March 3, 2022

As a follow up to our initial note on February 25^th, regarding placing a “freeze to existing Russian equity positions within our index suites,” Northern Trust Index Services has continued to evaluate the escalating military conflict against Ukraine by Russia, and subsequent sanctions introduced by the United States, European Union, and other nations globally.  In response to those global sanctions, the Russian Central Bank imposed rules that prohibit foreign investors from executing security sales as well as withdrawing funds of any global currency from banks, in addition to suspending trading on the Moscow Exchange.  These actions together in total, have dramatically impacted investability in the country as well as replication of our Northern Trust Indices.  Based on that information, we have decided to remove all Russian constituents from our indices, in accordance to our methodology’s rules regarding electronic quotation being denied or suspended by the local exchange.

These changes will be made effective on the market open of March 7^th, and all constituents will be removed with a final price of zero.  Individual securities impacted will be projected publicly on our website within the “View Index Corporate Actions” section of each index webpage, as well as within our index files, starting in the evening on March 3rd.

With regards to Russia’s future inclusion in our indices, while the country will no longer be eligible for inclusion immediately having been moved by our group from an Emerging Markets classification to Unclassified, it may become eligible for inclusion again once trading resumes and the foreign investor restrictions are lifted.  Any re-inclusion would not be automatic, and instead follow the standard review for assessing country inclusion or exclusion used by Northern Trust annually each October. 

Please feel free to reach out to us at nt_index_services@ntrs.com for more information on that process, or any questions you may have as it relates to this update.

February 25, 2022

On February 24, 2022, the United States government announced new sanctions targeting Russian companies, including some of which are publicly listed, as a consequence of Russia’s military action taken against Ukraine. Following that announcement, and subsequent information received by Northern Trust Asset Management regarding investability in the local equity market, Northern Trust Index Services has elected to apply a freeze to existing Russian equity positions within our index suites.  This freeze will take place immediately, and will be applied ahead of our scheduled February 2022 Index Reconstitutions.  Given this information, revised proforma index constituent files will be made available in the evening of February 25^th, and those will be reflective of this updated handling of Russian constituents.  The scheduled Index Reconstitution will remain effective immediately after the close of market on February 28^th, with the proforma index constituents becoming the live index effective as of the market open on March 1, 2022.

Please feel free to contact nt_index_services@ntrs.com, should you have any questions about this update.

November 8, 2021

As part of an index methodology review, Northern Trust Index Services has elected to remove the following rules from the Northern Trust US Corporate Bond Quality Value Index, the Northern Trust High Yield Value-Scored US Corporate Bond Index, and the Northern Trust US Long Corporate Bond Quality Value.

• Minimum absolute constituent constraint: to require that each index constituent has a weight of at least one basis point (0.01%)

• Minimum absolute turnover constraint: to require that index turnover at the constituent level is larger than one basis point (0.01%) for each change made during the reconstitution

These changes will take effect for the January 2022 reconstitution, and be effective as of February 1, 2022 within the index.

Please feel free to reach out to nt_index_services@ntrs.com should you have any questions.

November 5, 2021

Following an October 2021 review of our country classifications and a meeting by the Northern Trust Index Services group, no changes will be made to our current country classifications.

The following country did however, make its way to our “Watch List” for further consideration in October of 2022. Assuming the same actions are suggested by our rules at that time, and a confirmation of the change is made by Northern Trust Index Services at its review meeting, this change could become official in March of 2023.

Please feel free to reach out to nt_index_services@ntrs.com should you have any questions.

January 25, 2021

After receipt of additional guidance from OFAC, In response to the recent Executive Orders issued by the President of the United States to prohibit "any transaction in publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities" of designated Chinese military companies, Northern Trust will delete the below list of securities from all Northern Trust Indices as of the close of business of January 27, 2021.

January 7, 2021

After receipt of additional guidance from OFAC, In response to the recent Executive Orders (one to be effective January 11, 2021; the other to be effective as of February 4, 2021) issued by the President of the United States to prohibit “any transaction in publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities” of designated Chinese military companies, Northern Trust will delete the below list of securities from all Northern Trust Indices as of the close of business of January 11, 2021.

Northern Trust's Index Services group specializes in developing customized index solutions for sophisticated clients. For more information on our service, please contact us at nt_index_services@ntrs.com.