The Fund may purchase and sell securities on a when-issued and delayed delivery basis, which means that the Fund may buy or sell a security with payment and delivery taking place in the future. The Fund may also engage in "to be announced" (TBA) transactions, which are transactions in which a fund buys or sells mortgage-backed securities on a forward commitment basis. The Fund may engage in short sales of TBA mortgages, including short sales on TBA mortgages the Fund does not own.
The Fund can invest in derivative instruments, including swap contracts, options and futures contracts.
The Fund can use swap contracts, including interest rate swaps, to hedge or adjust its exposure to interest rates. The Fund can further use volatility swaps and credit default swaps to manage interest rate exposure; and total return swaps to manage interest rate and credit exposures.
The Fund can use options, including swaptions (options on swaps), to manage interest rate risk. The Fund can further use options on bond or rate futures to manage interest rate exposure.
The Fund can use futures contracts, including interest rate futures contracts, to increase or reduce exposure to changes in interest rates. The Fund can also use futures contracts, including Treasury futures, to gain exposure to the U.S. Treasury and Federal Agency MBS markets while deploying Fund assets in other securities.
The portfolio managers utilize the Bloomberg Intermediate U.S. Government Index as a reference in structuring the portfolio. The portfolio managers decide on appropriate risk factors such as duration, the shape of the U.S. Treasury yield curve, Federal Agency exposure, Federal Agency MBS exposure, and TIPS exposure relative to this index. The portfolio managers then employ proprietary technology to calculate appropriate position sizes for each of these risk factors. In doing so, the portfolio managers consider recommendations from a globally interconnected team of specialist decision makers in positioning the Fund to generate alpha (return on investments in excess of the Bloomberg Intermediate U.S. Government Index).
The portfolio managers generally rely upon a team of market-specific specialists for trade execution and for assistance in determining efficient ways (in terms of cost-efficiency and selection) to implement those recommendations. Although a variety of specialists provide input in the management of the Fund, the portfolio managers retain responsibility for ensuring the Fund is positioned appropriately in terms of risk exposures and position sizes.
Specialists employ a bottom-up approach to recommending larger or smaller exposure to specific risk factors. In general, specialists will look for attractive risk-reward opportunities and securities that best enable the Fund to pursue those opportunities. The portfolio managers consider the recommendations of these market-specific specialists in adjusting the Fund's risk exposures and security selection on a real-time basis using proprietary communication technology.
Decisions to purchase or sell securities are determined by the relative value considerations of the investment professionals that factor in economic and credit-related fundamentals, market supply and demand, market dislocations and situation-specific opportunities. The purchase or sale of securities may be related to a decision to alter the Fund's macro risk exposure (such as duration, yield, curve positioning and sector exposure), a need to limit or reduce the Fund's exposure to a particular security or issuer, degradation of an issuer's credit quality, or general liquidity needs of the Fund.
The Fund invests in securities of all maturities, but will maintain a weighted average effective maturity for the portfolio of between three and ten years.
In attempting to meet its investment objective or to manage subscription and redemption requests, the Fund engages in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
As with any mutual fund investment, loss of money is a risk of investing. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. The risks associated with an investment in the Fund can increase during times of significant market volatility. The principal risks of investing in the Fund are:
U.S. Government Obligations Risk. Obligations of U.S. Government agencies and authorities receive varying levels of support and may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, which could affect the Fund's ability to recover should they default. No assurance can be given that the U.S. Government will provide financial support to its agencies and authorities if it is not obligated by law to do so.
Debt Securities Risk. The prices of debt securities held by the Fund will be affected by changes in interest rates, the creditworthiness of the issuer and other factors. An increase in prevailing interest rates typically causes the value of existing debt securities to fall and often has a greater impact on longer-duration debt securities and higher quality debt securities. Falling interest rates will cause the Fund to reinvest the proceeds of debt securities that have been repaid by the issuer at lower interest rates. Falling interest rates may also reduce the Fund's distributable income because interest payments on floating rate debt instruments held by the Fund will decline. The Fund could lose money on investments in debt securities if the issuer or borrower fails to meet its obligations to make interest payments and/or to repay principal in a timely manner. Changes in an issuer's financial strength, the market's perception of such strength or in the credit rating of the issuer or the security may affect the value of debt securities. The Adviser's credit analysis may fail to anticipate such changes, which could result in buying a debt security at an inopportune time or failing to sell a debt security in advance of a price decline or other credit event.
Changing Fixed Income Market Conditions Risk. The current low interest rate environment was created in part by the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and certain foreign central banks keeping the federal funds and equivalent foreign rates near historical lows. Increases in the federal funds and equivalent foreign rates may expose fixed income markets to heightened volatility and reduced liquidity for certain fixed income investments, particularly those with longer maturities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may also potentially lead to heightened volatility and reduced liquidity in the fixed income markets. As a result, the value of the Fund's investments and share price may decline. Changes in central bank policies could also result in higher than normal shareholder redemptions, which could potentially increase portfolio turnover and the Fund's transaction costs.
Market Risk. The market values of the Fund's investments, and therefore the value of the Fund's shares, will go up and down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or section of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole. The value of the Fund's investments may go up or down due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to the particular issuer, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the general outlook for revenues or corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates, regional or global instability, natural or environmental disasters, widespread disease or other public health issues, war, military conflict, acts of terrorism or adverse investor sentiment generally. During a general downturn in the financial markets, multiple asset classes may decline in value. When markets perform well, there can be no assurance that specific investments held by the Fund will rise in value.
Mortgage- and Asset-Backed Securities Risk. Mortgage- and asset-backed securities, including collateralized debt obligations and collateralized mortgage obligations, are subject to prepayment or call risk, which is the risk that a borrower's payments may be received earlier or later than expected due to changes in prepayment rates on underlying loans. This could result in the Fund reinvesting these early payments at lower interest rates, thereby reducing the Fund's income. Mortgage- and asset-backed
2 Invesco V.I. Government Securities Fund