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Other

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Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II

Amendment Flag

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false

Document Effective Date

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May 02, 2011

Supplement [Text Block]

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Supplement dated May 2, 2011 to the prospectus listed below


Fund	Prospectus Material Number	Prospectus Effective Date
Columbia Variable Portfolio (VP) - Global Bond Fund	S-6466-99 AF	4/29/2011

Strategy Narrative [Text Block]

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The Fund is a non-diversified mutual fund that invests primarily in debt obligations of U.S. and foreign issuers. Under normal market conditions, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets (including the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) will be invested in investment-grade corporate or government debt obligations, including money market instruments, of issuers located in at least three different countries. Although the Fund emphasizes high- and medium-quality debt securities, it may assume some credit risk in seeking to achieve higher dividends and/or capital appreciation by buying below investment grade bonds (junk bonds). The Fund may invest in fixed income securities of any maturity and does not seek to maintain a particular dollar-weighted average maturity.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund generally invests at least 40% of its net assets in debt obligations of foreign governments, and companies that (a) maintain their principal place of business or conduct their principal business activities outside the U.S., (b) have their securities traded on non-U.S. exchanges or (c) have been formed under the laws of non-U.S. countries. Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (the investment manager) may reduce this 40% minimum investment amount to 30% if it believes that market conditions for these securities or specific foreign markets are unfavorable. The Fund considers a company to conduct its principal business activities outside the U.S. if it derives at least 50% of its revenue from business outside the U.S. or has at least 50% of its assets outside the U.S.

In addition, in pursuing its objective, the Fund, relying on quantitative and qualitative analyses, may enter into various currency-, interest rate- and credit-related transactions involving derivatives instruments, including futures contracts (such as currency, bond, treasury, index and interest rate futures) and forward foreign currency contracts (forwards). The use of these derivatives instruments allows the Fund to obtain net long or net negative (short) exposure to selected currencies, interest rates, and durations risks. The investment manager may use these derivatives as well as “to be announced” (TBA) mortgage-backed securities in an effort to produce incremental earnings, for hedging purposes, to obtain exposure to various markets/sectors or to increase investment flexibility. Actual long and short exposures will vary over time based on factors such as market movements and assessments of market conditions by the investment manager.

The investment manager may actively and frequently trade securities and other instruments in the Fund’s portfolio to carry out its principal strategies.

Risk Narrative [Text Block]

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Active Management Risk. Due to its active management, the Fund could underperform other mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

Counterparty Credit Risk. The Fund is subject to the risk that a counterparty to a financial instrument entered into by it or held by a special purpose or structured vehicle becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations due to financial difficulties, including making payments to the Fund. The Fund may obtain no or only limited recovery in a bankruptcy or other organizational proceeding, and any recovery may be significantly delayed. The Fund will typically enter into financial instrument transactions with counterparties whose credit rating is investment grade, or, if unrated, determined to be of comparable quality by the investment manager.

Derivatives Risk — Forward Foreign Currency Contracts. The Fund may enter into forward foreign currency contracts, which are types of derivative contracts, whereby the Fund may agree to buy or sell a country’s currency at a specific price on a specific date, usually 30, 60, or 90 days in the future for a specific exchange rate on a given date. These contracts, however, may fall in value due to foreign market downswings or foreign currency value fluctuations. The Fund may enter into forward foreign currency contracts for investment purposes, for risk management (hedging) purposes, and to increase flexibility. The Fund’s investment or hedging strategy may be unable to achieve its objectives. The underlying fund may incur a loss when engaging in offsetting transactions at, or prior to, maturity of a forward foreign currency contract.

Derivatives Risk — Futures Contracts. The Fund may enter into futures contracts for investment purposes, for risk management (hedging) purposes, and to increase flexibility. The liquidity of the futures markets depends on participants entering into off-setting transactions rather than making or taking delivery. To the extent participants decide to make or take delivery, liquidity in the futures market could be reduced. In addition, futures exchanges often impose a maximum permissible price movement on each futures contract for each trading session. The Fund may be disadvantaged if it is prohibited from executing a trade outside the daily permissible price movement. The Fund’s investment or hedging strategies may be unable to achieve their objectives.

Foreign Currency Risk. The Fund’s exposure to foreign currencies subjects the Fund to constantly changing exchange rates and the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar, or, in the case of short positions, that the U.S. dollar will decline in value relative to the currency being sold forward. Currency rates in foreign countries may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in interest rates and economic or political developments in the U.S. or abroad. As a result, the Fund’s exposure to foreign currencies may reduce the returns of the Fund. Trading of foreign currencies also includes the risk of clearing and settling trades which, if prices are volatile, may be difficult. The Fund may also incur currency conversion costs when converting foreign currencies into U.S. dollars.

Risks of Foreign/Emerging Markets Investing. Investments in foreign securities involve certain risks not associated with investments in U.S. companies. Foreign securities in the Fund’s portfolio subject the Fund to the risks associated with investing in the particular country, including the political, regulatory, economic, social and other conditions or events occurring in the country, as well as fluctuations in its currency and the risks associated with less developed custody and settlement practices.

Investments in emerging markets may present greater risk of loss than a typical foreign security investment. Because of the less developed markets and economies and less mature governments and governmental institutions, the risks of investing in foreign securities may be intensified in the case of investments in issuers organized, domiciled or doing business in emerging markets.

Geographic Concentration Risk. The Fund may be particularly susceptible to economic, political, regulatory or other events or conditions affecting companies and countries within the specific geographic regions in which the Fund invests. The Fund may be more volatile than a more geographically diversified fund.

High-Yield Securities Risk. The Fund’s investment in below-investment grade fixed-income securities (i.e., high-yield or junk bonds) exposes the Fund to a greater risk of loss of principal and income than a fund that invests solely or primarily in investment grade securities. High yield securities are considered to be predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer’s capacity to pay interest and repay principal.

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk of losses attributable to changes in interest rates. When interest rates rise, prices of fixed-income securities generally fall. In general, the longer the maturity or duration of a fixed-income security, the greater its sensitivity to changes in interest rates. Interest rate changes also may increase prepayments of debt obligations.

Issuer Credit Risk. Issuer credit risk is the risk that fixed-income securities in the Fund’s portfolio will decline in price or fail to pay interest or repay principal when due because the issuer of the security may or will default or otherwise become unable or unwilling to honor its financial obligations. Lower quality securities held by the Fund present increased issuer credit risk.

Issuer Risk. An issuer may perform poorly, and therefore, the value of its securities may decline, which would negatively the Fund’s performance.

Leverage Risk. Leverage occurs when the Fund increases its assets available for investment using short sales, derivatives, or similar instruments or techniques. The use of leverage may make any change in the Fund’s net asset value (NAV) even greater and thus result in increased volatility of returns. Any Fund’s assets that are used as collateral to secure the short sales may decrease in value while the short positions are outstanding, which may force the Fund to use its other assets to increase the collateral. Leverage can also create an interest or other transactional expense that may lower the Fund’s overall returns. Lastly, there is no guarantee that a leveraging strategy will be successful.

Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk is the risk associated with a lack of marketability of securities which may make it difficult to sell the security at desirable prices. The Fund may have to lower the selling price, sell other investments, or forego another, more appealing investment opportunity.

Market Risk. The market value of securities may fall, fail to rise or fluctuate, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably. Market risk may affect a single issuer, sector of the economy, industry, or the market as a whole.

Non-Diversification Risk. Compared with a “diversified” fund, the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer. A decline in the value of that investment could cause the Fund’s overall value to decline to a greater degree than if the Fund held a more diversified portfolio.

Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund’s investment manager may actively and frequently trade securities or other instruments in the Fund’s portfolio to carry out its investment strategies. A high portfolio turnover rate increases transaction costs, which may increase the Fund’s expenses. The use of certain derivative instruments with relatively short maturities may tend to exaggerate the portfolio turnover rate for the Fund.

Prepayment and Extension Risk. Prepayment and extension risk is the risk that a loan, bond or other security might be called or otherwise converted, prepaid or redeemed before maturity, and the portfolio managers may not be able to invest the proceeds in securities or loans providing as high a level of income, resulting in a reduced yield to the Fund. As interest rates rise or spreads widen, the likelihood of prepayment decreases. The portfolio managers may be unable to capitalize on securities with higher interest rates or wider spreads because the Fund’s investments are locked in at a lower rate for a longer period of time.

Quantitative Model Risk. Securities or other instruments selected using quantitative methods may perform differently from the market as a whole. There can be no assurance that these methodologies will enable the Fund to achieve its objective.

Sector Risk. Investments that are concentrated in a particular issuer, geographic region or sector will be more susceptible to changes in price. The more a fund diversifies its investments, the more it spreads risk and potentially reduces the risks of loss and volatility.

Shorting Risk. The Fund may establish short positions which introduce more risk to the Fund than long positions (where the Fund owns the currency or instrument) because the maximum sustainable loss on a currency or instrument purchased (held long) is limited to the amount paid for the currency or instrument plus the transaction costs, whereas there is no maximum price of the shorted currency or instrument when purchased in the open market. Therefore, in theory, short positions have unlimited risk. The Fund’s use of short positions in effect “leverages” the Fund. Leverage potentially exposes the Fund to greater risks of loss due to unanticipated market movements, which may magnify losses and increase the volatility of returns.

Sovereign Debt Risk. A sovereign debtor’s willingness or ability to repay principal and pay interest in a timely manner may be affected by a variety of factors, including its cash flow situation, the extent of its reserves, the availability of sufficient foreign exchange on the date a payment is due, the relative size of the debt service burden to the economy as a whole, the sovereign debtor’s policy toward international lenders, and the political constraints to which a sovereign debtor may be subject. Sovereign debt risk is increased for emerging market issuers.