

•Transactions in collective investment schemes offered by plans that qualify under Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code.

•Transactions which are automatically exercised as part of a stop-loss or limit order, provided that the parameters of stop-loss or limit order are placed when the initial trade is initiated.5

INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS

If you wish to purchase an initial public offering, you must obtain permission from the Chief Compliance Officer. In such cases, an Access Person would submit a trade request via MyCompliance which will be routed for Compliance review. Once approved, the Access Person will receive a notice from the MyCompliance system.

3This may include where options are exercised against a call written by the Access Person or where securities are exchanged for cash or other securities as part of a business transaction.

4Please note that the Access Person must speak with Compliance prior to setting up a Dividend Reinvestment Plan. While these automated transactions are not subject to preclearance, special rules relating to the holding policy may be in effect for some of these transactions. Please speak with Compliance for more detail.

5Please note that the use of Stop Loss limits within the 60 day holding period are permitted ONLY if the details of the Stop Loss Order are disclosed to Compliance at the time of the preclearance request.

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

HOLDING PERIODS

All Access Persons are strongly advised against short-term trading and are prohibited from making trades that expose them to material open-ended liabilities. This includes short selling, CFD investing, spread betting and leveraged account management without putting an appropriate stop- loss mechanism in place.

Any Access Persons who appear to have established a pattern of short term trading may be subject to additional restrictions or penalties including, but not limited to, a limit or ban on future personal trading activity and a requirement to disgorge profits on short-term trades.

All Covered Securities are subject to a 60 calendar day holding period. Securities may not be sold within 60 days of any purchase in the security, regardless of how long ago the initial investment was made. First in, first out does not apply. The Chief Compliance Officer has exemptive authority to override the 60 day holding policy for good cause shown.

Schroders plc shares purchased in the market (rather than forming part of a remuneration award) are subject to a one-year holding period.

Please note that while Schroders Funds ("Reportable Funds" – Listed in Appendix D) are NOT subject to preclearance, they ARE subject to this 60 day holding policy.

A NOTE ON OPTIONS

Options trading is subject to the aforementioned preclearance and 60 day holding policies. Further detail follows:

•Listed Call Options: You may purchase a listed call option only if the call option has a period to expiration of at least 60 days from the date of purchase and you hold the call option for at least 60 days prior to sale. If you choose to exercise the option, you must also hold the underlying security delivered pursuant to the exercise for 60 days.

•Covered Calls: You may sell (or "write") a call option only if you have held the underlying security (in the corresponding quantity) for at least 60 days.

•Listed Put Options: You may purchase a listed put option only if the put option has a period to expiration of at least 60 days from the date of purchase and you hold the put option for at least 60 days prior to sale. If you purchase a put option on a security you already own, you may only exercise the put once you have held the underlying security for 60 days.

•Selling Puts: You may sell (or "write") a put only if you have held the underlying security (in the corresponding quantity) for at least 60 days.

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

COVERED ACCOUNTS

A Covered Account is an account in which you are capable of purchasing Covered Securities, or an account in which you own a beneficial interest (except where you have no influence or control). This includes IRA accounts as well as any 401k account held from a former employer that holds a Covered Security, such as stock of the former employer. Covered Accounts are covered by this policy and are subject to the aforementioned preclearance and holding policies.

Accounts held by your spouse (including his/her IRA or 401k accounts), minor children and other members of your immediate family (children, stepchildren, grandchildren, parents, step parents, grandparents, siblings, in-laws and adoptive relationships) who share your household are also considered Covered Accounts, as are any other accounts over which you exercise investment discretion. In addition, accounts maintained by your domestic partner6 are Covered Accounts under this Policy.

All US-based personnel are required to maintain their Covered Accounts at an Approved Broker as listed in Appendix B unless otherwise exempted for unique circumstances. If an Access Person is permitted to maintain a Covered Account with a non-Approved Broker, the Access Person assumes the responsibility to manually report their transactions in Covered Securities and upload quarterly account statements directly in the MyCompliance system.

Persons on secondment from London or other offices may apply to Compliance for a waiver of the requirement to maintain their Covered Accounts at a US Approved Broker.

MANAGED ACCOUNTS

A Managed Account is an account over which the Access Person has no direct or indirect influence or control. Managed Accounts are still considered Covered Accounts and must be reported to Compliance. Compliance cannot approve a Managed Account until an official discretionary letter from the broker is received which expressly states that the Access Person does not have any investment discretion. Compliance must have a discretionary letter on file for each Managed Account and will request an updated letter periodically. Access Persons with managed accounts will also be required to complete an annual attestation confirming that they did not direct any investment decisions during the year.

Since the Access Person does not have any investment discretion on Managed Accounts, transactions in these accounts are not subject to the preclearance and holding policies; however, Compliance will conduct periodic reviews to check the transactions in Managed Accounts against the Global Stop List.

6A domestic partner is defined as someone that you have a personal relationship with and that you share a household with, share assets, such as personal banking accounts, brokerage accounts, with and/or share housing or childcare expenses with. If you are unsure as to whether this definition is applicable to you, please consult a member of the Compliance team.

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

A special note on Managed Accounts:

Managed Accounts must be held with an Approved Broker unless you have previously been given an exemption by Compliance. For new hires, any accounts that the Access Person has held prior to employment at Schroders that must be held with a broker outside of the Approved Brokers list must first receive approval from the Chief Compliance Officer, or his/her delegate.

OPENING A NEW COVERED ACCOUNT

Employees must receive written approval from Compliance before opening a covered account with a broker. This rule applies to all new covered accounts, whether or not the employee already holds other approved accounts with the same broker. This rule also applies to Managed Accounts.

PRIVATE SECURITIES TRANSACTIONS AND TAX SHELTERS

No Access Person or Associated Person may participate in any type of private placement or tax shelter without obtaining the advance consent of their direct supervisor and the Chief Compliance Officer. This request should be submitted electronically through MyCompliance and the system will route it for both line manager and compliance review Only passive investments (without operational, management or promotional duties) are permitted.

Additional capital calls of an already approved private vehicle and/or exiting a private placement or tax shelter, whether by sale or redemption, do not need to be approved but must be reported to Compliance in the Access Person's next quarterly transactions report.

No Access Person or Associated Person who is a Registered Representative licensed with FINRA under the supervision of SFA may receive selling compensation in connection with a private securities transaction or tax shelter not offered through SFA. Any Access Person or Associated Person engaged in selling activity other than in connection with his or her duties as a Registered Representative must obtain prior permission in writing from his or her supervisor and the Chief Compliance Officer.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

All personnel are required to complete various filings that are due at certain times of the year. Access Persons will receive notification of these filings and their respective deadlines via MyCompliance. Failure to comply with these time sensitive filings will result in a violation of the Code of Ethics.

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

INITIAL REPORTING

No later than 10 calendar days after joining the Adviser, each Access Person must provide Compliance with a list of every Covered Security that s/he owns. The information provided must be current as of a date no more than 45 days prior and must include the title of the security; the exchange ticker symbol or CUSIP; and the number of shares owned (for equities) or principal amount (for debt securities). Access Persons may provide account statements in place of a written list.

Unless approved by the Chief Compliance Officer, all new Access Persons who maintain Covered Account(s) with brokers that are not on the list of Approved Brokers will have to move their accounts within a reasonable timeframe established by Compliance upon their hire. The Chief Compliance Officer will only allow an Access Person to keep a Covered Account with a broker outside of the Approved Brokers list in extenuating circumstances. In such instances, the Access Person owns the responsibility of manually reporting all transactions in Covered Securities and uploading quarterly statements into the MyCompliance system.

QUARTERLY REPORTS

No later than 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter, each Access Person will provide Compliance with a report of all transactions in Covered Securities in the quarter. All information requested on the form issued via MyCompliance must be provided.

Please note that transactions in shares of Reportable Funds7 must be reported at this time.

ANNUAL REPORTS

Within 45 days after the end of the calendar year, each Access Person must report all his/her holdings in Covered Securities as at December 31 of that year. All information requested on the form issued via MyCompliance must be provided.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE CODE AND ANNUAL CERTIFICATION

Each Access Person is responsible for understanding the provisions of this Code. Access Persons will certify, at least annually, that s/he has reviewed the current version of this Code and has complied with its standards. The Code is maintained on the internal Compliance website.

7Transactions in Reportable Funds in the Schroders 401(k) and SERP plans do not need to be reported as Compliance monitors this information outside of the MyCompliance system.

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

SELF-REPORTING OF VIOLATIONS

Access Persons and Associated Persons have an obligation to review their own trading to ensure that they have acted in compliance with the provisions of this Code. To the extent that such person determines that s/he has executed a transaction not in compliance with this Code, that person has an obligation to promptly report the violation to the Chief Compliance Officer.

GRANTING OF EXCEPTIONS

The Chief Compliance Officer and the General Counsel may, on a case-by-case basis, grant exceptions to any provisions under this Code for good cause. Any such exceptions and the reasons for granting them will be maintained in writing by the Chief Compliance Officer and presented to the Board of Directors of the Adviser at the next scheduled meeting.

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

Adopted:

October 1, 1995

Amended:

May 15, 1996

 

May 1, 1997

 

June 12, 1998

 

June 2, 1999

 

March 14, 2000

 

August 14, 2001

 

June 23, 2003

 

October 23, 2003

 

December 9, 2003

 

May 11, 2004

 

January 14, 2005

 

December 5, 2005

 

March 6, 2006

 

September 14, 2007

 

September 14, 2009

 

March 9, 2010

 

June 12, 2012

 

June 18, 2013

 

June 12, 2014

 

May 20, 2015

 

September 30, 2015

 

May 1, 2017

 

December 31, 2017

 

May 1, 2019

 

April 30, 2020

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

APPENDIX A OF THE CODE OF ETHICS – APPROVERS

In the event that the MyCompliance system is not accessible, the US Compliance team is authorized to preclear personal transactions.

Compliance email: ussimcomp@schroders.com

MyCompliance: https://my.schroders.com/SitePages/Start.aspx (under the "Apps" section)

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

APPENDIX B OF THE CODE OF ETHICS – APPROVED BROKERS

Alliance Bernstein

Charles Schwab

Citibank

E*Trade

Fidelity

Goldman Sachs

Interactive Brokers

JP Morgan Securities / Private Bank

Lending Club8

Merrill Lynch

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)

TD Ameritrade

Vanguard

Wells Fargo

8Lending Club (and other peer-to-peer lending accounts) where the employee is the lender must be disclosed via the "Outside Activity" section of MyCompliance.

Please note that these accounts require line manager approval prior to being opened.

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

APPENDIX C OF THE CODE OF ETHICS – RULE SET

 

Security Type

 

 

Requires

 

 

Subject to 60 day

 

 

 

 

preclearance?

 

 

holding period?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equities

 

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Exchange Traded Funds

 

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Derivatives

 

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Fixed Income securities

 

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

US Open ended Mutual Funds - (other than Reportable

 

 

No

 

No

 

Funds)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non US Open ended Mutual Funds - (Not managed by the

 

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Adviser or an affiliated adviser )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reportable Funds and Non-US funds managed by

 

 

No

 

Yes

 

Schroders (outside of your Schroders 401k)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closed end Funds

 

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Initial Public Offerings

 

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Private Placements

 

 

Yes

 

n/a

 

Non-volitional dividend reinvestment transactions and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

corporate action elections for which formal public

 

 

No

 

n/a

 

documents are issued

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Schroders plc shares, purchased outside of a

 

 

Yes

 

Yes, one year

 

remuneration package

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Direct obligations of the US Government

 

 

No

 

No

 

Bankers acceptances, commercial paper, repurchase

 

 

No

 

No

 

agreements, bitcoins, currencies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crowdfunding & Crowdsourcing – non security based

 

 

No

 

No

 

Crowdfunding & Crowdsourcing – security based

 

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

APPENDIX D OF THE CODE OF ETHICS – REPORTABLE FUNDS

Affiliated Investment Companies Advised by SIMNA

The Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc.

Schroder North American Equity Fund

Schroder Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund

Schroder Long Duration Investment-Grade Bond Fund

Schroder Short Duration Bond Fund

Schroder Total Return Fixed Income Fund

Affiliated Investment Companies Sub-Advised by SIMNA

AZL Schroder Emerging Markets Equity Fund

Brookfield Real Assets Fund

Consulting Group Capital Markets Funds – International Equity Investments Guidestone Funds –Extended Duration Bond Fund

Hartford Schroders Emerging Markets Debt and Currency Fund Hartford Schroders Emerging Markets Debt and Currency Fund Hartford Schroders Emerging Markets Multi-Sector Bond Fund Hartford Schroders Global Strategic Bond Fund

Hartford Schroders Income Builder Fund

Hartford Schroders International Multi-Cap Value Fund Hartford Schroders International Stock Fund Hartford Schroders Tax-Aware Bond Fund

Hartford Schroders US Small Cap Opportunities Fund

Hartford Schroders US Mid Cap Opportunities Fund Hartford Schroders Securitized Income Fund

Met Investors Series Trust – Schroders Multi-Asset Portfolio PMC Core Fixed Income Fund

The Finance Company of Pennsylvania Russell Core Bond Fund

Russell Investment Grade Bond Fund Russell Strategic Bond Fund

SEI Opportunistic Income Fund

SunAmerica Schroders VCP Global Allocation Portfolio SunAmerica Seasons Series Trust – International Equity Portfolio Vanguard International Explorer Fund

Vanguard International Growth Fund Vanguard Variable Annuity Plan Vantagepoint Low Duration Bond Fund Wilmington Trust Multi-Manager International Fund

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

APPENDIX E OF THE CODE OF ETHICS - INSIDER TRADING POLICY

It is a violation of United States federal law and a serious breach of the Adviser's policies for any Access or associated person to trade in, or recommend trading in, the securities of an issuer for his/her personal gain, or on behalf of the firm or its clients, while in possession of material, non-public information ("MNPI") which may come into his/her possession either in the course of performing his/her duties, or through a breach of any duty of trust and confidence.

Such violations could subject you, the Adviser, and its affiliates, to significant civil and criminal liability, including the imposition of monetary penalties, and could also result in irreparable harm to the reputation of the Adviser. Tippees (i.e., persons who receive MNPI) may also be held liable if they trade or pass along such information to others.

Further, it is a violation of anti-fraud provisions of the Advisers Act for Access Persons or Associated Persons who are aware of transactions being considered for clients, or are aware of the portfolio holdings in the reportable funds to which the Adviser (or an affiliate) acts an adviser, to disclose such information to a party who has "no need to know" or to trade on such information for personal gain by, among other things, front-running or market timing.

The US Insider Trading and Securities Fraud Enforcement Act of 1988 ("ITSFEA") requires all broker- dealers and investment advisers to establish and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent misuse of MNPI.

The provisions of ITSFEA apply both to trading while in possession of such information, and to communicating such information to others who might trade on it improperly.

MATERIALITY

Material information about transactions that the Adviser undertakes on behalf of clients is proprietary to the firm. Use of that information by Access and associated persons in personal securities dealings—or communication of the information to others with the expectation that they will trade--violates the duties that Access and associated persons owe to the Adviser and its clients. Information that Access Persons and Associated Persons obtain through research, or through communications with issuers on behalf of the Adviser, belongs to the Adviser and may not be used in connection with personal securities transactions other than in compliance with the personal securities transactions provisions of this Code of Ethics.

Where Access Persons or Associated Persons receive information from issuers or research providers that they believe is material and non-public in the course of their duties for the Adviser, they must immediately notify the General Counsel or Chief Compliance Officer.

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

Information which emanates from outside an issuer, but may affect the market price of an issuer's securities, can also be MNPI. For example, material, non-public information can originate within the Adviser itself. This would include knowledge of activities or plans of an affiliate, or knowledge of securities transactions that are being considered or executed by the Adviser itself on behalf of clients.

MNPI can also be obtained from knowledge about a client that a person has discovered in his/her dealings with that client. MNPI pertaining to a particular issuer could also involve information about another issuer that has a material relationship to the issuer, such as a major supplier's decision to increase its prices. Moreover, non-public information relating to portfolio holdings in a Reportable Fund should not be used to market-time or engage in other activities that are detrimental to the Reporting Fund and its shareholders.

In addition, Rule 14e-3 under the Exchange Act makes it unlawful to buy or sell securities while in possession of material information relating to a tender offer, if the person buying or selling the securities knows, or has reason to know, that the information is non-public and has been acquired, directly or indirectly, from the person making, or planning to make, the tender offer, from the target company, or from any officer, director, partner or employee or other person acting on behalf of either the bidder or the target company.

This rule prohibits not only trading, but also the communication of MNPI relating to a tender offer to another person in circumstances under which it is reasonably foreseeable that the communication will result in a trade by someone in possession of the MNPI. All staff is subject to the Global Market Abuse Policy which provides further guidance on what may be regarded as abusive behaviors.

PROCEDURES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Please see Compliance's Market Abuse Policy located on the Compliance intranet page for prohibitions regarding persons who acquire MNPI.

PENALTIES

Penalties for trading on or communicating MNPI are severe, both for the individuals involved in such unlawful conduct and their employers. Under the law, a person can be subject to some or all of the penalties below, even if s/he does not personally benefit from the violation. Penalties include:

1)civil injunctions;

2)disgorgement of profits;

3)treble damages – fines for the Access Person or Associated Person who committed the violation, of up to 3 times the profit gained or loss avoided, whether or not the person actually benefited;

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SIMNA INC. CODE OF ETHICS

4)fines for the employer or other controlling person of up to the greater of $1,000,000, or 3 times the profit gained or loss avoided; and

5)imprisonment.

SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR TRADING IN SCHRODERS PLC

Special restrictions apply to trading in the securities of Schroders plc because staff, by virtue of their employment, may be deemed to have MNPI:

1.Securities of Schroders plc will not be purchased for any client account without the permission of that client, and then only if permitted by applicable law.

2.Personal securities transactions in the securities of Schroders plc are subject to blackout periods and other restrictions which are outlined in the UK Staff Dealing Rules. These can be found on the Group Compliance intranet page. A trade request must be submitted via MyCompliance and approved by the UK Corporate Secretariat prior to trading.

STOP LIST

Schroders maintains a Global Stop List that includes company securities for which one or more persons at the Adviser and its affiliates may hold price sensitive information. The Stop List locally is maintained by the US Compliance team.

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16


Victory Capital Management Inc. Code of Ethics

Victory Capital Management Inc.

Code of Ethics

Effective January 1, 2021

Previously updated: July 1, 2019

Victory Capital Management Inc. Code of Ethics

January 1, 2021

1.

Introduction ......................................................................................................................................

1

2.

Definitions.........................................................................................................................................

2

3.

Culture of Compliance.....................................................................................................................

4

4.

Policy Statement on Insider Trading..............................................................................................

5

A. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................

5

B. Scope of the Policy Statement..............................................................................................................

5

C. What is Material Information? ...............................................................................................................

5

D. What is Non-Public Information? ..........................................................................................................

6

E. Identifying Inside Information ................................................................................................................

6

F. Contact with Public Companies ............................................................................................................

7

G. Tender Offers........................................................................................................................................

7

H. Protecting Sensitive Information ...........................................................................................................

7

I.

Trading in Securities Listed on Exchanges in Other Countries ............................................................

7

J.

Public Company Confidential Records .................................................................................................

7

5.

Conflicts of Interest..........................................................................................................................

7

A. Gifts and Entertainment ........................................................................................................................

8

B. Political Contributions ...........................................................................................................................

9

C. Outside Business Activities.................................................................................................................

10

D. Other Prohibitions on Conduct............................................................................................................

11

E. Review of Employee Communications ...............................................................................................

11

6.

Standards of Business Conduct...................................................................................................

12

7.

Personal Trading, Code of Ethics Reporting and Certifications...............................................

12

A. Employee Investment Accounts..........................................................................................................

12

B. Employee Investment Account Reporting...........................................................................................

14

Victory Capital Management Inc. Code of Ethics

January 1, 2021

C. Personal Trading Requirements and Restrictions ..............................................................................

14

D. Representation and Warranties ..........................................................................................................

17

E. Quarterly and Annual Certifications of Compliance............................................................................

17

F. Review Procedures.............................................................................................................................

17

G. Recordkeeping....................................................................................................................................

17

H. Whistleblower Provisions ....................................................................................................................

17

I.

Confidentiality......................................................................................................................................

18

J.

Reporting to the Board of Directors of Affiliated Funds ......................................................................

18

8.

Code of Ethics Violation Guidelines ............................................................................................

18

Appendix 1 – Affiliated Funds, Proprietary Funds & Reportable Funds.......................................................

i

Appendix 2 – Approved Brokers List ...........................................................................................................

ii

Appendix 3 – Investment Account Disclosure .............................................................................................

iii

Appendix 4 – Reportable Securities ...........................................................................................................

iv

Appendix 5 – ETFs Eligible for De Minimis Transaction Exemption ..........................................................

vi

Supplement 1 - RS Investments (Hong Kong) Limited Code of Ethics Supplement ("Hong Kong

 

Supplement")................................................................................................................................................

vii

Supplement 2 - RS Investment Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. ("RSIMS") Code of Ethics

 

Supplement ("Singapore Supplement") ........................................................................................................

x

Victory Capital Management Inc. Code of Ethics

1. INTRODUCTION

January 1, 2021

Rule 204A-1 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ("Advisers Act") requires all investment advisers registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") to adopt codes of ethics that set forth standards of conduct and require compliance with federal securities laws. Victory Capital Management Inc. a registered investment adviser under the Advisers Act, and its subsidiaries, RS Investments (UK) Limited, RS Investments (Hong Kong) Limited, and RS Investment Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (collectively, "Victory Capital"), have adopted this Code of Ethics ("Code"), which sets forth the standards of business conduct that are required of Victory Capital employees. As an adviser to regulated investment companies, Victory Capital also adopts this Code in adherence to Rule 17j-11 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act"). Officers and employees of RS Investments (Hong Kong) Limited and RS Investment Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. should also review the related Code supplements.

Victory Capital is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Victory Capital Holdings, Inc. ("VCH"). VCH is a Delaware corporation with its Class A common stock listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, under the ticker symbol "VCTR." As a public company, new compliance policies were adopted by VCH. The VCH policies are in addition to the compliance program of Victory Capital. In particular, the VCH policies that apply to all Victory Capital employees include: (1) Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, (2) Corporate Communications Policy and (3) Insider Trading Policy. These policies are available through the company intranet site "Under the wing".

Victory Capital Services, Inc. ("VCS"), a Victory Capital affiliate, is a registered broker-dealer and principal underwriter of Victory Capital's Affiliated Funds (defined herein) and has adopted this Code in compliance with Rule 17j-1 under the Investment Company Act. Victory Capital Transfer Agent, Inc., also a Victory Capital affiliate, is the registered transfer agent for USAA Mutual Fund accounts. Victory Capital employees service USAA Mutual Fund direct accounts through a dedicated Contact Center. Victory Capital is not affiliated with United Services Automobile Association ("USAA") or its affiliates.

Victory Capital employees have a responsibility to adhere to the highest ethical principles. Thus, the Code imposes obligations in addition to those required under applicable laws and regulations. The Code is a minimum standard of conduct for employees. Additionally, Victory Capital employees must act in accordance with Victory Capital's fiduciary duty owed to clients. Therefore, literal compliance with the Code will not protect an employee if their behavior otherwise violates Victory Capital's fiduciary duty. If an employee is uncertain as to the intent or purpose of any provision of the Code, or whether a proposed action is compatible with Victory Capital's fiduciary duty, he or she should consult Victory Capital's Chief Compliance Officer ("CCO") or a member of the Compliance team.

Victory Capital recognizes the importance to its employees of being able to manage and develop their own and their dependents' financial resources through long-term investments and strategies. However, because of the potential conflicts of interest inherent in our business and our industry, Victory Capital has implemented certain standards and limitations designed to minimize these conflicts.

Victory Capital's reputation is of paramount importance; therefore, Victory Capital will not tolerate blemishes due to careless personal trading or other conduct prohibited by the Code. Consequently, Material Violations (as defined herein) of the Code may be subject to harsh sanctions. Frequent violations of the Code may

1Rule 17j-1 requires that fund advisers adopt written codes of ethics and have procedures in place to prevent their personnel from abusing their access to information about the fund's securities trading and requires "access persons" to submit reports periodically containing information about their personal securities holdings and transactions.

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result in limitations on personal securities trading or other disciplinary actions, which can include termination of employment.

2. DEFINITIONS

"Access Person" means any employee of Victory Capital or anyone deemed an Access Person by the CCO. As a matter of practice, the Board of Directors of the USAA Mutual Funds Trust, Victory Portfolios, Victory Portfolios II and Victory Variable Insurance Funds (collectively the "Victory Funds") generally consists of members who are not employees or officers of Victory Capital, or their affiliates. Unless designated by the COO, a non-employee director is not treated as an "access person" of Victory Capital, within the meaning of Rule 204A-1 under the Advisers Act and is not treated as either an "access person" or an "advisory person" of Victory Capital.

"Affiliated Funds" means any individual series portfolio of the USAA Mutual Funds Trust, Victory Portfolios, Victory Portfolios II and Victory Variable Insurance Funds, as well as other sub-advised affiliates listed in Appendix 1, each an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act.

"Automatic or Periodic Investment Plan" is a program in which regular periodic purchases (or withdrawals) are made automatically in (or from) investment accounts in accordance with a predetermined schedule and allocation. An Automatic Investment Plan includes a dividend reinvestment plan.

"Beneficial Interest" means the opportunity, directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship or otherwise, to profit, or share in any profit derived from, a transaction in the subject Securities. An Access Person is deemed to have a Beneficial Interest in securities owned by members of his or her Immediate Family. Common examples of Beneficial Interest include joint accounts, spousal accounts (including Non-Victory Capital Employee Compensation Programs, Non-Victory Capital Employee Stock Participation Program, and Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan Accounts), Uniform Transfers to Minors Act accounts, partnerships, trusts and controlling interests in corporations. Any uncertainty as to whether an Access Person has a Beneficial Interest in a Security should be brought to the attention of the Compliance Department. Such questions will be resolved in accordance with, and this definition shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with, the definition of "beneficial owner" set forth in Rules 16a-1(a)(2) and (5) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

"Blackout Period" means seven (7) calendar days before through three (3) calendar days after the date a client trade is executed.

"Business Entertainment" includes any social event, hospitality event, charitable event, sporting event, entertainment event, meal, leisure activity or event of like nature or purpose, and any transportation or lodging accompanying or related to such activity or event, including any entertainment activity offered in connection with an educational event or business conference, irrespective of whether any business is conducted during, or is attendant to, such activity.

"Covered Government Official" means a 1) state or local governmental official; 2) candidate for state or local office; or 3) federal candidate currently holding state or local office. A governmental "official" includes an incumbent, candidate, or successful candidate for elective office of a state or local government entity, if the office is directly or indirectly responsible for, or can influence the outcome of, the hiring of an investment adviser, or has authority to appoint any person who is directly or indirectly responsible for, or can influence the outcome of, the hiring of an investment adviser, by a state or a political subdivision of a state.

"De Minimis Security" means a security of an issuer with a market cap of $10 Billion or more at the time of purchase, In certain situations, a client trade in a De Minimis Security may not trigger a Blackout Period (see Section 7.C. Personal Trading Requirements and Restrictions for more detailed information). Personal Trades in De Minimis Securities in Personal Accounts always require pre-clearance and are subject to all other provisions of the Code.

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"Exempt Securities" means 1) direct obligations of the U.S. Government; 2) bankers' acceptances, bank certificates of deposit and commercial paper; 3) investment grade, short-term debt instruments, including repurchase agreements; 4) shares held in money market funds; 5) variable insurance products that invest in funds for which Victory Capital does not act as adviser or sub-adviser; 6) open-end mutual funds for which Victory Capital does not act as adviser or sub-adviser; and 7) investments in qualified tuition programs ("529 Plans"). Exempt Securities do not need to be pre-cleared.

"Franchise" means a group of employees who report directly or indirectly to the same Chief Investment Officer that oversees a brand-named strategy

"Immediate Family" means all family members who share the same household, including but not limited to, a spouse, domestic partner, fiancée, parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, siblings, step-siblings, step-children, step-parents, or in-laws. Immediate Family includes adoptive relationships and any other relationships (whether or not recognized by law) that the CCO determines could lead to conflicts of interest, diversions of corporate opportunity or create the appearance of impropriety.

"Initial Holdings Report" is a report that discloses all securities holdings of every Access Person, which must be submitted to the Compliance Department within ten (10) calendar days of becoming an Access Person.

"Initial Public Offering" or "IPO" means an offering of securities registered under the Securities Act of 1933, the issuer of which, immediately before such registration, was not subject to the reporting requirements of Sections 13 or 15(d) of the 1934 Act.

"Managed Accounts" means investment advisory or brokerage accounts over which an Access Person has no direct or indirect influence or control in the investment decisions or activities.

"Material Non-Public Information" or "MNPI" means information that is both material and non-public that might have an effect on the market for a security. Access Persons who possess MNPI must not act or cause others to act on such information.

"Material Violation" means any violation of this Code or other misconduct deemed material by the CCO, in conjunction with the Compliance Committee or the Victory Capital Board of Directors.

"Maximum Allowable Trades" means Access Persons are limited to 20 trades per calendar quarter across their Personal Accounts. A trade in the same security in multiple accounts on the same day will count as one trade towards the Maximum Allowable Trades in a quarter. Trades that do not require pre-clearance (i.e. open-end mutual funds, dividend reinvestments) will not count towards the Maximum Allowable Trades.

"MCO" means MyComplianceOffice, which is a web-based compliance system used to track and approve employee personal trading, gifts and entertainment, political contributions, and outside business activities, store policies, and facilitate employee certifications and manage other compliance objectives.

"Personal Account" means an investment account in which an employee retains investment discretion.

"Personal Trading" or "Personal Trades" means trades or transactions by Access Persons in their Personal Accounts.

"Proprietary Fund" is a fund or product in which Victory Capital or its employees have an aggregate of 25% or more Beneficial Interest. See Appendix 1 – Affiliated Funds, Proprietary Funds & Reportable Funds for more information.

"Reportable Fund" means any investment company registered under the Investment Company Act for which Victory Capital is an investment adviser or a sub-adviser, or any registered investment company whose investment adviser or principal underwriter controls Victory Capital, is controlled by Victory Capital, or is under common control with Victory Capital. See Appendix 1 – Affiliated Funds, Proprietary Funds & Reportable Funds for more information.

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"Reportable Security" means any security that is not an Exempt Security.

"RIC" means a Regulated Investment Company.

"Short-Sell" or "Short-Selling" means the sale of a security that is not owned by the seller. Access Persons may not take a short position in a security. However, mutual funds or ETFs that correspond to the inverse performance of a broad-based index are not considered to be Short-Sales. For example, buying (long) the ProShares Short S&P500 ETF is permitted. Employees may also trade in funds that track a volatility index.

"Solutions Team" means any employee who is a member of the Solutions Platform group, generally involved in passive investments.

"Victory Capital Stock" means securities offered by VCH or any subsidiary through a registration statement that has been declared effective by the SEC (e.g. "VCTR").

3. CULTURE OF COMPLIANCE

Victory Capital's primary objective is to provide value through investment advisory, sub-advisory and other financial services to a wide range of clients, including governments, corporations, financial institutions, high net worth individuals, pension funds, and retail clients.

Victory Capital requires that all dealings on behalf of existing and prospective clients be handled with honesty, integrity and high ethical standards, and that such dealings adhere to the letter and the spirit of applicable laws, regulations and contractual guidelines. As a general matter, Victory Capital is a fiduciary that owes its clients a duty of undivided loyalty, and each employee has a responsibility to act in a manner consistent with this duty. All employees must actively work to avoid the possibility that the advice or services provided to clients is, or gives the appearance of being, based on the self-interests of Victory Capital or its employees and not in the clients' best interests. Violations of the Code must be reported promptly to the CCO or his/her designee.

Employees must act solely in the best interests their clients. Statutory and regulatory requirements impose specific responsibilities governing the behavior of personnel in carrying out their responsibilities to clients. Victory Capital and its employees must comply fully with these rules and regulations. The Legal, Compliance and Risk Department ("LCR Department") personnel are available to assist employees in meeting these requirements.

Since no set of rules can anticipate every possible situation, it is essential that Victory Capital employees and representatives obtain guidance from the CCO, Chief Legal Officer ("CLO"), or their designees when unsure how to follow these rules in letter and in spirit. It is the responsibility of all employees and representatives to fully understand and comply with the Code and the policies of Victory Capital or seek guidance from the CCO. Technical compliance with the Code and its procedures will not necessarily validate an employee's actions as appropriate. Any activity that compromises Victory Capital's integrity, even if it does not expressly violate a rule, may result in further action from the CCO. In some instances, the CCO holds discretionary authority to apply exceptions under the Code. In the CCO's absence, the CLO may act in his or her place.

Victory Capital's fiduciary responsibilities apply to a broad range of investment and related activities, including sales and marketing, portfolio management, securities trading, allocation of investment opportunities, client service, operations support, performance measurement and reporting, new product development as well as personal investing activities. These obligations include the duty to avoid material conflicts of interest (and, if this is not possible, to provide full and fair disclosure to clients in communications), to keep accurate books and records, and to supervise personnel appropriately. These concepts are further described in the sections that follow.

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4.POLICY STATEMENT ON INSIDER TRADING A. Introduction

January 1, 2021

Victory Capital seeks to foster a culture of compliance and a reputation for integrity and professionalism. Victory Capital values and endeavors to protect the confidence and trust placed in us by our clients. To further that goal, this Policy Statement implements procedures to deter the misuse of MNPI in securities transactions.

The term "insider trading" is not defined in the federal securities laws but refers generally to the situation when a person trades while aware of MNPI or communicates MNPI to others in breach of a duty of trust or confidence.

While the law concerning insider trading is not static, it is generally understood that the law prohibits any of the following:

•Trading by an insider, while aware of MNPI;

•Trading by a non-insider, while aware of MNPI, where the information was disclosed to the non-insider in violation of an insider's duty to keep it confidential; or

•Communicating MNPI to others in breach of a duty of trust or confidence.

Trading securities while in possession of MNPI or improperly communicating that information to others may result in stringent penalties. Criminal sanctions may include fines of up to $5,000,000, twenty years' imprisonment, or both. The civil penalty for a violator may be an amount up to three times the profit (or loss avoided) as a result of the insider trading violation, and a permanent bar from working in the securities industry. Investors may sue and seek to recover damages for insider trading violations.

Regardless of whether a regulatory inquiry occurs, Victory Capital views seriously any violation of this Policy Statement. Such violations constitute grounds for disciplinary sanctions, up to and including dismissal.

B. Scope of the Policy Statement

This Policy Statement is drafted broadly and will be applied and interpreted in a similar manner. It applies to all Access Persons and to transactions in any security participated in by Immediate Family members of Access Persons or trusts or corporations controlled by Access Persons.

Any questions relating to this Policy Statement should be directed to the CCO or his/her designee. You must notify the LCR Department immediately if you have any reason to believe that a violation of this Policy Statement has occurred or is about to occur.

C. What is Material Information?

Trading on inside information is not a basis for liability unless the information relied upon is deemed to be material. "Material" information is defined generally as information for which there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable investor would consider it important in making his or her investment decisions, or information that is reasonably certain to have a substantial effect on the price of a company's securities. If the disclosure of that information would be expected to alter the total mix of information that is publicly available about that company, then the information is considered material. Any questions about whether information is material should be directed to a member of the LCR Department.

Material information often relates to a company's financial results and operations, including, for example, dividend changes, earning results, changes in previously released earnings estimates, significant merger or acquisition proposals or agreements, major litigation, liquidation problems, and

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January 1, 2021

extraordinary management developments. Information about a company could be material because of its expected effect on a particular class of the company's securities, all of the company's securities, the securities of another company, or the securities of several companies. Material information does not have to relate to a company's business. For example, in Carpenter v. U.S., the Supreme Court considered as material certain information about the contents of a forthcoming newspaper column that was expected to affect the market price of a security. In that case, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal was found criminally liable for disclosing to others the dates that reports on various companies would appear in the Journal and whether those reports would be favorable or not.

D. What is Non-Public Information?

For issues concerning insider trading to arise, information must not only be material, it must also be "non-public". Non-public information is information that has not been made available to investors generally. Information received in circumstances indicating that it is not yet in general circulation or where the recipient knows or should know that the information could only have been provided by an "insider" is also deemed non-public information. For non-public information to become public information, it must be disseminated through recognized channels of distribution designed to broadly reach the securities marketplace.

Facts verifying that the information is public (and therefore has become generally available) may include, for example, and without limitation, disclosure in:

•National business and financial wire service, such as Dow Jones or Reuters;

•National news service or newspaper, such as AP or The Wall Street Journal; or

•Publicly disseminated disclosure document, such as a proxy statement or prospectus.

The circulation of rumors or "talk on the street", even if accurate, widespread and reported in the media, does not constitute the requisite public disclosure. In addition, the information must not only be publicly disclosed, there must also be adequate time for the market to digest the information. Material non-public information is not made public by selective dissemination. Material information improperly disclosed only to institutional investors or to a fund analyst or a favored group of analysts retains its status as "non-public" information that must not be disclosed or otherwise misused.

Partial disclosure does not constitute public dissemination. So long as any material component of the "inside" information has yet to be publicly disclosed, the information is deemed non-public and may not be misused.

E. Identifying Inside Information

Before executing any Personal Trades or trades for client accounts, employees must determine whether they have access to MNPI. If an employee believes that he or she might have access to MNPI, the following steps should be taken:

•Report the information and proposed trade immediately to the CCO or a member of the LCR Department;

•Do not purchase or sell the securities as Personal Trades or for clients without written clearance to do so from the CCO or a member of the LCR Department; and

•Do not communicate the information inside or outside of Victory Capital, other than to the LCR Department and, if necessary, your direct manager.

A member of the Compliance Department will determine whether the information is material and non- public.

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Victory Capital Management Inc. Code of Ethics

F. Contact with Public Companies

January 1, 2021

Victory Capital's contacts with public companies represent an important part of its research efforts. Victory Capital may make investment decisions on the basis of the firm's conclusions formed through such contacts and analysis of publicly available information. Legal issues may arise if, in the course of these contacts, an employee becomes aware of MNPI. This could happen, for example, if a company's chief financial officer were to prematurely disclose quarterly results to an analyst, or an investor relations representative selectively discloses adverse news to a handful of investors.

G. Tender Offers

Tender offers represent a particular concern in the law of insider trading for two reasons. First, tender offer activity often produces extraordinary gyrations in the price of the target company's securities. Trading during this time is more likely to attract regulatory attention (and produces a disproportionate percentage of insider trading cases). Second, the SEC forbids trading and "tipping" while in possession of MNPI regarding the receipt of a tender offer, the tender offeror, the target company or anyone acting on behalf of either of these parties. Employees should exercise caution any time they become aware of non-public information relating to a tender offer.

H. Protecting Sensitive Information

Employees are responsible for safeguarding all confidential information relating to investment research, fund and client holdings, including analyst research reports, investment meeting discussions or notes, and current fund or client transaction information, regardless whether such information is deemed MNPI. Other types of information (for example, marketing plans, employment issues and shareholder identities) may also be confidential and should not be shared with individuals outside the company unless approved by the CCO or a Victory Capital executive officer.

All Access Persons are expressly prohibited from knowingly spreading any false rumor concerning any company, or any purported market development, that is designed to impact trading in or the price of that company's or any other company's securities, and from engaging in any other type of activity that constitutes illegal market manipulation.

I.Trading in Securities Listed on Exchanges in Other Countries

Trading in securities listed on exchanges in other countries is governed by the laws of that country. Access Persons who are trading in such securities must ensure compliance with applicable law, which in all relevant cases prohibits trading on the basis of MNPI or price-sensitive information, as those terms are defined in the relevant jurisdiction.

J. Public Company Confidential Records

VCH's and Victory Capital's records must always be treated as confidential and must not be disclosed or used for any purpose at any time other than for the normal course of business. Information learned about other entities in a special relationship with VCH, such as acquisition, joint venture and partnership negotiations, is confidential and must not be disclosed without proper authorization.

At all times, Access Persons are prohibited from making any recommendation or expressing any opinion as to trading in Victory Capital Stock

See VCH's Corporate Communications Policy and Insider Trading Policy for more information.

5. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

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A "conflict of interest" exists when a person's private interests may be contrary to the interests of clients or shareholders of Victory Capital. A conflict may arise if a Victory Capital employee takes actions or has business, financial or other interests that may make it difficult to perform his or her work objectively and effectively.

Conflicts of interest may arise, for example, if a Victory Capital employee or his or her Immediate Family member receives improper personal benefits (for example, personal loans, services, or payment for services) as a result of his or her position at Victory Capital or gains personal enrichment or benefits through access to confidential information. Conflicts may also arise if a Victory Capital employee or an Immediate Family member holds a financial interest in a company that does business with Victory Capital or has outside business interests that may result in divided loyalties or compromised independent judgment. Conflicts may also arise when making securities investments for Proprietary Funds or Personal Accounts or when determining how to allocate trading opportunities.

Conflicts of interest can arise in many common situations, despite best efforts to avoid them. This Code does not attempt to identify all possible conflicts of interest. Literal compliance with each of the specific procedures will not shield Access Persons from liability for Personal Trading or other conduct that violates fiduciary duties to Victory Capital clients. Victory Capital employees are encouraged to seek clarification of, and discuss questions about, potential conflicts of interest. Any questions regarding a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest should be directed to a manager, the CCO or a representative of the LCR Department.

The following areas represent many common types of conflicts of interests and the procedures to be followed; however, the list is not intended to be all-inclusive. A summary is provided for each case, but further details can be found in the related Policies and Procedures. For questions related to potential conflicts, please contact a member of the LCR Department.

A. Gifts and Entertainment

Gifts

Giving or receiving gifts or other items of value to or from persons doing business or seeking to do business with Victory Capital could call into question the independence of its judgment as a fiduciary of its clients. Accordingly, it is the policy of Victory Capital to permit such conduct only in accordance with the limitations stated herein.

Victory Capital's policies on gifts and entertainment are derived from industry practices. Employees should be aware that there are various laws and regulations that prohibit firms and their employees from giving anything of value to employees of various financial institutions in connection with attempts to obtain any business transaction with the institution, which is viewed as a form of bribery. If there is any question about the appropriateness of any particular gift, an employee should consult a member of the LCR Department.

Under no circumstances may a gift to Victory Capital or any employee be received as any form of compensation for services provided by Victory Capital or an employee. Gifts of nominal value may be given to or accepted from present or prospective customers, brokers, service providers, suppliers or vendors with whom Victory Capital has a business or potential business relationship. Victory Capital employees are required to promptly report all gifts given in excess of $50 in Victory Capital's expense reporting system (Concur). Any gifts received in excess of $50 must promptly be disclosed in MCO. Gifts from an individual or entity may not exceed $100 in aggregate value in any calendar year unless approval is obtained from the employee's direct manager and the LCR Department.

Gifts of up to $100 per person per year may be provided to present or prospective customers, brokers, service providers, suppliers or vendors with whom Victory Capital has a business or potential business relationship.

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Additional policies concerning gifts may be applicable depending on the type of customer (e.g., ERISA, foreign, union, government officials, or Covered Government Officials).

Please refer to Victory Capital's Gifts and Entertainment Policy (F-3) for more information.

Entertainment

Employees may sponsor and participate in Reasonable and Customary Business Entertainment. Any Business Entertainment that is not Reasonable and Customary must be pre-approved by the CCO and the employee's manager. You must accompany the persons being entertained for an entertainment activity to qualify as permissible Business Entertainment. All Business Entertainment expenses must be reported promptly in Concur, listing each attendee at the entertainment event. The receipt of Business Entertainment in excess of $50 per occurrence per employee must be disclosed promptly after each occurrence in MCO. If the client, broker, service provider, vendor or supplier is not present, the entertainment is considered a gift. Items that are normally associated with entertainment that are given or received during a virtual event can be considered entertainment as long as the appropriate parties are in attendance at the virtual event.

Additional policies concerning gifts and entertainment may be applicable depending on the type of customer (e.g., ERISA, foreign, union, government officials, or Covered Government Officials).

Please refer to Victory Capital's Gifts and Entertainment Policy (F-3) for more information.

B. Political Contributions

SEC regulations limit political contributions to Covered Government Officials by employees of investment advisory firms and certain affiliated companies. The SEC's "Pay-to-Play" Rule 206(4)-5 (the "Rule") prohibits advisers from receiving any compensation for providing investment advice to a government entity within two years after a contribution has been made by the adviser or one of its covered associates. The two-year time out is triggered by a political contribution to an official of a government entity. The date of the contribution starts the time out.

The Rule permits contributions of up to $350 per person for any election to an elected official or candidate for whom the individual is entitled to vote, and up to $150 per person for any election to an elected official or candidate for whom the individual is not entitled to vote. Many U.S. cities, states and other government entities have also adopted regulations restricting political contributions by associates of investment management firms seeking to provide services to a governmental entity. While contributions to candidates in federal elections would generally not raise any issues under state or local laws, contributions to state and local officials may not be approved depending on the circumstances. Prior to the commencement of employment, new employees must disclose all political contributions in the past 2 years to Human Resources. During employment, Victory Capital employees must receive approval from the LCR Department through MCO before making personal political contributions at all levels. Political contributions which require pre-approval include, but are not limited to, the following:

•Covered Government Officials;

•Federal candidate campaigns and affiliated committees;

•Political Action Committees (PACs) and Super PACs; and

•Non-profit organizations that may engage in political activities, such as 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6) organizations, and 527 organizations

Note: U.S. national political party donations (e.g. Democratic or Republican) do not require pre- clearance.

Contributions include:

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•Monetary contributions, gifts or loans;

•"In kind" contributions (e.g. donations of goods or services or underwriting or hosting fundraisers);

•Contributions to help pay a debt incurred in connection with an election (including transition or inaugural expenses, purchasing tickets to inaugural events);

•Contributions to joint fund-raising committees; or

•Contributions made by a PAC that is controlled by an Access Person.

See Victory Capital's Political Contributions Policy (F-2) for more information.

C. Outside Business Activities

Prior to commencement of employment with Victory Capital, all Outside Business Activities ("OBAs") must be disclosed to Human Resources. During employment and prior to commencement of any new OBA, employees must fill out and submit an OBA request form in MCO. Employees are responsible for notifying the Compliance Department of any material OBA changes and must review, update and certify quarterly to their OBA activities.

Holding Political Office/Appointments

Victory Capital employees must avoid any political appointment that may conflict with the performance of his or her duties for Victory Capital. Prior written approval must be obtained from the CCO before holding political office and, if approved, must be confirmed annually through the compliance certification process. Employees must expressly remove themselves from discussions and decisions regarding Victory Capital, its products or services when Victory Capital may be a competitor for business related to their appointment.

Outside Employment or Business Activities

Employees may pursue other interests on their own time as long as the activity doesn't reflect negatively on Victory Capital and does not interfere or conflict in any way with Victory Capital or its clients. However, full-time employees of Victory Capital should consider their position to be their primary employment.

All outside business activities must be reported to and pre-approved by both the employee's direct manager and the CCO. Outside employment or business activities may be considered any activity conducted by a Victory Capital employee for another organization or business purpose that is outside the scope of the employee's job function for Victory Capital. This includes, but is not limited to, being an employee, independent contractor, consultant, sole proprietor, officer, director or partner of another organization, or being compensated by, or having the reasonable expectation of compensation from, any other person or organization as a result of any business activity outside the scope of the relationship with Victory Capital. Certain activities are not considered reportable OBAs, including any non-investment related activity that is exclusively charitable, civic, religious or fraternal and is recognized as tax exempt.

Passive investments may be exempted from the reporting and pre-approval requirement. Although passive investments are exempted from the reporting requirements under the Outside Employment or Business Activities section of this Code, they may be subject to the reporting and pre-clearance requirements that fall under the Limited Offerings and Private Placements section of this Code. Any questions regarding non-compensated outside employment or business activities and passive investments should be directed to the CCO.

Absent prior approval of the CCO or the Chief Executive Officer, no employee of Victory Capital may serve on the board of directors of any publicly traded company or investment company. An

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employee's or Immediate Family member's service on a for-profit private company's board of directors must also be pre-approved by the employee's direct manager and the CCO or CLO, and reported on the employee's annual Code certification.

All outside employment or business activities must be reported to and pre-approved by both the employee's direct manager and the CCO and reported on the employee's quarterly certification. Employees are prohibited from the commencement of any outside employment or business activities until the CCO's final approval within MCO has occurred.

In addition to these outside employment or business activity procedures, all employees who are registered representatives of VCS must also adhere to related requirements as set forth in VCS's Written Supervisory Procedures Manual.

See Victory Capital's Outside Business Activity Policy (F-4) for more information.

Bequests

A bequest is the act of leaving or giving something of value in a will. The acceptance of a bequest from a client, vendor or business partner may raise questions about the propriety of that relationship. Any potential or actual bequest in excess of $100 made to an employee by a client, vendor, or business partner under a will or trust agreement must be reported to the LCR Department. Such bequests shall be subject to the approval of the employee's manager and CCO.

D. Other Prohibitions on Conduct

In addition to the specific prohibitions detailed elsewhere in the Code, Victory Capital employees are subject to a general requirement not to engage or participate in any act or practice that would defraud Victory Capital clients. This general prohibition includes, among other things:

•Making any untrue statement of a material fact or employing any device, scheme or artifice to defraud a client;

•Omitting to state a material fact, or failing to provide any information necessary to properly clarify any statements made, in light of the circumstances, thereby creating a materially misleading impression;

•Misuse of client confidential information;

•Making investment decisions, changing internal research ratings and trading decisions other than exclusively for the benefit and in the best interest of our clients;

•Using information about investment or trading decisions or changes in research ratings (whether considered, proposed or made) to benefit or avoid economic injury to an Access Person or anyone other than our clients.

•Taking, delaying or failing to take any action with respect to any research recommendation, report or rating or any investment or trading decision for a client in order to avoid economic injury to an Access Person or anyone other than a client;

•Purchasing or selling a security on the basis of knowledge of a possible trade by or for a client with the intent of personally profiting from personal holdings in the same or related securities ("front-running" or "scalping");

•Revealing to any other person (except in the normal course of an employee's duties on behalf of a client) any information regarding securities transactions by any client or the consideration by any client of any such securities transactions; or

•Engaging in any act, practice or course of business that operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit on a client or engaging in any manipulative practice with respect to any client.

E.Review of Employee Communications

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All correspondence related to Victory Capital's business and any client correspondence is subject to review by the LCR Department. Victory Capital is required to maintain original records of employee correspondence that is communicated on approved devices (such as through email). In addition, Victory Capital is required to monitor employee communications and compliance with Victory Capital's conflicts of interest and insider trading policies and procedures. Consequently, Victory Capital reviews or archives all employee communications, including emails and other forms of electronic communication for compliance purposes. Employees are advised that they should have no expectation of privacy regarding personal communications that are sent or received on company- provided or connected electronic devices or communication platforms, such as instant messages or emails.

Employees are prohibited from sending communications regarding Victory Capital business via any personal, non-Victory Capital email account, instant messaging, text or other method that is not captured in our archiving system. Employees may only use Victory Capital's e-mail system, instant messaging system, Bloomberg and other explicitly approved methods for business-related communications. Employees are permitted to communicate on Victory Capital's e-mail system connected through personal mobile devices such as smartphones. See Victory Capital's Corporate Information Protection and Technology Use Policy (A-8) for more information.

6.STANDARDS OF BUSINESS CONDUCT

•Every employee has a duty to place the interests of Victory Capital client accounts first and not take advantage of his or her positions at the expense of Victory Capital or its clients.

•Victory Capital employees must not mislead or defraud any Victory Capital clients by any statement, act or manipulative practice.

•All personal securities transactions must be conducted in a manner to avoid any actual, potential, or appearance of, a conflict of interest, or any abuse of an employee's position of trust and responsibility with Victory Capital.

•Victory Capital employees may not induce or cause a client to take action, or not to take action, for personal benefit.

•Victory Capital employees may not share portfolio holdings information except as permitted under Victory Capital's Disclosures of Portfolio Securities Policy (B-15). See the policy for more information.

•Every Access Person must notify the CCO or CLO, as soon as reasonably practical, if he or she is arrested, arraigned, indicted or pleads no contest or guilty to any criminal offense (other than minor traffic violations) or if named as a defendant in any investment-related civil proceeding or any administrative or disciplinary action.

7.PERSONAL TRADING, CODE OF ETHICS REPORTING AND CERTIFICATIONS

Personal Trading is a privilege granted by Victory Capital that may be withdrawn at any time. The CCO has complete discretion over all Personal Trading activity and has no obligation to explain any denial or restriction relating thereto. Employees who violate Personal Trading restrictions may be required to disgorge any gains generated (or losses avoided) by Personal Trading. Access Persons must maintain adequate records of all Personal Trading transactions and be prepared to disclose those transactions to the LCR Department.

A. Employee Investment Accounts

Subject to disclosure and pre-clearance requirements, Access Persons may open and maintain Managed Accounts and Personal Accounts with select brokers supported by MCO through direct electronic feeds ("Approved Brokers"). Any accounts held with a broker that is not on the Approved

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Broker List must be transferred to an Approved Broker within 90 days of the commencement of employment with Victory Capital.

On a case-by-case basis, the LCR Department may approve certain accounts held with brokers that are not on the Approved Brokers List. The LCR Department must still receive duplicate statements and confirmations directly from the broker for each of these types of accounts.

For a list of Approved Brokers see Appendix 2 – Approved Brokers List. For a summary of account disclosure requirements see Appendix 3 – Investment Account Disclosure. For a summary of pre- clearance requirements see Appendix 4 – Reportable Securities.

Managed Accounts

Access Persons may open and maintain Managed Accounts with Approved Brokers. With the exception of IPOs and Limited Offerings, the requirements listed below under Personal Trading Requirements and Restrictions do not apply to Managed Accounts. Participation in an IPO or a private placement in a Managed Account still requires prior approval of the CCO or his/her designee.

Managed Accounts require the following:

•They must be approved by the LCR Department prior to trading or on the next quarterly certification, whichever is sooner;

•At the end of each quarter, all employees must certify that all Managed Accounts have been disclosed and verify all transactions are correctly reflected in MCO;

•The employee must certify and the LCR Department must be able to independently verify that the account is truly discretionary;

•The broker must provide to the Compliance Department duplicate confirmations or an electronic data feed of each transaction in the account;

•Access Persons may not exercise any direct or indirect influence or control over the transactions; and

•Access Persons must certify quarterly that they had no direct or indirect influence or control over any transactions that occurred in their Managed Accounts.

Failure to adhere to these requirements could lead to disciplinary actions and penalties up to and including termination.

Personal Accounts

Access Persons may open and maintain Personal Accounts with brokers on the Approved Brokers List. All requirements listed below under Personal Trading Requirements and Restrictions apply to Personal Accounts.

Personal Accounts require the following:

•They must be approved by the LCR Department prior to trading or on the next quarterly certification, whichever is sooner;

•At the end of each quarter, all employees must certify that all Personal Accounts have been disclosed and verify all Personal Trades or transactions are correctly reflected in MCO.

Access Persons acknowledge and agree that Victory Capital may request and obtain information regarding Personal Accounts from broker-dealers. Victory Capital may use personal information, including name, address and social security numbers, to identify and verify employee accounts.

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B. Employee Investment Account Reporting

Investment Account Disclosure

January 1, 2021

All Personal Accounts and Managed Accounts must be disclosed to and approved by the LCR Department prior to trading or on the next quarterly certification, whichever is sooner. New Hires may not trade in their existing accounts until they have been disclosed and approved by the LCR Department. By regulation, such disclosure must take place within 10 days of hire. Failure to comply may result in sanctions imposed by the Victory Capital Compliance Committee and/or Board of Directors.

Initial Holdings Report/Annual Holdings Report

No Personal Trading will be authorized before the LCR Department has received a completed Initial Holdings Report as part of the new hire on-boarding process. Any exceptions must be approved by the CCO. The Initial Holdings Report must be submitted to the Compliance Department within ten

(10)calendar days of becoming an Access Person. All Access Persons must submit a similar report annually to the Compliance Department. These reports must include the following information:

•The date when the individual became an Access Person (Initial Holdings Report only);

•The name of each Personal Account in which any securities are or could be held in the Beneficial Interest of the Access Person, and the name of the broker-dealer or financial institution holding these accounts;

•Current holdings in private placements (or non-public offering), including private equity, hedge funds or partnerships; and

•Each Reportable Security or Reportable Fund in which the Access Person has a Beneficial Interest, including title, number of shares, and principal amount. Holdings information must be current as of 45 calendar days before the report is submitted.

Quarterly Securities Transaction Report

At the end of each quarter, every Access Person must verify his or her Personal Trades or transactions in Personal Accounts through MCO by submitting a Securities Transaction Report ("STR") no later than 30 calendar days following the end of each calendar quarter (whether or not trades were made). The STR must include:

•A description of any transaction in a Reportable Security or Reportable Fund effected during the preceding quarter, such as the date, number of shares, principal amount of securities involved, nature of the transaction (i.e., a buy or a sell), price, and the name of the broker- dealer or financial institution that effected the transaction; and

•The name and number for any account established in the preceding quarter, including the name and address of the broker-dealer or financial institution where the account is held and the date it was created.

Certain transactions are exempt from the quarterly reporting requirement. See "Summary of Pre- clearance Requirements" in Appendix 4 – Reportable Securities for more information.

C. Personal Trading Requirements and Restrictions

Prohibited Securities and Transactions

Commodities, currencies (including cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum), futures, options, and selling securities short are prohibited in Personal Accounts.

Investments in companies under common control of VCH are also prohibited in Personal Accounts.

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Pre-clearance Requirement

January 1, 2021

Transactions that require pre-clearance are listed in Appendix 4 – Reportable Securities.

For transactions that require preclearance, employees must obtain compliance approval prior to executing the transaction. Approval may only be requested by submitting a Personal Trade Pre- Clearance Request ("PTR") in MCO. Compliance approval expires at the end of the trading day approval was provided (see exception granted to Covered Persons, as defined in VCH's Insider Trading Policy).

In certain circumstances, an approved and executed Personal Trade may need to be broken or profits disgorged (e.g. a Blackout Period triggered by subsequent client trading).

Prohibition on Personal Trades Ahead of Client Pending Orders

Access Persons are prohibited from executing Personal Trades in securities where they are aware of any pending orders in such securities by any Franchise that, if executed, would trigger a Blackout Period, create a conflict, or disadvantage a client. Adherence to the above Pre-Clearance Requirement does not provide relief from this prohibition.

Franchise Blackout Period

The Franchise Blackout Period is triggered by all client trades within an employee's specific Franchise. There are no exceptions to the Franchise Blackout period. Therefore, a Personal Trade by a Franchise employee in the same name as a client trade of that employee's Franchise during a Blackout Period is strictly prohibited.

Solutions Team Blackout Period

The Solutions Team Blackout Period is triggered by all Solutions Platform client trades. Therefore, a Personal Trade by a Solutions Team member during a Blackout Period in the same name as a Solutions Platform client is generally prohibited. Personal Trades in De Minimis Securities by Solutions Team members are not subject to the Solutions Team Blackout Period. The CCO, or his/her designee, may determine that a non-volitional client trade (e.g. cash flow trading) did not trigger a Blackout Period. In such cases, Compliance will confirm that there are no other potential conflicts before approving the Personal Trade.

The CCO, or his/her designee, may extend the Solutions Team Blackout Period beyond 10 days and apply it to employees outside of the Solutions Team during rebalance periods.

Standard Blackout Period

For all other employees (e.g. support staff), the Standard Blackout Period is triggered by all client trades. Therefore, a Personal Trade by an employee during a Blackout Period in the same name as any client is generally prohibited. Personal Trades in De Minimis Securities are not subject to the Standard Blackout Period. The CCO, or his/her designee, may determine that a non-volitional client trade (e.g. cash flow trading) did not trigger a Blackout Period. In such cases, Compliance will confirm that there are no other potential conflicts before approving the Personal Trade. Additionally, in certain situations (e.g. shared office spaces), the CCO, or his/her designee, may apply the Standard Blackout Period to Franchise or Solutions employees.

Short-Term Holding Period

Personal Trading must be for investment purposes rather than for speculation. Access Persons may not purchase and sell or sell and purchase the same security within sixty (60) calendar days,

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calculated on a LIFO basis. This means each purchase will require you to hold your entire position in that security for 60 days. Similarly, this means each sale will require you not to purchase that name for 60 days. Excess profits (or losses avoided) as a result of violating this restriction may be subject to disgorgement. Access persons should carefully consider whether they have the conviction to hold an entire position or refrain from adding to a position for at least 60 days before engaging in buy or sell transactions. See exceptions related to trading in Victory Capital stock. The Short-Term Holding Period only applies to transactions that require pre-clearance.

The CCO, in his/her sole discretion, may approve exceptions to this requirement.

Maximum Allowable Trades

Access Persons are limited to 20 Personal Trades per calendar quarter across their Personal Accounts. A trade in the same security in multiple accounts on the same day will count as one trade. The CCO, in his/her sole discretion, may approve exceptions to this requirement.

Small Market Capitalization Securities

Victory Capital generally discourages Personal Trading in smaller market capitalization stocks (e.g. less than $1 billion), especially any "microcap stocks", as these securities could lead to a potential conflict of interest if they are also purchased in client accounts. Personal Trading by members of a Franchise in common holdings with Victory Capital clients, especially in low volume or low market capitalization stocks, could lead to a potential conflict of interest and therefore may be prohibited.

IPO Rule

No Access Person may directly or indirectly acquire a Beneficial Interest in any securities offered in an IPO or in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), in a Personal Account or Managed Account, without prior approval of the CCO or his/her designee.

Limited Offerings (Private Placements)

No Access Person may acquire a Beneficial Interest in a private placement without the prior approval of the CCO or his/her designee. Prior approval is required whether investing directly or through a Personal Account or Managed Account. Private placements, such as investment in a private company, investments in a hedge fund or other private investment fund are reportable through the pre-clearance process. Subsequent capital contributions and full or partial redemptions must be pre- cleared through MCO.

Market Timing Mutual Fund Transactions

Access Persons shall not participate in any activity that may be construed as market timing of mutual funds. Specifically, no employee shall engage in excessive trading or market timing activities as described in each prospectus of a Proprietary Fund or Reportable Fund.

Trading in Victory Capital Stock

Victory Capital Stock (VCTR) is a Reportable Security under the Code and any transaction in VCTR in a Personal Account must be precleared. Victory employees may be eligible for certain benefits related to VCTR, such as participation in the ESPP and grants of stock options or restricted stock. Certain transactions related to these benefits will require pre-clearance. For a summary of pre- clearance requirements for VCTR see Pre-Clearance Requirements for Victory Capital Stock under Appendix 4 – Reportable Securities. If an employee is uncertain whether a transaction requires pre- clearance, they should consult with the CCO or a member of the Compliance Department prior to trading.

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VCTR transactions related to the above employee benefits will not trigger the Short-Term Holding Period in a Personal Account. Likewise, VCTR transactions in a Personal Account will not affect an employee's ability to exercise such employee benefits.

Covered Persons, as defined in VCH's Insider Trading Policy, will have 3 business days upon receipt of approval to effect transactions in VCTR.

D. Representations and Warranties

Each time an Access Person submits a PTR, that Access Person shall be deemed to make the following representations and warranties:

•They are not in possession of any MNPI for the requested security;

•They are not aware of any client trading in the same security during any Blackout Period to which the employee is subject

•They have not traded the same position in the opposite direction, in the past 60 days (Mandatory Short-Term Holding Period);

E.Quarterly and Annual Certifications of Compliance

Each Access Person is required to certify quarterly that he or she has disclosed all reportable:

1.Gifts and entertainment;

2.Outside Business Activities;

3.Political activity and contributions;

4.All Personal Trading Accounts, including Managed Accounts; and

5.Personal Trades.

Each Access Person is required to certify annually to the following:

1.They have read, understand and complied with this Code and other related policies;

2.They have read, understand and complied with Victory Capital's Corporate Information Protection and Technology Use Policy (A-8);

3.They have provided and verified all reportable holdings data; and

4.They have answered all additional questions and disclosures within Victory Capital's Annual Code of Ethics Certification in an accurate and truthful manner.

F.Review Procedures

The LCR Department will maintain review procedures consistent with this Code.

G. Recordkeeping

All Code of Ethics records will be maintained pursuant to the provisions of Rule 204A-1 under the Advisers Act and Rule 17j-1 under the Investment Company Act. See Victory Capital's Books and Records Policy (M-13) for more information.

H. Whistleblower Provisions

If an Access Person believes that there has been a violation of this Code, he or she must promptly notify the CCO or CLO or report anonymously to the Victory Capital Ethics telephone hotline at 800- 584-9055. Access Persons are protected from retaliation for reporting violations of this Code. Retaliation or the threat of retaliation against an Access Person for reporting a violation constitutes a further violation of this Code and may lead to immediate suspension and further sanctions. See Victory Capital's Whistleblower and Reporting Suspicious Activity Policy (F-8) for more information.

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Victory Capital is also responsible for communicating the Affiliated Funds' whistleblower procedures to our employees. The Affiliated Funds have implemented procedures for receiving anonymous reports of suspected or actual violations of Affiliated Funds' policies and questionable accounting, internal accounting controls, or auditing matters. Call 866-844-3863 to initiate a report regarding an Affiliated Fund.

I.Confidentiality

All information obtained from any employee shall be kept in strict confidence, except when requested by the SEC or any other regulatory or self-regulatory organization, and may otherwise be disclosed to the extent required by law or regulation. Additionally, certain information may be provided to a broker-dealer, service provider or vendor, such as employee name, social security number and home address, in order to ascertain Personal Trading activity that is required to be disclosed by an Access Person.

J. Reporting to the Board of Directors of Affiliated Funds

At least annually, Victory Capital will provide the Board of Directors of Affiliated Funds with information regarding: 1) any Material Violations under this Code and any sanctions imposed as a response to such Material Violation; and 2) certification that Victory Capital has adopted procedures necessary to prevent Access Persons from violating this Code.

8. CODE OF ETHICS VIOLATION GUIDELINES

Each Access Person is responsible for conducting his or her activities in accordance with this Code. Violations of the Code may result in applicable sanctions.

Sanctions may correlate to the severity of the violation and may take into consideration, among other things, such factors as the frequency and severity of any prior violations. The CCO may recommend escalation to the Victory Capital Board of Directors and Compliance Committee. When necessary, the Victory Capital Board of Directors may obtain input from the Compliance Committee and the CCO when determining whether such violation is a Material Violation.

The CCO holds discretionary authority to revoke Personal Trading privileges for any length of time and also reserves the right to lift Personal Trading sanctions in response to market conditions. Additionally, the CCO or Compliance Committee may impose a monetary penalty for any violation. The CCO will report all warnings, violations and sanctions to the Compliance Committee.

Minor Violations

•Provided incorrect or incomplete account or trading information

•Engaging in a pattern of discouraged or excessive trading

•Trading without pre-clearance approval when trade would have normally been approved and additional violations did not occur

•Failure to submit a complete or timely initial or annual holdings or securities transactions report

•Failure to provide the Compliance Department a duplicate confirmation in a timely manner after request or notice by the Compliance Department

Potential Actions

•LCR Department may question employee and document response

•1st violation within a 12-month period may result in a warning letter

•CCO and Compliance Committee may be notified of all warnings and citations given to employees

•Employee may be required to break a trade or disgorge profits from the trade

•Any additional actions the CCO or LCR Department deem appropriate under the circumstances

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•Failure to pre-clear properly an outside business activity prior to commencement of such activity

•Failure to complete a quarterly or annual certification by due date

•Failure to pre-clear an investment in a private placement that would have been approved

Technical Violations

•Any pattern of a Minor Violation within a 12-month period may qualify as a Technical Violation

•Failure to report a Personal Account

•Trading without pre-clearance approval when trade would not have been approved

•Trading without pre-clearance or supplied incorrect information, which may have resulted in additional violations

•Failure to pre-clear any activity that would have been denied by the Compliance Department

•Any willful violations of the Code, as determined by the CCO, to be more severe than a Minor Violation

Repeat Technical Violations

•Any Technical Violation that is repeated at least two

(2) times during a 12-month period

Material Violations / Fraudulent Actions

•Any Material Violation

Potential Actions

•LCR Department may question employee and document response

•LCR Department may issue a warning letter

•Compliance Committee may be notified

•Human Resources may be notified

•Employee may be required to break a trade or disgorge profits from the trade – any such profits will be collected by Victory Capital and donated to charity

•Temporary ban from Personal Trading for no less than 30 calendar days

•A fine may be imposed, as determined by the CCO on a case-by-case basis

•Any other actions deemed appropriate by the CCO or the LCR Department

Potential Actions

•CCO may meet with employee's direct manager to discuss violation

•Human Resources may be notified

•Employee may be required to break a trade or disgorge profits from the trade – any such profits will be collected by Victory Capital and donated to charity

•Three (3) or more technical violations within a 12- month period may receive a citation letter, monetary fine and loss of Personal Trading privileges for no less than 90 calendar days

•Any other actions deemed appropriate by the CCO or the LCR Department

Potential Actions

•Compliance Committee will review and recommend sanctions and penalties up to and including termination of employment

•The Board of Directors and, when applicable, clients may be notified

•Possible criminal sanctions imposed by regulatory authorities

•A fine of $10,000 may be imposed by the Board of Directors

•Any other actions deemed appropriate by the CCO, Compliance Committee or the Board of Directors

The Code of Ethics Violation Guidelines provides examples of potential Code violations and the actions that Victory Capital might take if employees are in violation of the Code; it is not intended to serve as an exhaustive list of potential Code violations or actions relating thereto. All findings of Code violations and any actions relating thereto will be made on a case-by-case basis. The CCO has discretion to interpret violations and impose various sanctions in response to such violations as deemed necessary.

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Reconsideration

January 1, 2021

If an Access Person wishes to dispute a violation notice, he or she may submit a written explanation of the circumstances of the violation to the CCO. The CCO (and the CLO if escalation is deemed necessary) will review submissions on a case by case basis. The CCO and CLO are under no obligation to change any sanction that has been imposed.

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Appendix 1 – Affiliated Funds, Proprietary Funds & Reportable Funds

As described in this Code, certain restrictions apply to trading in an Affiliated Fund, a Proprietary Fund and any fund sub-advised by Victory Capital. Please refer to the company's intranet site "Under the wing" for a complete list or follow one of the links below.

Affiliated Funds

For the most up-to-date list of Affiliated Victory Funds, please visit www.vcm.com.

Proprietary Funds

Pre-clearance is required before trading in one of the following Proprietary Funds, which is a fund or product in which Victory Capital or its employees have an aggregate of 25% or more Beneficial Interest:

•Victory Munder Small Cap Growth Fund (MASCX, MYSGX), managed by Munder Capital Management

•Victory Munder Small Cap/Mid-Cap Blend (strategy), managed by Munder Capital Management

•Victory Trivalent Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund (MAEMX, MYEMX), managed by Trivalent Investments

Sub-Advised Funds

Victory Capital acts as sub-adviser to a number of unaffiliated registered investment companies (mutual funds). Please refer to Victory Capital Management Inc.'s ADV filed with the SEC by searching for the firm name on https://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov .  ADV Part 1 contains SECTION 5.G.(3), which lists "Advisers to Registered Investment Companies and Business Development Companies". The name of the fund complex can be obtained by searching for the SEC File Number (under More Options) using EDGAR: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html .  A complete list is also available on the company's intranet site "Under the wing" under the compliance tab.

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Appendix 2 – Approved Brokers List

You are allowed to open new or maintain existing personal or managed accounts at any of the brokers listed below. However, you may NOT begin trading in a brokerage account until it is reported in MCO and set up on our broker data feed. The approved brokers have been divided into tiers based on how responsive they typically are to our requests to add new accounts to the broker data feed.

Tier 1 Approved Brokers

These brokers provide enhanced broker data feed functionality and typically add new accounts to our broker data feed within 1 – 3 business days.

1.Charles Schwab

2.Fidelity Investments

3.Interactive Brokers

4.TD Ameritrade

Tier 2 Approved Brokers

These brokers may take longer than Tier 1 Approved Brokers, but they generally add new accounts to our broker data feed within 5 business days.

1.Ameriprise Financial Services

2.E*TRADE

3.Edward Jones

4.Merrill Lynch

5.UBS

6.Vanguard

Tier 3 Approved Brokers

These brokers may require you to sign a form before they will add a new account to our broker data feed, and/or typically take longer to update the feed once all their requirements are met – your ability to trade in a new account at these firms may be significantly delayed.

1.JP Morgan Chase

2.Morgan Stanley

3.Northern Trust

4.Raymond James

5.RBC

6.Wells Fargo

Approved Non-Brokers

The following types of accounts are typically not held through a traditional brokerage firm but are still allowed under the Code of Ethics – you may be required to manually report transactions effected in reportable securities within these types of accounts.

1.Employer Sponsored Retirement Plans

2.ESOP/ESPP

3.Direct Registration Service (DRS – i.e. Computershare, American Stock Transfer Company, etc.)

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Appendix 3 – Investment Account Disclosure

New Hires may not trade in their existing accounts until they have been disclosed and approved by the LCR Department. By regulation, such disclosure must take place within 10 days of hire. All new Personal Accounts and Managed Accounts must be reported to the LCR Department prior to trading or on the next quarterly certification, whichever is sooner. Failure to comply may result in sanctions imposed by the Victory Capital Compliance Committee and/or Board of Directors.

The below chart summarizes certain account types and their disclosure requirements. If an employee has a beneficial interest in any account identified below, they must follow the disclosure requirements. If an employee is uncertain whether an account should be disclosed or if they have a beneficial interest in an account not listed below, he or she should consult with the CCO or a member of the Compliance team.

Account Type

Initial Disclosure

Periodic Verification

 

 

 

All Personal Accounts

Yes

Yes

All Managed Accounts

Yes

Yes

Affiliated Fund Direct Accounts

Yes

Yes

401(k) if able to hold Reportable Securities

Yes

Yes

Security Lending Accounts

Yes

Yes

Margin Accounts

Yes

Yes

Investment Club Accounts

Yes

Yes

 

 

 

Private Placements

Yes

No

 

 

 

Unaffliated Open-end Mutual Fund Direct Accounts

No

No

 

 

 

Retirement accounts if unable to hold Reportable Securities

No

No

 

 

 

529 Plans

No

No

 

 

 

Bank accounts if unable to hold Reportable Securities

No

No

 

 

 

Donor Advised Fund (only pre-clear gift of stock to account)

No

No

 

 

 

HSA Investments

No

No

 

 

 

Also see the Account Reporting Job Aid for more details.

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Appendix 4 – Reportable Securities

Personal Accounts generally require employees to pre-clear transactions by submitting PTRs through MCO. See Section VI: Personal Trading Requirements and Restrictions for more information.

Summary of Pre-clearance and Reporting Requirements

The below chart summarizes the pre-clearance and reporting requirements of certain security types. Additional details can be found in the Pre-Clearance Job Aid. If an employee is uncertain whether a transaction requires pre-clearance, he or she should consult with the CCO or a member of the Compliance team. For Victory Capital Stock, please refer to the Summary of Pre-Clearance Requirements for Victory Capital Stock provided in this Appendix.

Prohibited in Personal Accounts

Commodities

Futures

Options

Currencies, including digital currencies (e.g. Bitcoin)

Selling Securities Short

Companies under common control with VCH

Pre-clear in Managed Accounts and Personal Accounts

Initial Public Offerings (IPO)

Private placements

Pre-clear in Personal Accounts

Equities

Corporate, High-Yield, Convertible, International, and Municipal Bonds

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including Victory Capital ETFs

Exchange-traded notes (ETNs)

Closed-end funds

Mortgage-Backed Securities

Agency Securities (e.g. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac etc.)

Trust preferred & traditional preferred securities

Any securities that are gifted or donated by an Access Person (e.g. direct to charity or to donor advised fund)

Unit investment trusts

Victory Proprietary Funds (MASCX, MYSGX, MAEMX, MYEMX)

Victory Capital 401(k) transactions greater than $100,000 in a Proprietary Fund

Reportable ONLY (pre-clearance NOT required)

Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs)

Victory or USAA Mutual Funds, unless it's a Proprietary Fund

Variable insurance products only where Victory Capital serves as adviser or sub-adviser

Exempt Transactions (only the effect of these transactions will be captured as an update on the annual holdings certification)

Approved automatic or periodic investment plans

Dividend reinvestment transactions

Corporate action transactions (e.g., stock splits, rights offerings, mergers and acquisitions)

Security lending transactions

Exempt Securities not subject to the Code

Direct obligations of the U.S. government

Bankers' acceptances, bank certificates of deposit and commercial paper

Investment grade, short-term debt instruments, including repurchase agreements

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Money market funds

Variable insurance products unless Victory Capital acts as adviser or sub-adviser

Unaffiliated open-end mutual funds

Investments in qualified tuition programs ("529 Plans"), including the USAA College Savings Plan

Physical commodity contracts

Summary of Pre-Clearance Requirements for Victory Capital Stock (ticker "VCTR")

VCTR Transaction Description

Pre-Clear

Common Stock (Class A Shares)

 

Employee purchase or sale in any Personal Account (e.g. a brokerage account for the benefit

Yes

of the employee or for the benefit of the employee's Immediate Family)

 

Employee purchase or sale in a Managed Account approved by Compliance.

No

Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)

 

Purchases made pursuant to Employee Stock Purchase Plan

No

Sales of shares acquired through the Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Yes

Options

 

Sale of shares in the open market acquired through the exercise of any options

Yes

Cash Exercise - Employee pays the entire cost of the exercise.

No

Withhold Shares - Victory Capital withholds shares equal to the cost of the exercise.

No

Restricted Stock (Class B Shares)

 

Selling restricted stock in the open market

Yes

Cash - Cash payment to cover vested shares tax liability

No

Net - Surrender shares to Victory Capital to cover vested shares tax liability

No

10b5-1 Trading Plan

 

Officers of VCH required to make filings under Section 16 of the Securities and Exchange

 

Act of 1934, as amended, conducting trades in accordance with an approved 10b5-1 Trading

No

Plan.

 

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Appendix 5 – ETFs Eligible for De Minimis Transaction Exemption

Firm rades in the following ETFs will not trigger any Blackout Period due to their use as highly liquid cash management vehicles in various Victory Capital accounts.

Name

Symbol

CUSIP

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF

IEF

464287440

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

TLT

464287432

iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF

IEFA

46432F842

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

IEMG

46434G103

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF

IVV

464287200

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

AGG

464287226

iShares FTSE China 25 Index

FXI

464287184

iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond

HYG

464288513

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

LQD

464287242

iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund

ACWI

464288257

iShares MSCI China Index Fund

MCHI

46429B671

iShares MSCI Emerging Index Fund ETF

EEM

464287234

iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund ETF

EFA

464287465

iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund ETF

EWJ

464286848

iShares MSCI India

INDA

46429B598

iShares Russell 1000

IWF

464287614

iShares Russell 2000 ETF

IWM

464287655

iShares Russell 2000 Value

IWN

464287630

iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value

IWS

464287473

SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF

JNK

78468R622

SPDR S&P 500 ETF

SPY

78462F103

SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF

MDY

78467Y107

Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF

VEU

922042775

Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF

VEA

921943858

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF

VWO

922042858

Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF

VGK

922042874

Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF

VMBS

92206C771

Vanguard Real Estate ETF

VNQ

922908553

Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF

BSV

921937827

Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF

VCSH

92206C409

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF

VOO

922908363

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF

BND

921937835

Vanguard Total International Stock ETF

VXUS

921909768

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF

VTI

922908769

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Supplement 1

RS Investments (Hong Kong) Limited

Code of Ethics Supplement ("Hong Kong Supplement")

The following policies and procedures are in addition to, and supersede where relevant, the policies and procedures detailed in the Code.

I.COMPLIANCE General

Compliance with all regulatory requirements is of the utmost importance to RS Investments (Hong Kong) Limited ("RSHK"). All staff members of RSHK should read and understand the content of the Code and Victory Capital's Compliance Manual (the "Compliance Manual"), and each staff member should also read and understand the content of the Code of Conduct for Persons Licensed by or Registered with the Securities and Futures Commission (the "Code of Conduct") and the Fund Manager Code of Conduct (the "FMCC") issued by the Securities and Futures Commission (the "SFC") where such staff member is licensed by the SFC. RSHK should at all times have at least one designated Compliance Officer. The Compliance Officer and the responsible officers who are ultimately responsible for seeking to ensure compliance by RSHK with all applicable regulatory requirements on a daily basis are identified in the RSHK Compliance Manual.

In addition, it is also the duty of all staff members of RSHK to comply with the contents of the Code and the Compliance Manual, and to observe all other regulatory requirements as applicable to them from time to time, in all their activities on behalf of RSHK. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action.

II.PROHIBITED CONDUCT General

Every director, manager or any other person involved in the management of RSHK has a statutory obligation to take all reasonable measures from time to time to seek to ensure that proper safeguards exist to prevent RSHK from acting in a way which would result in RSHK perpetrating any market misconduct under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (the "SFO").

Market Misconduct

"Market misconduct" under the SFO means:

1.Insider dealing

2.False trading

3.Price rigging

4.Disclosure of information about prohibited transactions

5.Disclosure of false or misleading information inducing transactions stock market manipulation; and

6.Includes attempting to engage in, or assisting, counseling or procuring another person to engage in any of the above activities

Insider Dealing

See Section IV – Policy Statement on Insider Trading for more information.

False Trading

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False trading attracts civil and criminal liabilities. In brief, false trading occurs when a person, in Hong Kong or elsewhere, engages in conduct intending that, or being reckless as to whether, it creates, or is likely to create, a false or misleading appearance of active trading in securities or futures contracts traded on a Hong Kong or overseas market. An on-market "wash sale" or "matched order" is presumed to create a false or misleading appearance of active trading.

Price Rigging

Price rigging attracts civil and criminal liabilities. In brief, price rigging occurs where a person, in Hong Kong or elsewhere engages, directly or indirectly, in:

1.A wash sale which maintains, increases, reduces, stabilizes or causes fluctuations in, the price of securities traded on a Hong Kong market; or

2.Any fictitious or artificial transaction or device, intending that, or being reckless as to whether, it maintains, increases, reduces, stabilizes or causes fluctuations in, the price of securities, or the price for dealing in futures contracts, traded on a Hong Kong market.

There will also be a breach where such activity is carried out in Hong Kong which affects shares and futures contracts that are traded on an overseas market.

Disclosure of Prohibited Transactions and Disclosure of False and Misleading Information

Disclosure of prohibited transactions and disclosure of false and misleading information inducing transactions attract civil and criminal liabilities. In brief, these occur when a person discloses, circulates or disseminates information:

1.To the effect that the price of securities of a corporation, or the price for dealings in futures contracts, will be maintained, reduced or stabilized because of a prohibited transaction; or

2.That is likely to induce a transaction in securities or futures contracts if the information is false or misleading.

Stock Market Manipulation

Stock market manipulation attracts civil and criminal liabilities under the laws of Hong Kong. It is prohibited when, in Hong Kong or elsewhere, a person enters into, directly or indirectly, two or more transactions in securities that by themselves or in conjunction with any other transaction increase reduce, maintain or stabilize the price of securities and with the effect of influencing the investment decisions of other persons.

Other Offenses

All Victory Capital employees, including the employees of RSHK, are prohibited from engaging in the Short- Selling of any securities, including "naked" or "uncovered," Short-Selling on the SEHK. It is a criminal offence under the SFO for a person to sell securities at or through the SEHK unless at the time of the sale he (or his client, if he acts as an agent) has a presently exercisable and unconditional right to vest the securities in the purchaser of them, or believes and has reasonable grounds to believe that he (or his client, as the case may be) has such a right.

RSHK should also note that section 171 of the SFO imposes a duty to report Short-Selling transactions (which are covered) on both the seller (as a principal, whether he is a client or an intermediary) and the intermediary (as an agent). RSHK must also observe the Securities and Futures (Short-Selling and Securities Borrowing and Lending (Miscellaneous) Rules) and the SFC's "Guidance Note on Short-Selling Reporting and Stock Lending Record Keeping Requirements" as applicable.

RSHK and the employees of RSHK shall not make any unsolicited call (unless specifically allowed under s174 of the SFO or under the Securities and Futures (Unsolicited Calls – Exclusion) Rules in order to induce

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or attempt to induce another person to sell or purchase securities, futures contract or leveraged foreign exchange contract.

Other criminal offences under the SFO include:

1.Offence involving fraudulent or deceptive devices etc. in transactions in securities, futures contracts or leveraged foreign exchange trading;

2.Offence of disclosing false or misleading information inducing others to enter into leveraged foreign exchange contracts; and

3.Offence of falsely representing dealings in futures contracts on behalf of others, etc.

Other Misconduct

Prohibition on Shadowing

An employee is prohibited from replicating deliberately what the clients of RSHK trade for the purpose of making speculative profits or avoiding losses.

Prohibition on Churning or Twisting

RSHK is not permitted to generate high commission income by putting excessive orders through the client accounts.

Prohibition on Rat Trading

An employee is prohibited from rat trading, which covers deliberate trading to the disadvantage of the client. For example, a fund manager might execute a buy order and delay allocating it to the funds or accounts it manages. If the price moves up, he may allocate it to his own account or to a nominee account at the lower execution price. On the other hand, he may delay executing the order and, if the price moves down, buy it at the lower price for himself or herself and sell it to the fund or accounts that it manages.

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Supplement 2

RS Investment Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. ("RSIMS")

Code of Ethics Supplement ("Singapore Supplement")

The policies and procedures in this Singapore Supplement to the Code apply to Access Persons of RSIMS and are in addition to, and supplement, the policies and procedures detailed in the Code.

Matters set out in the relevant sections of this Singapore Supplement shall be read in conjunction, and as one, with the Code. To the extent there is any inconsistency between the Code and this Singapore Supplement, this Singapore Supplement shall prevail.

Short-Selling of Securities

All Victory Capital employees, including employees of RSIMS, are prohibited from Short-Selling any security.

Trading on Inside Information

In addition to the requirements set out in the Code, all employees of RSIMS and all members of their Immediate Family are required to comply with all applicable laws in Singapore in relation to any Securities Transactions. Such laws include but are not limited to Part XII (Market Conduct) of the Securities and Futures Act (Chapter 289 of Singapore) ("SFA") which set out prohibitions against the following conduct:

•False trading and market rigging transactions;

•Securities market manipulation and manipulation of prices of futures contracts and cornering;

•The making of false or misleading statements or the dissemination of information that is false or misleading;

•Fraudulently inducing persons to deal in securities or trade in futures contracts;

•Employment of fraudulent or deceptive devices, or manipulative and deceptive devices;

•Bucketing; and

•Insider trading and tipping off.

Reporting Requirements

In addition to the Personal Account and Personal Trading requirements and restrictions set out in the Code, each employee of RSIMS who acts as a representative of RSIMS in RSIMS' capacity as the holder of a capital markets services license issued pursuant to the SFA for fund management (each a "Relevant Access Person") is required to maintain a register of his or her interests in securities (as such term is defined in section 2(1) of the SFA, the relevant extract of which is set out in the Appendix) that are listed for quotation, or quoted, on a securities exchange or recognized market operator in the prescribed  Form 15 to the Securities and  Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Business) Regulations (Rg 10).

Within 7 days after the date he or she acquires the interest in the relevant securities, each Relevant Access Person shall be required to enter into his or her register:

1.Particulars of securities in which such Relevant Access Person has any interest; and

2.Particulars of such interests.

Where there is any change in any interest in the securities of such Relevant Access Person, he or she shall enter particulars of the change (including the date of the change and the circumstances by reason of which the change has occurred), within 7 days after the date of the change.

All entries in the register must be kept in an easily accessible form for a period of not less than 5 years after the date on which such entry was first made. The register shall:

1. If in physical form, be kept at RSIMS's principal place of business in Singapore; or

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2.If in electronic form, be kept in such manner so as to ensure that full access to the register may be gained by the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS") at RSIMS's principal place of business in Singapore.

RSIMS is required to maintain records of the place at which the Relevant Access Persons keep their respective registers and the places at which copies of those registers are kept in Singapore. As a separate matter, RSIMS is also required to maintain a Form 15 in relation to RSIMS' own interests in the relevant Securities.

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