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International Equity Index Trust B | Prospectus Series I, Series II and Series NAV Shares
INTERNATIONAL EQUITY INDEX TRUST B
Investment Objective
To seek to track the performance of a broad-based equity index of foreign companies primarily in developed countries and, to a lesser extent, in emerging markets.
Fees and Expenses
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if shares of the fund are held by separate accounts of certain John Hancock insurance companies that fund variable annuity and variable life insurance contracts. They are based on expenses incurred during the fund’s most recent fiscal year expressed as a percentage of the fund’s average net assets during the year. In subsequent periods, the fund’s expense ratio may increase due to decreases in fund assets attributable to redemptions and declines in portfolio valuation. The fees and expenses do not reflect fees and expenses of any separate account that may use the fund as its underlying investment medium and would be higher if they did.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses

 

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - International Equity Index Trust B Prospectus Series I, Series II and Series NAV Shares
Management fee
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees
Other Expenses
Total fund operating Expenses
Contractual expense reimbursement
Net fund operating expenses
Series I
[1] 0.54% 0.05% 0.04% 0.63% (0.24%) [2] 0.39%
Series II
[1] 0.54% 0.25% 0.04% 0.83% (0.24%) [2] 0.59%
Series NAV
0.54% none 0.04% 0.58% (0.24%) [2] 0.34%
[1] For funds and classes that have not commenced operations or have an inception date of less than six months as of December 31, 2011, expenses are estimated.
[2] Adviser contractually agrees until April 30, 2014 to waive certain fund expenses.
Examples.
The examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The examples assume that $10,000 is invested in the fund for the periods indicated and then all shares are redeemed at the end of those periods. The examples also assume that the investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example - International Equity Index Trust B Prospectus Series I, Series II and Series NAV Shares (USD $)
Year 1
Year 3
Year 5
Year 10
Series I
40 178 327 763
Series II
60 241 437 1,003
Series NAV
35 162 300 703
Portfolio Turnover
The fund 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 fund’s performance. During its most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 3% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its assets in securities listed in the MSCI All Country World Excluding U.S. Index (the “Index”), or American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) or Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) representing such securities. As of May 31, 2012, the market capitalization range of the Index was $26 million to $249 billion.

The fund is an index fund and differs from an actively-managed fund. Actively-managed funds seek to outperform their benchmark indices through research and analysis. Over time, their performance may differ significantly from their benchmark indices. Index funds are passively managed funds that seek to mirror the risk and return profile of market indices, minimizing performance differences over time. An index is an unmanaged group of securities whose overall performance is used as an investment benchmark. Indices may track broad investment markets, such as the global equity market, or more narrow investment markets, such as the U.S. small cap equity market. However, an index fund has operating expenses and transaction costs, while a market index does not. Therefore, the fund, while it attempts to track their target index closely, typically will be unable to match the performance of the index exactly.

The fund uses “sampling” methodology to track the total return performance of the Index. This means that the fund does not intend to purchase all of the securities in the Index, but rather intends to hold a representative sample of the securities in the Index in an effort to achieve the fund’s investment objective. The quantity of holdings in the fund will be based on a number of factors, including asset size of the fund. Although the subadviser generally expects the fund to hold less than the total number of securities in the Index, it reserves the right to hold as many securities as it believes necessary to achieve the fund’s investment objective.

The fund is normally fully invested. The subadviser invests in stock index futures to maintain market exposure and manage cash flow. Although it may employ foreign currency hedging techniques, it normally maintains the currency exposure of the underlying equity investments.

The fund may purchase other types of securities that are not primary investment vehicles, for example, ADRs, GDRs, European Depositary Receipts (EDRs), certain exchange traded funds (ETFs), cash equivalents, and certain derivatives (investments whose value is based on indices or other securities). As an example of how derivatives may be used, the fund may invest in stock index futures to manage cash flow. In addition, the fund may invest in securities that are not included in the index, including futures, options, swap contracts and other derivatives, cash and cash equivalents or money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds (including money market funds advised by the adviser or sub-adviser).
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
The fund is subject to risks, and you could lose money by investing in the fund. The principal risks of investing in the fund include:
Economic and market events risk Events in the financial markets have resulted, and may continue to result, in an unusually high degree of volatility in the financial markets, both domestic and foreign. In addition, reduced liquidity in credit and fixed-income markets may adversely affect issuers worldwide.

 

Equity securities risk The value of a company’s equity securities is subject to changes in the company’s financial condition, and overall market and economic conditions.

 

Exchange-traded funds risk Owning an ETF generally reflects the risks of owning the underlying securities it is designed to track.

 

Foreign securities risk As compared to U.S. companies, there may be less publicly available information relating to foreign companies. Foreign securities may be subject to foreign taxes. The value of foreign securities is subject to currency fluctuations and adverse political and economic developments. Investments in emerging-market countries are subject to greater levels of foreign investment risk.

 

Hedging, derivatives and other strategic transactions risk Hedging and other strategic transactions may increase the volatility of a fund and, if the transaction is not successful, could result in a significant loss to a fund. The use of derivative instruments could produce disproportionate gains or losses, more than the principal amount invested. Investing in derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments and, in a down market, could become harder to value or sell at a fair price. The following is a list of certain derivatives and other strategic transactions in which the fund may invest and the main risks associated with each of them:
Futures contracts Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions) and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving futures contracts.
Options Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions) and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving options. Counterparty risk does not apply to exchange-traded options.
Swaps Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), interest-rate risk, settlement risk, risk of default of the underlying reference obligation and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving swaps.
Index management risk Certain factors may cause a fund that is an index fund to track its target index less closely. For example, a subadviser may select securities that are not fully representative of the index, and the fund’s transaction expenses, and the size and timing of its cash flows, may result in the fund’s performance being different than that of its index. Moreover, the fund will generally reflect the performance of its target index even when the index does not perform well.

 

Issuer risk An issuer of a security may perform poorly and, therefore, the value of its stocks and bonds may decline. An issuer of securities held by the fund could default or have its credit rating downgraded.

 

Large company risk Large-capitalization stocks as a group could fall out of favor with the market, causing the fund to underperform investments that focus on small- or medium-capitalization stocks. Larger, more established companies may be slow to respond to challenges and may grow more slowly than smaller companies. For purposes of the fund’s investment policies, the market capitalization of a company is based on its market capitalization at the time the fund purchases the company’s securities. Market capitalizations of companies change over time.

 

Medium and smaller company risk The prices of medium and smaller company stocks can change more frequently and dramatically than those of large company stocks. For purposes of the fund’s investment policies, the market capitalization of a company is based on its market capitalization at the time the fund purchases the company’s securities. Market capitalizations of companies change over time.
Past Performance
The following information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund by showing changes in performance from year to year and by showing how average annual returns for specified periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Unless all share classes shown in the table have the same inception date, performance shown for periods prior to the inception date of a class is the performance of the fund’s oldest share class. This pre-inception performance, with respect to any other share class of the fund, has not been adjusted to reflect the 12b-1 fees of that class. As a result, the pre- inception performance shown for a share class other than the oldest share class may be higher or lower than it would be if adjusted to reflect the 12b-1 fees of the class. The performance information below does not reflect fees and expenses of any variable insurance contract which may use JHVIT as its underlying investment medium. If such fees and expenses had been reflected, performance would be lower. The past performance of the fund is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future.
Calendar year total returns for Series NAV:
Bar Chart
Best Quarter: 27.40% (Quarter ended 6/30/2009)
Worst Quarter: -22.28% (Quarter ended 12/31/2008)
Average Annual Total Returns for period ended 12/31/2011
Average Annual Total Returns - International Equity Index Trust B Prospectus Series I, Series II and Series NAV Shares
One Year
Five Year
Ten Year
Date of Inception
Series I
(13.99%) (3.04%) 6.31% Aug. 27, 2012
Series II
(13.99%) (3.04%) 6.31% Aug. 27, 2012
Series NAV
(13.99%) (3.04%) 6.31% Apr. 29, 2005
MSCI AC World Ex US Index (gross of foreign withholding taxes on dividends)
(13.33%) (2.48%) 6.76% Apr. 29, 2005