The fund’s investment objective is to provide current income, consistent with a short duration profile as described in this prospectus and with the preservation of capital.

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. No fees are charged by the fund upon the sale of fund shares, so you would incur these hypothetical costs whether or not you were to sell your shares at the end of the given period.

The fund will invest primarily in bonds (bonds include any debt instrument and cash equivalents, and may be represented by derivatives). The fund maintains a portfolio of bonds, other debt securities (including asset-backed securities and other securities described below) and money market instruments consisting primarily of debt securities rated BBB– or Baa3 or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser. The fund’s average portfolio duration is generally expected to be less than 2 years, but may be up to 3 years.

The fund primarily invests in debt securities denominated in U.S. dollars, including securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S. government, securities of corporate issuers, mortgage-backed securities and debt securities and mortgage-backed securities issued by government sponsored entities and federal agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. In addition, the fund may invest in asset-backed securities (securities backed by assets such as auto loans, credit card receivables or other providers of credit).

The fund may invest in debt securities tied economically to countries outside the U.S. including, but not limited to, corporate debt and inflation-linked bonds issued by U.S. and non-U.S. governments, their agencies or instrumentalities. Inflation-linked bonds are structured to protect against inflation by linking the bond’s principal and interest payments to an inflation index, such as the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers, so that principal and interest adjust to reflect changes in the index.

The fund may also invest in futures contracts and swaps, which are types of derivatives. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which is based on the value of an underlying financial asset (such as a stock, bond or currency), a reference rate or a market index.

The fund’s assets are managed by a team of portfolio managers. Under this approach, the fund’s managers work together to oversee the fund’s entire portfolio. For more information regarding the investment process of the fund, see the “Management and organization” section of this prospectus.

The fund relies on the professional judgment of its investment adviser to make decisions about the fund’s portfolio investments. The basic investment philosophy of the investment adviser is to seek to invest in attractively priced securities that, in its opinion, represent good investment opportunities. Securities may be sold when the investment adviser believes that they no longer represent relatively attractive investment opportunities.

The following bar chart shows how the fund’s investment results have varied from year to year, and the following table shows how the fund’s average annual total returns for various periods compare with a broad measure of securities market results and, if applicable, other measures of market results that reflect the fund’s investment universe. This information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. Past investment results (before and after taxes) are not predictive of future investment results. Updated information on the fund’s investment results can be obtained by visiting capitalgroup.com/etf.

Issuer risks — The prices of, and the income generated by, securities held by the fund may decline in response to various factors directly related to the issuers of such securities, including reduced demand for an issuer’s goods or services, poor management performance, major litigation, investigations or other controversies related to the issuer, changes in the issuer’s financial condition or credit rating, changes in government regulations affecting the issuer or its competitive environment and strategic initiatives and the market response to any such initiatives. An individual security may also be affected by factors relating to the industry or sector of the issuer or the securities markets as a whole, and conversely an industry or sector or the securities markets may be affected by a change in financial condition or other event affecting a single issuer.

Investing in mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities — Mortgage-related securities, such as mortgage-backed securities, and other asset-backed securities, include debt obligations that represent interests in pools of mortgages or other income-bearing assets, such as consumer loans or receivables. While such securities are subject to the risks associated with investments in debt instruments generally (for example, credit, extension and interest rate risks), they are also subject to other and different risks. Mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are subject to changes in the payment patterns of borrowers of the underlying debt, potentially increasing the volatility of the securities and the fund’s net asset value. When interest rates fall, borrowers are more likely to refinance or prepay their debt before its stated maturity. This may result in the fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities, effectively reducing the fund’s income. Conversely, if interest rates rise and borrowers repay their debt more slowly than expected, the time in which the mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are paid off could be extended, reducing the fund’s cash available for reinvestment in higher yielding securities. Mortgage-backed securities are also subject to the risk that underlying borrowers will be unable to meet their obligations and the value of property that secures the mortgages may decline in value and be insufficient, upon foreclosure, to repay the associated loans. Investments in asset-backed securities are subject to similar risks.

Liquidity risk — Certain fund holdings may be or may become difficult or impossible to sell, particularly during times of market turmoil. Liquidity may be impacted by the lack of an active market for a holding, legal or contractual restrictions on resale, or the reduced number and capacity of market participants to make a market in such holding. Market prices for less liquid or illiquid holdings may be volatile or difficult to determine, and reduced liquidity may have an adverse impact on the market price of such holdings. Additionally, the sale of less liquid or illiquid holdings may involve substantial delays (including delays in settlement) and additional costs and the fund may be unable to sell such holdings when necessary to meet its liquidity needs or to try to limit losses, or may be forced to sell at a loss. Depending on

market conditions, reduced liquidity of fund holdings may also cause the fund’s shares to trade in the market at wider bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the fund’s NAV.

Investing outside the United States — Securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States or with significant operations or revenues outside the United States and securities tied economically to countries outside the United States may lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market developments in the countries or regions in which the issuers are domiciled, operate or generate revenue or to which the securities are tied economically. These securities may also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Issuers of these securities may be more susceptible to actions of foreign governments, which could adversely impact the value of these securities. Securities markets in certain countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the United States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to different accounting practices and different regulatory, legal, auditing, financial reporting and recordkeeping standards and practices, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the United States. In addition, the value of investments outside the United States may be reduced by foreign taxes. Further, there may be increased risks of delayed settlement of securities purchased or sold by the fund, which could impact the liquidity of the fund’s portfolio.

Interest rate risk — The values and liquidity of the securities held by the fund may be affected by changing interest rates. For example, the values of these securities may decline when interest rates rise and increase when interest rates fall. Longer maturity debt securities generally have greater sensitivity to changes in interest rates and may be subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. The fund may invest in variable and floating rate securities. When the fund holds variable or floating rate securities, a decrease in market interest rates will adversely affect the income received from such securities and the net asset value of the fund’s shares. Although the values of such securities are generally less sensitive to interest rate changes than those of other debt securities, the value of variable and floating rate securities may decline if their interest rates do not rise as quickly, or as much, as market interest rates. Conversely, floating rate securities will not generally increase in value if interest rates decline. During periods of extremely low short-term interest rates, the fund may not be able to maintain a positive yield or total return and, in relatively low interest rate environments, there are heightened risks associated with rising interest rates.

Market trading — The fund shares are listed for trading on an exchange and are bought and sold on the secondary market at market prices. The market prices of fund shares are expected to fluctuate, in some cases materially, in response to changes in the fund’s net asset value (“NAV”), the intraday value of the fund’s holdings, and supply and demand for the fund shares. The existence of significant market volatility, disruptions to creations and redemptions, or potential lack of an active trading market for fund shares and/or for the holdings of the fund (including through a trading halt), among other factors, may result in the shares trading significantly above (at a premium) or below (at a discount) to NAV and bid-ask spreads may widen. A bid-ask spread is the “spread” or difference between what investors are willing to pay for fund shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which they are willing to sell fund shares (the “ask” price). If you buy fund shares when their market price is at a premium or sell the fund shares when their market price is at a discount, you may pay more than, or receive less than, NAV, respectively.

Foreign securities held by the fund may be traded in markets that close at a different time than the exchange on which the fund’s shares are listed. Liquidity in those securities may be reduced after the applicable closing times. Accordingly, during the time when the fund’s

exchange is open but after the applicable market closing, fixing or settlement times, bid-ask spreads on the fund’s exchange and the corresponding premium or discount to the fund’s NAV may widen.

Cash transactions — The fund currently expects to effect at least part of its creations and redemptions for cash rather than in-kind securities. When the fund effects redemptions partly or wholly for cash, rather than in-kind, the fund may have to sell portfolio securities at inopportune times in order to obtain the cash needed to meet redemption orders. If the fund realizes gains on these sales, the fund generally will be required to recognize a gain it might not otherwise have recognized, or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise be required if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. This strategy may cause shareholders to be subject to tax from distributions to which they would not otherwise be subject. The use of cash creations and redemptions may also cause the fund’s shares to trade in the market at wider bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the fund’s NAV. As a result of such cash transactions, the fund could incur brokerage costs which, to the extent not offset by transaction fees that are payable by an Authorized Participant, may reduce the fund’s NAV.