1290 VT SmartBeta Equity ESG Portfolio1 — Class IB Shares

Summary Prospectus dated May 1, 2022

Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. The Portfolio’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), each dated May 1, 2022, as may be amended or supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus, SAI, reports to shareholders and other information about the Portfolio online at www.equitable-funds.com/allportfolios.aspx. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-877-222-2144 or by sending an e-mail request to service@equitable.com. This Summary Prospectus is intended for use in connection with a variable contract as defined in Section 817(d) of the Internal Revenue Code and certain other eligible investors and is not intended for use by other investors.

Investment Objective: Seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Portfolio. The table below does not reflect any fees and expenses associated with variable life insurance contracts and variable annuity certificates and contracts (“Contracts”), which would increase overall fees and expenses. See the Contract prospectus for a description of those fees and expenses.

Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)  

Not applicable.  

  

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

1290 VT SmartBeta Equity ESG Portfolio	Class IB Shares
Management Fee	0.70%
Distribution and/or Service Fees (12b-1 fees)	0.25%
Other Expenses	0.16%
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses	1.11%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement1	(0.01)%
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	1.10%

1

Pursuant to a contract, Equitable Investment Management Group, LLC (the “Adviser”) has agreed to make payments or waive its and its affiliates’ management, administrative and other fees to limit the expenses of the Portfolio through April 30, 2023 (unless the Board of Trustees consents to an earlier revision or termination of this arrangement) (“Expense Limitation Arrangement”) so that the annual operating expenses of the Portfolio (exclusive of taxes, interest, brokerage commissions, dividend and interest expenses on securities sold short, capitalized expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, and extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Portfolio’s business) do not exceed an annual rate of average daily net assets of 1.10% for Class IB shares of the Portfolio. The Expense Limitation Arrangement may be terminated by the Adviser at any time after April 30, 2023. The Adviser may be reimbursed the amount of any such payments or waivers made after June 30, 2020, in the future provided that the payments or waivers are reimbursed within three years of the payments or waivers being recorded and the Portfolio’s expense ratio, after the reimbursement is taken into account, does not exceed the Portfolio’s expense cap at the time of the waiver or the Portfolio’s expense cap at the time of the reimbursement, whichever is lower.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other portfolios. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the periods indicated, that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same, and that the Expense Limitation Arrangement is not renewed. This Example does not reflect any Contract-related fees and expenses including redemption fees (if any) at

1

Effective March 21, 2022, 1290 VT SmartBeta Equity Portfolio was renamed 1290 VT SmartBeta Equity ESG Portfolio.

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the Contract level. If such fees and expenses were reflected, the total expenses would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, whether you redeem or hold your shares, your costs would be: 

	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class IB Shares	$112	$352	$611	$1,351

Portfolio Turnover

The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 39% of the average value of its portfolio.

Investments, Risks, and Performance

Principal Investment Strategy

Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities. The Portfolio invests primarily in equity securities of U.S. companies and foreign companies in developed markets. The Portfolio may invest in large, mid and small capitalization companies and will be broadly diversified across companies and industries. Equity securities in which the Portfolio may invest include common stocks, preferred stocks, warrants, American Depositary Receipts and similar instruments.

The Sub-Adviser believes that investing in equity markets using a traditional indexing approach exposes the investor to general market risk, including concentration in the largest capitalization securities in the applicable index, volatility and unpredictable earnings that, over a market cycle, do not necessarily provide optimal returns. In the Sub-Adviser’s view, market return, or “beta,” can be achieved with less exposure to general market risk. The Sub-Adviser’s SmartBeta Equity strategy seeks to achieve, over a full market cycle, above-market returns with less volatility compared to the equity markets as a whole. Generally, a full market cycle consists of a period of increasing stock prices and strong performance (a bull market) followed by a period of weak performance and falling prices (a bear market), and a return to a bull market.

The Sub-Adviser’s strategy differs from a traditional indexing approach under which a portfolio generally invests in all or a representative sample of the securities in the applicable index and weights those securities according to their market capitalization weightings. In constructing the portfolio, the Sub-Adviser begins with a universe of global developed market equity securities. The Sub-Adviser then uses computer-aided quantitative analysis to identify securities for investment. This is accomplished through the application of proprietary filters which interact to analyze individual issuer data for such risk factors as lower earnings quality, higher price volatility, speculation and distress. Those securities that pass the filters are assigned a preliminary weighting in the portfolio. The Sub-Adviser next applies a proprietary diversification methodology which is designed to produce a weighting scheme that reduces concentration risk by applying a greater level of diversification to the largest securities (by market capitalization) that progressively lessens with smaller capitalization companies. The Sub-Adviser also integrates Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) considerations into its portfolio construction process based on the Sub-Adviser’s proprietary ESG framework and scoring that seeks to optimize the ESG portfolio while substantially retaining the desired risk/return thereof. In constructing the portfolio, the Sub-Adviser evaluates each company and considers various ESG factors, including a company’s environmental impact, carbon footprint and water intensity, and assesses the potential impact of corporate controversies. The Sub-Adviser may apply this investment selection process to invest in emerging market equity securities. The Sub-Adviser may sell a security for a variety of reasons, such as if its fundamentals no longer meet the Sub-Adviser’s criteria, to secure gains, limit losses, or redeploy assets into securities believed to offer superior investment opportunities.

The Portfolio also may lend its portfolio securities to earn additional income.

Principal Risks

An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The value of your investment may fall, sometimes sharply, and you could lose money by investing in the Portfolio. There can be no assurance that the Portfolio will achieve its investment objective.

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The following risks can negatively affect the Portfolio’s performance. The most significant risks as of the date of this Prospectus are presented first, followed by additional principal risks in alphabetical order.

Market Risk  —  The Portfolio is subject to the risk that the securities markets will move down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, based on overall economic conditions and other factors, which may negatively affect Portfolio performance. Securities markets also may experience long periods of decline in value. The value of a security may decline due to factors that are specifically related to a particular company, as well as general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic or political conditions, inflation rates and/or investor expectations concerning such rates, changes in interest rates, or adverse investor sentiment generally. During a general downturn in the securities markets, multiple asset classes may decline in value simultaneously. Changes in the financial condition of a single issuer can impact a market as a whole.

Geopolitical events, including terrorism, tensions, war or other open conflicts between nations, or political or economic dysfunction within some nations that are global economic powers or major producers of oil, may lead to instability in world economies and markets, may lead to increased market volatility, and may have adverse long-term effects. World markets, or those in a particular region, may all react in similar fashion to important economic, political or other developments. Events such as environmental and natural disasters or other catastrophes, public health crises (such as epidemics and pandemics), social unrest, and cybersecurity incidents, and governments’ reactions to such events, could cause uncertainty in the markets and may adversely affect the performance of the global economy. Impacts from climate change may include significant risks to global financial assets and economic growth. The extent and duration of such events and resulting market disruptions cannot be predicted, but could be substantial and could magnify the impact of other risks to the Portfolio. Whether or not the Portfolio invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries or regions directly affected, the value and liquidity of the Portfolio’s investments may be negatively affected by developments in other countries and regions.

Markets and market participants are increasingly reliant on information data systems. Inaccurate data, software or other technology malfunctions, programming inaccuracies, unauthorized use or access, and similar circumstances may impair the performance of these systems and may have an adverse impact upon a single issuer, a group of issuers, or the market at large.

In addition, the U.S. Federal Reserve has invested or otherwise made available substantial amounts of money to keep credit flowing through short-term money markets and has signaled that it will continue to adjust its operations as appropriate to support short-term money markets. Amid these efforts, concerns about the markets’ dependence on the Fed’s provision of liquidity have grown.

Equity Risk  —  In general, the values of stocks and other equity securities fluctuate, and sometimes widely fluctuate, in response to changes in a company’s financial condition as well as general market, economic and political conditions and other factors. The Portfolio may experience a significant or complete loss on its investment in an equity security. In addition, common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, which increase borrowing costs and the costs of capital.

Large-Cap Company Risk  —  Larger more established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges such as changes in technology and consumer tastes, which may lead to a decline in their market price. Many larger companies also may not be able to attain the high growth rate of successful smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion.

Mid-Cap and Small-Cap Company Risk  — Mid-cap and small-cap companies carry additional risks because the operating histories of these companies tend to be more limited, their earnings and revenues less predictable (and some companies may be experiencing significant losses), and their share prices more volatile than those of larger, more established companies, all of which can negatively affect their value. In general, these risks are greater for small-cap companies than for mid-cap companies.

Quantitative Investing Risk  — The success of the Portfolio's investment strategy depends largely on the effectiveness of the Portfolio's quantitative model for screening securities for investment by the Portfolio. The portfolio of securities selected using quantitative analysis may underperform the market as a whole or a portfolio of securities selected using a different investment approach, such as fundamental analysis. The factors used in quantitative analysis and the emphasis placed on those factors may not be predictive of a security’s value. In addition, factors that affect a security’s value can change over time and these changes may not be reflected in the quantitative model. Data for some companies may be less available and/or less current than data for other companies. There may also be errors in the computer code for the quantitative model or in the model itself, or issues relating to the computer systems used to screen securities. The Portfolio's securities selection can be adversely affected if it relies on erroneous or outdated data or flawed models or computer systems. As a result, the Portfolio may have a lower return than if it were managed using a fundamental analysis or an index-based strategy that did not incorporate quantitative analysis.

Investment Strategy Risk  — The market may reward certain investment characteristics for a period of time and not others. The returns for a specific investment characteristic may vary significantly relative to other characteristics and may increase or decrease

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significantly during different phases of a market cycle. A Portfolio comprised of stocks intended to reduce exposure to uncompensated risk may not necessarily be less sensitive to a change in the broad market price level and may not accurately estimate the risk/return outcome of stocks. Portfolio investments may exhibit higher volatility than expected or underperform the markets. The Portfolio's strategy may result in the Portfolio underperforming the general securities markets, particularly during periods of strong positive market performance.

Portfolio Management Risk  —  The Portfolio is subject to the risk that strategies used by an investment manager and its securities selections fail to produce the intended results. An investment manager’s judgments or decisions about the quality, relative yield or value of, or market trends affecting, a particular security or issuer, industry, sector, region or market segment, or about the economy or interest rates, may be incorrect or otherwise may not produce the intended results, which may result in losses to the Portfolio. In addition, many processes used in Portfolio management, including security selection, rely, in whole or in part, on the use of various technologies. The Portfolio may suffer losses if there are imperfections, errors or limitations in the quantitative, analytic or other tools, resources, information and data used, or the analyses employed or relied on, by an investment manager, or if such tools, resources, information or data are used incorrectly, fail to produce the desired results, or otherwise do not work as intended. There can be no assurance that the use of these technologies will result in effective investment decisions for the Portfolio.

ESG Considerations Risk  — Consideration of ESG factors in the investment process may limit the types and number of investment opportunities available to the Portfolio, and therefore carries the risk that, under certain market conditions, the Portfolio may underperform funds that do not consider ESG factors. The integration of ESG considerations may affect the Portfolio's exposure to certain sectors or types of investments and may impact the Portfolio's relative investment performance depending on whether such sectors or investments are in or out of favor in the market. Furthermore, ESG criteria are not uniformly defined, and the Portfolio's ESG criteria may differ from those used by other funds. A company’s ESG performance or the Sub-Adviser’s assessment of a company’s ESG performance may change over time, which could cause the Portfolio temporarily to hold securities that do not comply with the Portfolio's responsible investment principles. In evaluating a company, the Sub-Adviser is dependent upon information or data that may be incomplete, inaccurate or unavailable, which could cause the Sub-Adviser to incorrectly assess a company’s ESG performance. Successful application of the Portfolio's ESG considerations will depend on the Sub-Adviser’s skill in properly identifying and analyzing material ESG issues.

Foreign Securities Risk  — Investments in foreign securities, including depositary receipts, involve risks in addition to those associated with investments in U.S. securities. Foreign markets may be less liquid, more volatile and subject to less government supervision and regulation than U.S. markets, and it may take more time to clear and settle trades involving foreign securities, which could negatively impact the Portfolio's investments and cause it to lose money. Security values also may be negatively affected by changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies. Differences between U.S. and foreign legal, political and economic systems, regulatory regimes and market practices, as well as trade barriers and other protectionist trade policies (including those of the U.S.), governmental instability, war, or other political or economic actions, also may adversely impact security values. Foreign securities are also subject to the risks associated with the potential imposition of economic or other sanctions against a particular foreign country, its nationals, businesses or industries. World markets, or those in a particular region, may all react in similar fashion to important economic, political or other developments. Events and evolving conditions in certain economies or markets may alter the risks associated with investments tied to countries or regions that historically were perceived as comparatively stable and make such investments riskier and more volatile. Regardless of where a company is organized or its stock is traded, its performance may be significantly affected by events in regions from which it derives its profits or in which it conducts significant operations.

Currency Risk  — Investments that are denominated in or that provide exposure to foreign currencies are subject to the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar. Any such decline may erode or reverse any potential gains from an investment in securities denominated in foreign currency or may widen existing loss. In the case of hedging positions, there is the risk that the U.S. dollar will decline in value relative to the currency being hedged. Currency rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time.

Emerging Markets Risk  — The risks associated with investments in emerging market countries often are significant, and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and company to company. Investments in emerging market countries are more susceptible to loss than investments in more developed foreign countries and may present market, credit, currency, liquidity, legal, political, technical and other risks different from, or greater than, the risks of investing in more developed foreign countries. Emerging market countries may be more likely to experience rapid and significant adverse developments in their political or economic structures, intervene in financial markets, restrict foreign investments, impose high withholding or other taxes on foreign investments, impose restrictive exchange control regulations, or nationalize or expropriate the assets of private companies, which may have negative impacts on transaction costs, market price, investment returns and the legal rights and remedies available to the Portfolio. In addition, the securities markets of emerging market countries generally are smaller, less liquid and more volatile than those of more developed foreign countries, and emerging market countries often have less uniformity in regulatory,

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accounting, auditing and financial reporting requirements or standards, which may impact the availability and quality of information about issuers, and less reliable clearance and settlement, registration and custodial procedures. Emerging market countries also may be subject to high inflation and rapid currency devaluations, and currency-hedging techniques may be unavailable in certain emerging market countries. In addition, some emerging market countries may be heavily dependent on international trade, which can materially affect their securities markets. Securities of issuers traded on foreign exchanges may be suspended. The likelihood of such suspensions may be higher for securities of issuers in emerging market countries than in countries with more developed markets.

European Economic Risk  — The economies of European Union (“EU”) member countries and their trading partners, as well as the broader global economy, may be adversely affected by changes in the euro’s exchange rate, changes in EU or governmental regulations on trade, geopolitical tensions or conflicts, and the threat of default or an actual default by an EU member country on its sovereign debt, which could negatively impact the Portfolio's investments and cause it to lose money. Recent events in Europe may continue to impact the economies of every European country and their economic partners. Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the resulting responses by the United States and other countries, and the potential for wider conflict have had, and could continue to have, severe adverse effects on regional and global economies and could further increase volatility and uncertainty in the financial markets. In addition, on January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom (“UK”) officially withdrew from the EU, commonly referred to as “Brexit.” Following a transition period, the UK’s post-Brexit trade agreement with the EU went into effect on January 1, 2021. Until the economic effects of Brexit become clearer, and while a period of political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty continues, there remains a risk that Brexit may negatively impact the Portfolio's investments and cause it to lose money. Any further withdrawals from the EU could cause additional market disruption globally.

Geographic Concentration Risk  — To the extent the Portfolio invests a significant portion of its assets in securities of companies domiciled, or exercising the predominant part of their economic activity, in one country or geographic region, it assumes the risk that economic, political, social and environmental conditions in that particular country or region will have a significant impact on the Portfolio’s investment performance and that the Portfolio’s performance will be more volatile than the performance of more geographically diversified funds. In addition, the risks associated with investing in a narrowly defined geographic area are generally more pronounced with respect to investments in emerging market countries.

Sector Risk  — From time to time, based on market or economic conditions, the Portfolio may have significant positions in one or more sectors of the market. To the extent the Portfolio invests more heavily in particular sectors, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors. Individual sectors may be more volatile, and may perform differently, than the broader market. The industries that constitute a sector may all react in the same way to economic, political or regulatory events.

Securities Lending Risk  —  The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to seek income. There is a risk that a borrower may default on its obligations to return loaned securities. The Portfolio will be responsible for the risks associated with the investment of cash collateral and may lose money on its investment of cash collateral or may fail to earn sufficient income on its investment to meet obligations to the borrower. Securities lending may introduce leverage into the Portfolio. In addition, delays may occur in the recovery of loaned securities from borrowers, which could interfere with the Portfolio’s ability to vote proxies or to settle transactions.

Risk/Return Bar Chart and Table

The bar chart and table below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio by showing changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Portfolio’s average annual total returns for the past one-year, five-year and since inception periods through December 31, 2021, compared to the returns of a broad-based securities market index. Past performance is not an indication of future performance.

Prior to January 1, 2018, the Portfolio did not integrate ESG filters into its portfolio construction process.

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The performance results do not reflect any Contract-related fees and expenses, which would reduce the performance results.  

 Calendar Year Annual Total Returns — Class IB

  

Best quarter (% and time period)	15.69%	2020 2nd Quarter
Worst quarter (% and time period)	-18.65%	2020 1st Quarter

  

 Average Annual Total Returns (%)  

	One Year	Five Years	Since Inception	Inception Date
1290 VT SmartBeta Equity ESG Portfolio - Class IB Shares	23.08	14.65	10.96	10/28/2013
MSCI World (Net) Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes, except foreign withholding taxes)	21.82	15.03	10.90

Who Manages the Portfolio

Investment Adviser: Equitable Investment Management Group, LLC (“EIM” or the “Adviser”)

Portfolio Managers: The members of the team that are jointly and primarily responsible for the selection, monitoring and oversight of the Portfolio’s Sub-Adviser are: 

Name	Title	Date Began Managing the Portfolio
Kenneth T. Kozlowski, CFP®, CLU, ChFC	Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of EIM	October 2013
Alwi Chan, CFA®	Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of EIM	October 2013

Sub-Adviser: AXA Investment Managers US Inc. (“AXA IM” or the “Sub-Adviser”)

Portfolio Managers: The members of the team that are jointly and primarily responsible for the securities selection, research and trading for the Portfolio are: 

Name	Title	Date Began Managing the Portfolio
Gideon Smith, CFA®	Co-Chief Investment Officer of Equity QI at AXA IM	October 2013
Cameron Gray	Head of Portfolio Implementation of Equity QI at AXA IM	May 2015
Ram Rasaratnam, CFA®	Co-Chief Investment Officer of Equity QI at AXA IM	May 2021

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The Adviser is responsible for overseeing Sub-Advisers and recommending their hiring, termination and replacement to the Board of Trustees. The Adviser has been granted relief by the Securities and Exchange Commission to hire, terminate and replace Sub-Advisers and amend sub-advisory agreements subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees and without obtaining shareholder approval. However, the Adviser may not enter into a sub-advisory agreement on behalf of the Portfolio with an “affiliated person” of the Adviser unless the sub-advisory agreement is approved by the Portfolio’s shareholders. The relief does not extend to any increase in the advisory fee paid by the Portfolio to the Adviser; any such increase would be subject to shareholder approval.

PURCHASE AND REDEMPTION OF PORTFOLIO SHARES

The Portfolio’s shares are currently sold only to insurance company separate accounts in connection with Contracts issued by Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company (“Equitable Financial”) or other affiliated or unaffiliated insurance companies and to The Equitable 401(k) Plan. Shares also may be sold to other portfolios managed by EIM that currently sell their shares to such accounts and to other investors eligible under applicable federal income tax regulations.

The Portfolio does not have minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements. Shares of the Portfolio are redeemable on any business day (which typically is any day the New York Stock Exchange is open) upon receipt of a request. All redemption requests will be processed and payment with respect thereto will normally be made within seven days after tender. Please refer to your Contract prospectus for more information on purchasing and redeeming Portfolio shares.

TAX INFORMATION

The Portfolio’s shareholders are (or may include) insurance company separate accounts and other investors eligible under applicable federal income tax regulations. Distributions made by the Portfolio to such an account, and exchanges and redemptions of Portfolio shares made by such an account, ordinarily do not cause the holders of underlying Contracts to recognize income or gain for federal income tax purposes at the time of the distributions, exchanges or redemptions; the holders generally are taxed only on amounts they withdraw from their Contract. See the prospectus for your Contract for further tax information.

PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES

The Portfolio is not sold directly to the general public but instead is offered as an underlying investment option for Contracts and to other eligible investors. The Portfolio and the Adviser and its affiliates may make payments to sponsoring insurance companies (and their affiliates) or other financial intermediaries for distribution and/or other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing an insurance company or other financial intermediary and your financial adviser to recommend the Portfolio over another investment or by influencing an insurance company to include the Portfolio as an underlying investment option in the Contract. The prospectus (or other offering document) for your Contract may contain additional information about these payments. Ask your financial adviser or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

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