Summary
Prospectus

 

February 17, 2022

 

Goldman Sachs Access Emerging Markets USD Bond ETF

Ticker: GEMD   Stock Exchange: Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.

Before you invest, you may want to review the Goldman Sachs Access Emerging Markets USD Bond ETF (the “Fund”) Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s Prospectus, reports to shareholders and other information about the Fund online at www.gsamfunds.com/ETFfunds. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800-621-2550 or by sending an e-mail request to gs-funds-document-requests@gs.com. The Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), both dated December 29, 2021, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.

 

Investment Objective

The Goldman Sachs Access Emerging Markets USD Bond ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the FTSE Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets USD Bond Index (the “Index”). 

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell Shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and Example below.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) 

Management Fee	0.45%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fee	0.00%
Other Expenses1	0.00%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	0.45%
Fee Waiver2	(0.45)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver	0.00%

1

The Fund’s “Other Expenses” have been estimated to reflect expenses expected to be incurred during the current fiscal year.

2

The Investment Adviser has agreed to waive its management fee in order to achieve an effective net management fee rate of 0.00% as an annual percentage rate of average daily net assets of the Fund through at least February 17, 2023, after which a portion of its management fee will be waived in order to achieve an effective net management fee rate of 0.39% as an annual percentage rate of average daily net assets of the Fund until February 17, 2025, and prior to such dates the Investment Adviser may not terminate the arrangements without the approval of the Board of Trustees.

 

Expense Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning Shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same (except that the Example incorporates the fee waiver arrangements for their specified terms). Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 

1 Year	3 Years
$0	$85

 
 

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund may pay transaction costs when it buys and sells securities or instruments (i.e., “turns over” its portfolio). A high rate of portfolio turnover may result in increased transaction costs, including brokerage commissions, which must be borne by the Fund and its shareholders, and is also likely to result in higher short-term capital gains for taxable shareholders. These costs are not reflected in total annual fund operating expenses or in the expense example above, but are reflected in the Fund’s performance. Because the Fund has not yet commenced operations as of the date of the Prospectus, there is no portfolio turnover information quoted for the Fund. 

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) in securities included in its underlying index.

The Index is a rules-based index that is designed to measure the performance of investment grade and high yield bonds issued by emerging market governments or quasi-government entities denominated in U.S. dollars (“USD”) that meet certain liquidity, governance and fundamental screening criteria. As December 1, 2021, there were 521 constituents in the Index and the Index had a weighted average maturity of 13.7 years.

2 Summary Prospectus — Goldman Sachs Access Emerging Markets USD Bond ETF

The Index is a custom index that is owned and calculated by FTSE Fixed Income LLC (“FTSE”), a trading name of the London Stock Exchange Group plc and its group undertakings (collectively, the “LSE Group” or the “Index Provider”). The Index is based on the government and quasi-government bonds of the FTSE Emerging Markets Broad Bond Index (the “Reference Index”) using concepts developed with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. (“GSAM”).

Given the Fund’s investment objective of attempting to track the Index, the Fund does not follow traditional methods of active investment management, which may involve buying and selling securities based upon analysis of economic and market factors.

The Index Provider constructs the Index in accordance with a rules-based methodology that involves two steps.

Step 1

In the first step, the Index Provider defines a universe of potential index constituents (the “Universe”) by applying specified criteria to the constituents of the Reference Index. The Reference Index includes sovereign and quasi-sovereign debt issued in USD with a minimum of $500 million and $250 million outstanding, respectively, that is rated at least C by S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”) or Ca by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”). Only constituents of the Reference Index that have a minimum issue equivalent of $500 million outstanding, a minimum issuer size of $1 billion, and are rated at least B- by S&P or B3 by Moody’s are included in the Universe. The weight of each country within the Universe is capped at 5%. A maturity bucketing process is used to approximate the average effective duration of the Reference Index.

Step 2

In the second step, the Index Provider applies both governance and fundamental screens to the Universe. First, issuers are ranked by improvement or deterioration in governance based on the Worldwide Governance Indicators. Based on this ranking, the bottom 10% of issuing countries are excluded from the Universe. Second, issuers are ranked by improvement or deterioration in two fundamental factors, import coverage and inflation. Based on this second ranking, the bottom 5% of issuing countries are excluded from the Universe. Inclusion or exclusion of quasi-government bonds is based on the country of domicile.

The Index is normally rebalanced (i) monthly on the last business day of each month, to account for changes in liquidity (minimum issue and issuer size), maturities or ratings migration, and duration, and (ii) quarterly, to account for updates to the constituents on the basis of the governance and fundamental screens.

As of December 1, 2021, issuers from 47 emerging market countries were included in the Index. The majority of these countries are likely to be located in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern and Central Europe and Central and South America. The countries included in the Index may change over time. The percentage of the portfolio exposed to any country or geographic region will vary from time to time as the weightings of the securities within the Index change, and the Fund may not be invested in each country or geographic region at all times.

The securities included in the Index include non-investment grade fixed income securities (commonly known as “junk bonds”). Non-investment grade fixed income securities in the Index are securities rated below BBB- by S&P or Baa3 by Moody’s.

The Investment Adviser uses a representative sampling strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy in which the Fund invests in a representative sample of constituent securities that has a collective investment profile similar to that of the Index. The securities selected for investment by the Fund are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics, governance characteristics, fundamental characteristics and liquidity measures similar to those of the Index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Index.

The Fund may concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to the extent that the Index is concentrated. The degree to which components of the Index represent certain sectors or industries may change over time. 

Principal Risks of the Fund

Loss of money is a risk of investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) or any government agency. The Fund should not be relied upon as a complete investment program. There can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Investments in the Fund involve substantial risks which prospective investors should consider carefully before investing. The Fund's principal risks are presented below in alphabetical order, and not in the order of importance or potential exposure.

Calculation Methodology Risk.  The Index relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Index (or the Reference Index), including fundamental information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund, the Index Provider nor the Investment Adviser can offer assurances that the Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or a correct valuation of securities, nor can they guarantee the availability or timeliness of the production of the Index.

Call/Prepayment Risk. An issuer could exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation held by the Fund earlier than expected. This may happen when there is a decline in interest rates, when credit spreads change, or when an issuer’s credit quality improves. Under these circumstances, the Fund may be unable to recoup all of its initial investment and will also suffer from having to reinvest in lower-yielding securities.

Credit/Default Risk. An issuer or guarantor of fixed income securities  or instruments held by the Fund may default on its obligation to pay interest and repay principal or default on any other obligation. Additionally, the credit quality of securities  or instruments may deteriorate rapidly, which may impair the Fund's liquidity and cause significant deterioration in net asset value (“NAV”). These risks are more pronounced in connection with the Fund’s investments in non-investment grade fixed income securities.

Extension Risk.  An issuer could exercise its right to pay principal on an obligation held by the Fund later than expected. This may happen when there is a rise in interest rates. Under these circumstances, the value of the obligation will decrease, and the Fund will also suffer from the inability to reinvest in higher yielding securities.

Foreign and Emerging Countries Risk.  Foreign securities may be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation; less public information; less stringent investor protections; less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards; and less economic, political and social stability in

3 Summary Prospectus — Goldman Sachs Access Emerging Markets USD Bond ETF

the countries in which the Fund invests. The imposition of exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), sanctions, confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other government restrictions by the United States and other governments, or from problems in share registration, settlement or custody, may also result in losses. Foreign risk also involves the risk of negative foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, which may cause the value of securities denominated in such foreign currency (or other instruments through which the Fund has exposure to foreign currencies) to decline in value. Currency exchange rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time.  In addition, the Fund’s debt investments, including the ability of the issuer to repay principal, may be negatively impacted by foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. These risks may be more pronounced in connection with the Fund’s investments in securities of issuers located in, or otherwise economically tied to, emerging countries. The securities markets of most emerging countries are less liquid, developed and efficient, are subject to greater price volatility, have smaller market capitalizations, have more or less government regulation and may not be subject to as extensive and frequent accounting, financial and other reporting requirements as the securities markets of more developed countries. Further, investment in securities of issuers located in certain emerging countries involves the risk of loss resulting from problems in share registration, settlement or custody, substantial economic, political and social disruptions and the imposition of exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions). These risks are not normally associated with investments in more developed countries.

Geographic Risk. If the Fund focuses its investments in issuers located in a particular country or geographic region, the Fund is subject to a greater extent than if investments were less focused, to the risks of volatile economic cycles and/or conditions and developments that may be particular to that country or region, such as: adverse securities markets; adverse exchange rates; adverse social, political, regulatory, economic, business, environmental or other developments; or natural disasters.

Index Risk.  The Fund will be negatively affected by general declines in the securities and asset classes represented in the Index. In addition, because the Fund is not “actively” managed, unless a specific security is removed from the Index, the Fund generally would not sell a security because the security’s issuer was in financial trouble, and the Fund does not take defensive positions in declining markets. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Index. The Index Provider may utilize third party data in constructing the Index, but it does not guarantee the accuracy or availability of any such third party data. The Index Provider makes no guarantee with respect to the accuracy, availability or timeliness of the production of the Index, or the suitability of the Index for the purpose to which it is being put by GSAM. In addition, there is no guarantee that certain components of the construction methodology of the Index, such as the Worldwide Governance Indicators, will achieve the desired results.

Industry Concentration Risk. In following its methodology, the Index from time to time may be concentrated to a significant degree in securities of issuers located in a single industry or group of industries. To the extent that the Index concentrates in the securities of issuers in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund also may concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent. By concentrating its investments in an industry or group of industries, the Fund may face more risks than if it were diversified broadly over numerous industries or groups of industries. If the Index is not concentrated in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund will not concentrate in a particular industry or group of industries.

Interest Rate Risk. When interest rates increase, fixed income securities or instruments held by the Fund will generally decline in value.  Long-term fixed income securities or instruments will normally have more price volatility because of this risk than short-term fixed income securities or instruments. The risks associated with changing interest rates may have unpredictable effects on the markets and the Fund's investments. Fluctuations in interest rates may also affect the liquidity of fixed income securities and instruments held by the Fund.

Large Shareholder Risk.  Certain shareholders, including other funds advised by the Investment Adviser, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s Shares. In addition, a third party investor, the Investment Adviser or an affiliate of the Investment Adviser, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity (i.e., a seed investor) may invest in the Fund and hold its investment solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. Any such investment may be held for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment, that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels or that the Fund would continue to meet applicable listing requirements. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the Fund, including on the Fund’s liquidity. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (“Cboe”) and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Shares.

Liquidity Risk.  The Fund may invest in securities or instruments that trade in lower volumes and may make investments that are less liquid than other investments. Also, the Fund may make investments that are illiquid or that may become less liquid in response to market developments or adverse investor perceptions. Investments that are illiquid or that trade in lower volumes may be more difficult to value. When there is no willing buyer and investments cannot be readily sold at the desired time or price, the Fund may have to accept a lower price or may not be able to sell the security or instrument at all. An inability to sell one or more portfolio positions can adversely affect the Fund’s value.  Liquidity risk may be the result of, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in fixed income securities or the lack of an active market. The potential for liquidity risk may be magnified by a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where investor redemptions from fixed income funds may be higher than normal, potentially causing increased supply in the market due to selling activity. These risks may be more pronounced in connection with the Fund’s investments in securities of issuers located in emerging market countries.
 Redemptions by large shareholders (including seed investors) may have a negative impact on the Fund’s liquidity. 

If the Fund is forced to sell securities at an unfavorable time and/or under unfavorable conditions, such sales may adversely affect the Fund’s NAV.

Market Risk. The value of the securities in which the Fund  invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies, particular sectors or governments and/or general economic conditions throughout the world due to increasingly interconnected global economies and financial markets. Events such as war, acts of terrorism, social unrest, natural disasters, the spread of infectious illness or other public health threats could also significantly impact the Fund and its investments.

Market Trading Risk. The NAV of the Fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Market prices of Shares may fluctuate, in some cases significantly, in response to the Fund’s NAV, the intraday

4 Summary Prospectus — Goldman Sachs Access Emerging Markets USD Bond ETF

value of the Fund’s holdings and supply and demand for Shares. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including disruptions to creations and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for Shares. Any of these factors, among others, may result in Shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV, which will be reflected in the intraday bid/ask spreads and/or the closing price of Shares as compared to NAV. In addition, because liquidity in certain underlying securities may fluctuate, Shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to NAV than shares of other kinds of ETFs. If a shareholder purchases Shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells Shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses. Additionally, in stressed market conditions, the market for Shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the markets for the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings.

The securities held by the Fund may be traded in markets that close at a different time than the stock exchange on which the Fund’s Shares are listed. Liquidity in those securities may be reduced after the applicable closing times. Accordingly, during the time when the Fund’s listing exchange is open but after the applicable market closing, fixing or settlement times, bid-ask spreads and the resulting premium or discount to the Shares’ NAV may widen.

Non-Investment Grade Fixed Income Securities Risk. Non-investment grade fixed income securities and unrated securities of comparable credit quality (commonly known as “junk bonds”) are considered speculative and are subject to the increased risk of an issuer’s inability to meet principal and interest payment obligations. These securities may be subject to greater price volatility due to such factors as specific issuer developments, interest rate sensitivity, negative perceptions of the junk bond markets generally and less liquidity.

Sampling Risk.  The Fund’s use of a representative sampling approach will result in its holding a smaller number of securities than are in the Index. As a result, an adverse development respecting a security held by the Fund could result in a greater decline in NAV than would be the case if the Fund held all of the securities in the Index. Conversely, a positive development relating to a security in the Index that is not held by the Fund could cause the Fund to underperform the Index. To the extent the assets in the Fund are smaller, these risks will be greater.

Seed Investor Risk.  GSAM and/or its affiliates may make payments to one or more investors that contribute seed capital to the Fund. Such payments may continue for a specified period of time and/or until a specified dollar amount is reached. Those payments will be made from the assets of GSAM and/or such affiliates (and not the Fund). Seed investors may contribute all or a majority of the assets in the Fund. There is a risk that such seed investors may redeem their investments in the Fund, particularly after payments from GSAM and/or its affiliates have ceased. As with redemptions by other large shareholders, such redemptions could have a significant negative impact on the Fund, including on the Fund’s liquidity and the market price of the Fund’s Shares.

Sovereign  and Quasi-Sovereign Default Risk. The Fund invests in securities issued by or guaranteed by non-U.S. sovereign governments (known as sovereign debt securities) and in securities issued by entities that are owned or guaranteed by non-U.S. sovereign governments (known as quasi-sovereign debt securities). An issuer of sovereign or quasi-sovereign debt, or the governmental authorities that control the repayment of the debt, may be unable or unwilling to repay the principal or interest when due. This may result from political or social factors, the general economic environment of a country, levels of foreign debt or foreign currency exchange rates.

Tracking Error Risk.  Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. The performance of the Fund may diverge from that of the Index for a number of reasons. Tracking error may occur because of transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences in accrual of dividends, changes to the Index or the need to meet new or existing regulatory requirements. Unlike the Fund, the returns of the Index are not reduced by investment and other operating expenses, including the trading costs associated with implementing changes to its portfolio of investments. Tracking error risk may be heightened during times of market volatility or other unusual market conditions. In addition, the Fund’s use of a representative sampling approach may cause the Fund’s returns to not be as well correlated with the return of the Index as would be the case if the Fund purchased all of the securities in the Index in the proportions in which they are represented in the Index.  These risks may be greater given the Fund’s investment in non-investment grade securities with more volatility in price and liquidity.  In addition, the Fund may be required to deviate its investments from the securities and relative weightings of the Index, to meet the issuer diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), applicable to regulated investment companies, market restrictions or other legal reasons, including regulatory limits or other restrictions on securities that may be purchased by the Investment Adviser and its affiliates.

Valuation Risk.  The sale price the Fund could receive for a security may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security and may differ from the value used by the Index, particularly for securities that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology.  Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days when the Fund does not price its Shares, the value of the securities or assets in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days when investors will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s Shares. The Fund relies on various sources to calculate its NAV. The information may be provided by third parties that are believed to be reliable, but the information may not be accurate due to errors by such pricing sources, technological issues or otherwise.  NAV calculation may also be impacted by operational risks arising from factors such as failures in systems and technology. 

Performance

Because the Fund had not yet commenced investment operations as of the date of the Prospectus, there is no performance information quoted for the Fund. Once available, the Fund’s performance information will be accessible at no cost at www.gsamfunds.com/performance or by calling the appropriate phone number on the back cover of the Prospectus. 

Portfolio Management

Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. is the investment adviser for the Fund (the “Investment Adviser” or “GSAM”).

Portfolio Managers:  Todd Henry, Vice President, has managed the Fund since 2021; and David Westbrook, Vice President, has managed the Fund since 2019. 

Buying and Selling Fund Shares

Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through a broker or dealer at market price. Because Shares trade at market prices, rather than NAV, Shares of the Fund may trade at a price greater than NAV (i.e., a premium) or less than NAV (i.e., a discount).

5 Summary Prospectus — Goldman Sachs Access Emerging Markets USD Bond ETF

You may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay for Shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for Shares (ask) (the “bid-ask spread”) when buying or selling Shares in the secondary market.

Recent information, including information about the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads (when available), is included on the Fund’s website at www.gsamfunds.com. 

Tax Information

The Fund's distributions are taxable, and will be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account. Investments made through tax-deferred arrangements may become taxable upon withdrawal from such arrangements. 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and

Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase Shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), GSAM or other related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund Shares or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

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8 Summary Prospectus — Goldman Sachs Access Emerging Markets USD Bond ETF

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