iShares MSCI Intl Small-Cap Multifac (ISCF) Exchange: NYSE ARCA

The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI World ex USA Small Cap Diversified Multiple-Factor Index (the “Underlying Index”), which has been developed by MSCI Inc. (the “Index Provider” or “MSCI”). The Underlying Index is designed to select equity securities from the MSCI World ex USA Small Cap Index (the “Parent Index”) that have high exposure to four investment style factors – value, quality, momentum and low size – while maintaining a level of risk similar to that of the Parent Index. The Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover and extreme exposures to particular sectors, countries, component weights or other investment style factors. Small capitalization companies, as calculated by MSCI, represent the bottom 14% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization of each developed market country included in the Parent Index, as determined by MSCI.MSCI, in selecting equity securities from the Parent Index, assigns a composite score for a security through a proprietary model based on four equally-weighted investment style factors. The score for all four factors – value, quality, momentum and low size – is derived through a global equity model. The value score is calculated from a company's valuation ratios (e.g., forward and trailing earnings to share price, cash earnings to share price, book value to share price and enterprise value to earnings before interest & taxes (EBIT)); the quality score is calculated from a company's underlying metrics (e.g., profitability metrics (asset turnover, gross profitability, gross margin and return-on-assets), investment quality metrics (total assets growth rate, issuance growth and capital expenditure growth), leverage ratios (market leverage, book leverage and debt-to-assets) and earnings variability (measured by volatility of earnings, cash flow, sales, and forward share price to earnings estimates)); the momentum score aims to measure a security's sustained relative performance against the global market over a two-year period and against other securities based in the same country over the previous 12 months (with a one month lag); and the low size score seeks to measure the market capitalization of a company as compared to other companies based in the same country.As of July 31, 2019, the Underlying Index consisted of securities from approximately 726 companies from the following countries or regions: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (the “U.K.”). As of July 31, 2019, a significant portion of the Underlying Index is represented by securities of companies in the industrials industry or sector. The components of the Underlying Index are likely to change over time.BFA 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.Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The 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 and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Underlying Index.The Fund generally will invest at least 90% of its assets in the component securities of the Underlying Index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of the Underlying Index (i.e., depositary receipts representing securities of the Underlying Index) and may invest up to 10% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received).The Underlying Index and Parent Index are sponsored by MSCI, which is independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and Parent Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index and Parent Index.Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.