Fund Description: iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF, formerly iShares MSCI ACWI ex US Index Fund, is an exchange-traded index fund or Index ETF which is a separate investment portfolio of the iSHARES TRUST, an open-ended investment management company. INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE: The iShares MSCI ACWI ex US Index Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI All Country World Index ex USA. INDEX DESCRIPTION: The MSCI All Country World Index ex USA is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index designed to measure the combined equity market performance of developed and emerging markets countries, excluding the United States. As of September 30, 2009, the Index consisted of companies in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Kingdom (together, the ACWI ex US countries). As of September 30, 2009, the Index was comprised of 1,808 securities. FUND STRATEGY: A passive or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective is used. Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the 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 keeping portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies. The Fund generally invests at least 90% of its assets in the securities of its Index or in depository receipts representing securities of the Index. However, the Fund may at times invest the remainder of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including money market funds. not included in its Index, which is believed will help the Fund track its Index. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that is used which involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to the 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 the Index. FUND MANAGEMENT: The Fund is managed by BlackRock Fund Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A., which in turn is indirectly wholly-owned by BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Prior to December 1, 2009, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. was known as Barclays Global Investors, N.A.