Northern Trust has filed paperwork with the SEC for a “FlexShares iBoxx 5-Year Target Duration TIPS Index Fund.” The Fund seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the iBoxx 5-Year Target Duration TIPS Index. They did not specify a trading symbol or expense ratio in the initial filing.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

The Underlying Index reflects the performance of a selection of inflation protected public obligations of the U.S. Treasury, commonly known as “TIPS,” with a targeted average duration of approximately five years. The Underlying Index includes publicly issued TIPS that have maturity dates of at least three years but not more than twenty years from an index rebalancing date. TIPS are securities issued by the U.S. Treasury that are designed to provide inflation protection to investors. TIPS’ principal and interest payments are linked to an official inflation measure (as measured by the Consumer Price Index, or CPI) and the payments are supported by the full faith and credit of the United States. In addition to tracking the performance of the Underlying Index, the Investment Adviser seeks to minimize portfolio turnover and tax inefficiencies. As of [            ], there were [    ] TIPS issues in the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index is both capitalization weighted and securities-duration weighted, and its composition is updated on a monthly basis. The Underlying Index is governed by published, objective rules for security selection, exclusion, rebalancing and adjustments, including the daily re-investment of cash flows.

NTI uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “beat” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued. NTI uses a representative sampling strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Underlying Index. Securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of the Underlying Index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities that are included in the Underlying Index. Funds that employ a representative sampling strategy may incur tracking error risk to a greater extent than a fund that seeks to replicate an index.

The Fund generally will invest under normal circumstances at least 80% of its total assets in the securities of the Underlying Index. The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by NTI or its affiliates, futures contracts, options on futures contracts, options and swaps, as well as securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which NTI believes will help the Fund track its Underlying Index.

For the complete filing click: HERE

NEW FILING