FlexShares Launches Credit‐Scored US Long Corporate Bond Index ETF

FlexShares® Exchange Traded Funds, sponsored and managed by Northern Trust, today introduced the FlexShares Credit‐Scored US Long Corporate Bond Index Fund (NASDAQ: LKOR), a fixed income portfolio consisting of corporate debt securities selected using a proprietary credit evaluation process. The Fund maintains a longer maturity, with securities featuring a maturity of 10+ years.

The FlexShares® Credit‐Scored US long Corporate Bond Index Fund features:

• An accessible and efficient investment product which provides exposure to U.S. corporate debt
• An exclusion of illiquid and smaller issuers for improved liquidity and transparency
• A proprietary credit score used to evaluate and rank the universe of issuers
• Optimization to maximize exposure to the credit score while maintaining a similar spread and duration to the universe
• An index-based strategy with competitive fees

"A combination of market structure and regulatory changes has caused investors to reassess their investment options for long-term credit exposure," said Shundrawn A. Thomas, head of Northern Trust's Funds and Managed Accounts Group. "The FlexShares® Credit‐Scored US Long Corporate Bond Index Fund provides investors with a contemporary approach to optimizing credit risk, with improved transparency and liquidity relative to legacy corporate bond benchmarks."

The underlying index is the Northern Trust Credit-Scored US Long Corporate Bond Index. It is designed to measure the performance of a diversified universe of longer term maturity, U.S.-dollar denominated bonds of companies with investment grade credit quality, and enhanced long-term solvency.

For more information, please visit www.flexshares.com.

Before investing, carefully consider the FlexShares investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information is in the prospectus, a copy of which may be obtained by visiting www.flexshares.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest.

Foreside Fund Services, LLC, distributor.

About FlexShares

FlexShares Exchange Traded Funds are designed to pursue specific investment goals across both passive and active strategies. FlexShares offers differentiated ETF strategies that improve and simplify the investment decision process for the long-term investor. For more information, please visit flexshares.com. Follow us on Twitter @FlexSharesETFs.

About Northern Trust

Northern Trust Corporation (Nasdaq: NTRS) is a leading provider of wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking to corporations, institutions, affluent families and individuals. Founded in Chicago in 1889, Northern Trust has offices in the United States in 19 states and Washington, D.C., and 20 international locations in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. As of June 30, 2015, Northern Trust had assets under custody of US$6.2 trillion, and assets under management of US$946 billion. For more than 125 years, Northern Trust has earned distinction as an industry leader for exceptional service, financial expertise, integrity and innovation. Visit northerntrust.com or follow us on Twitter @NorthernTrust.

Northern Trust Corporation, Head Office: 50 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603 U.S.A., incorporated with limited liability in the U.S. Global legal and regulatory information can be found at http://www.northerntrust.com/disclosures.

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; commodity; concentration; counterparty; currency; derivatives; dividend; emerging markets; equity securities; fluctuation of yield; foreign securities; geographic; income; industry concentration; inflation-protected securities; infrastructure-related companies; interest rate / maturity risk; issuer; large cap; management; market; market trading; mid cap stock; MLP; momentum; natural resources; new funds; non-diversification; passive investment; privatization; small cap stock; tracking error; value investing; and volatility risk. A full description of risks is in the prospectus.

In addition, FlexShares Credit-Scored US Long Corporate Bond Index Fund is subject corporate bond risk, which is the risk that the issuer is unable to meet principal and interest rate payments on the obligation and may also be subject to price volatility due to such factors as interest rate sensitivity, market perception of credit worthiness of and general market liquidity. When interest rates rise, the value of corporate debt can be expected to decline. The Fund may invest in derivative instruments. Changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate with the underlying asset, rate or index and the Fund could lose more than the principal amount invested. The Fund is also non-diversified meaning the Fund performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers because the Fund may invest a large percentage of assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers.

Duration is the sensitivity of a fixed income security’s price to a change in interest rates.

Spread is the difference in the yield on a corporate bond and a government bond with a similar maturity.

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