COOKIE POLICY

 

INTRODUCTION

Northern Trust (“we”, “us”, “our”) provides the Flexshares Platform that enables financial professionals to access digital investment advice. We use a variety of cookies across all of our websites. We do this to provide you with the most secure and effective way of viewing pages on our sites.In general, cookies:

  • Allow our sites to work as expected, and keep it secure
  • Help us understand how you prefer to use our sites
  • Make our sites easier to use by remembering certain information you have entered
  • Improve your experience by showing you information relevant to you

This policy explains what cookies are, how we use them, how they affect you and what you can do if you do not wish to accept some or all of the cookies we use on our websites.

Please read this policy in conjunction with our Consumer Privacy Policy.

 

WHAT ARE COOKIES?

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information that are placed on your computer, smartphone, tablet or other means of access the internet (each, a “device”) whenever you visit most websites. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognizes the cookie.

Cookies are useful because they allow us to recognise your device. They serve many different purposes, like allowing you to navigate between pages more efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving your overall experience of our websites.

Cookies may be used to record details of pages relating to particular products and services you have looked at on our websites. This is to provide us with data to allow us to improve our websites and to provide you with information in which you may be interested.

Cookies can also be used to recognize and count the number of visitors to our websites and to see how you navigate our websites when you use them. This helps us improve the way our websites work (for example, by making sure you can easily find what you need).

You can find more information about cookies at: All About Cookies and Your Online Choices.

 

WHAT SORT OF COOKIES DO WE USE?

There are two types of cookie we use on our websites:

  • Session cookies are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of your device until you close your browser (at which point they are deleted)
  • Persistent or stored cookies remain permanently on the cookie file of your computer, unless you choose to delete them

Both types of cookie can either be first-party (i.e. owned by us) or third-party (i.e. owned by a trusted affiliate of ours).

 

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIRST-PARTY AND THIRD-PARTY COOKIES?

Whether a cookie is first-party or third-party depends on which website the cookie comes from. First-party cookies are those set by us when you visit any of our websites. All other cookies are third-party cookies. We use both first-party and third-party cookies, which you can read more about under the four categories of cookies described below.

 

HOW DO WE USE COOKIES AND WHAT DO THEY DO?

The cookies used on our websites fall into one of four categories, based on the International Chamber of Commerce guide to cookie categories. The categories are: “strictly necessary”, “performance”, “functionality”, and “targeting”.

 

“STRICTLY NECESSARY” COOKIES

These cookies are essential to help you move around our websites and use the functionality, such as accessing secure areas of our website. Without these cookies, certain features and functionality will not be available to you.

We categorize the following cookies as strictly necessary:

  • Session ID cookies — These cookies are used to help us load pages you would like to view faster. They are also used for our websites requiring a login to verify your device. The information used to do this is not collected and is not logged for tracking, sales or marketing purposes.
  • Assess time cookies — These cookies are used to help us understand the time it takes for you to log in to your Northern Trust online account. The information used to do this is not collected and is not logged for tracking, sales or marketing purposes.

 

“PERFORMANCE” AND “FUNCTIONALITY” COOKIES

These cookies give you extra functionality, such as being able to ask us to remember your preferences. They also let us monitor how our websites are performing so we can take steps to improve them.

We categorize the following cookies as performance or functional cookies:

  • Site location cookies — We sometimes use these cookies to remember certain sections of our websites you visited and redirect you there the next time you visit. The information used to do this is not collected and is not logged for tracking, sales or marketing purposes.
  • Marketo cookie — This cookie is associated with an email marketing service provided by Marketo. This tracking cookie allows us to link your behavior to an email marketing campaign, to measure campaign effectiveness.
  • Analytics cookies — These cookies enable us to track visitor behavior and measure website performance.
  • Google Universal Analytics — These cookies are used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. The identifier is included in each page request in a website and used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data for the website analytics reports.

 

TARGETING COOKIES

These cookies contain a unique key that can distinguish individual users’ browsing habits or store a code that can be translated into to a set of browsing habits or preferences using information stored elsewhere.

They do not store personal information directly, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising. We categorize the following cookies as targeting cookies:

 

ADVERTISING COOKIES

These cookies are used to deliver online advertisements on other websites that are more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see such advertisements as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. The hosts include:

  • Bing
  • Facebook (applies to northerntrustcareers.com)
  • Google/DoubleClick
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

 

CAN I PREVENT MY PREFERRED BROWSER FROM ACCEPTING COOKIES?

The web browsers of most devices are initially set up to accept cookies. If you prefer, you can set your web browser to disable cookies or to let you know when a website is attempting to add a cookie. You can also delete cookies that have previously been added to your device’s cookie file.

For more information on how to modify your browser settings, identify your browser and click on the link to review:

If you choose to turn on the do-not-track (DNT) and block third-party cookies command or to block all cookies, Northern Trust will not send cookies to the browser you modified or to third-parties.

If you disable session cookies, you will still be able to view most of the pages on our websites, but you may not be able to log into any secure pages (i.e. those which require a username and password).

Please visit Manage Cookie Preferences to update your cookie preferences.

 

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COOKIES?

By using our websites, you agree to us placing certain types of cookies described in this policy on your device; however, if you choose to, you can block these cookies using your browser settings.

Cookies cannot retrieve information from your device which tells us about you or your family and, unless you have logged in to a secure part of the website, cookies cannot be used to identify who you are.

Cookies cannot be used by anyone else who has access to your device to find out anything about you, other than someone using the same device has visited a certain site. Cookies do not compromise the security of your device.

Cookies will not be used to contact you for any sales or marketing purposes.

> Historical Tax Documents

Before investing, carefully consider the FlexShares investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information is in the prospectus and a summary prospectus, copies of which may be obtained on this website. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest. Foreside Fund Services, LLC, distributor.

An investment in FlexShares is subject to numerous risks, including possible loss of principal. Fund returns may not match the return of the respective indexes. The Funds are subject to the following principal risks: asset class; authorized participant, calculation methodology; commodity; concentration; counterparty; currency; derivatives; dividend; emerging markets; Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG); equity securities; financial sector, fluctuation of yield; foreign securities; geographic; high portfolio turnover; income; industry concentration; inflation; infrastructure-related companies; interest rate; issuer; liquidity; large cap; management; market; market trading; mid cap stock; MLP; momentum; natural resources; new funds; non-diversification; passive investment; privatization; securities lending; small cap stock; tracking error; value investing; and volatility risk. A full description of risks is in the prospectus.

Individual investors should contact their financial advisor or broker dealer representative for more information on FlexShares ETFs. FlexShares ETFs are managed by Northern Trust.

Investment Products and Services are:

Not FDIC INSURED May lose value No bank guarantee

All registered investment companies, including FlexShares, are obliged to distribute portfolio gains to shareholders at year-end regardless of performance. Trading FlexShares Funds will also generate tax consequences and transaction expenses. The information provided is not intended to be tax advice. Tax consequences of dividend distributions may vary by individual taxpayer.

The FlexShares Funds, registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940 ("Funds") are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC, not affiliated with Northern Trust.

Foreside Fund Services, LLC