The Morningstar Medalist Rating is a forward-looking assessment of investment strategies across within funds vehicles, such as funds and managed accounts. The comprehensive system is designed to assess the potential performance and quality of investment strategies within the context of relevant benchmarks and peer group. It takes into account various factors such as historical performance, risk analysis, fund manager expertise, and consistency of investment approach. Open-end mutual funds and ETFs can receive Gold, Silver, Bronze, Neutral or Negative ratings on this scale. A rating of ‘Gold’, ‘Silver’ or ‘Bronze’ is attributed to investment funds that are expected to perform positively going forward. The difference between these ratings is determined by the conviction of the fund analyst with regards to the ability for the fund to outperform its peers. Funds that are not expected to distinguish themselves will receive a ‘Neutral’ rating, while funds that perform below par will be assessed as ‘Negative’.