JNL Series Trust

04/28/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/28/2025 08:31

Summary Prospectus by Investment Company (Form 497K)

Summary Prospectus - April 28, 2025
JNL Small Cap Index Fund
Class I
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund's Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund's Prospectus and other information about the Fund, including the Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") and most recent reports to shareholders, online at https://www.jackson.com/fund-literature.html. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-644-4565 (Annuity and Life Service Center), 1-800-599-5651 (NY Annuity and Life Service Center), 1-800-777-7779 (for contracts purchased through a bank or financial institution) or 1-888-464-7779 (for NY contracts purchased through a bank or financial institution), or by sending an email request to ProspectusRequest@jackson.com. The current Prospectus and SAI, both dated April 28, 2025, as amended, are incorporated by reference into (which means they legally are a part of) this Summary Prospectus.
Investment Objective. The investment objective of the Fund ("Fund" or "Master Fund") is to track the performance of the S&P SmallCap 600® Index to provide long-term growth of capital by investing in equity securities of small- to mid-size domestic companies.
Expenses. This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund.
The expenses do not reflect the expenses of the variable insurance contracts or the separate account through which you indirectly invest in the Fund, whichever may be applicable, and the total expenses would be higher if they were included.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Not Applicable
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Class I
Management Fee
0.20%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses
0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.22%
Less Waiver/Reimbursement1
0.12%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Waiver/Reimbursement
0.10%
1
JNAM has contractually agreed to waive 0.12% of the management fees of the Fund. The fee waiver will continue for at least one year from the date of the current Prospectus, and continue thereafter unless the Board of Trustees approves a change in or elimination of the waiver. This fee waiver is subject to yearly review and approval by the Board of Trustees.

Expense Example. This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. Also, this example does not reflect the expenses of the variable insurance contracts or the separate account through which you indirectly invest in the Fund, whichever may be applicable, and the total expenses would be higher if they were included. The table below shows the expenses you would pay on a $10,000 investment, assuming (1) 5% annual return; (2) redemption at the end of each time period; and (3) that the Fund operating expenses remain the same. The example also assumes that the contractual expense limitation agreement is discontinued after one year. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
JNL Small Cap Index Fund Class I
1 year
3 years
5 years
10 years
$10
$59
$112
$268

Portfolio Turnover (% of average value of portfolio). 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 Expense Example above, affect the Fund's performance.
Period
1/1/2024 - 12/31/2024
32
%

Principal Investment Strategies. The Fund invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its assets (net assets plus the amount of any borrowings made for investment purposes) in the stocks included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index ("Index") in proportion to their market capitalization weighting in the Index. The Index is a quarterly-rebalanced, float-adjusted market cap weighted index comprised of approximately 600 U.S. common equities and REITs that meet the index provider's criteria for market capitalization, public float, financial viability, liquidity, price reasonableness, and sector representation. The Index may invest across all GICS sectors and may include investments in financial services companies. The Fund employs a passive investment approach, called indexing, which attempts to replicate the investment performance of the Index through representative sampling. The Fund does not employ traditional methods of active investment management, which involves the buying and selling of securities based upon security analysis. The Fund attempts to replicate the Index by investing all or substantially all of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index. As of December 31, 2024, the market capitalization range for the Index was $297.14 million to $8.52 billion.
When attempting to replicate a capitalization-weighted index such as the Index, portfolio turnover is reduced to what the index adds and deletes, contract owner contributions and withdrawals, and reinvestment of income. The replicated portfolio does not require rebalancing as a result of market movement. It is rebalanced automatically with the change in share prices of the securities owned. The Fund's holdings are rebalanced on a quarterly basis to reflect changes in the composition of the Index.
The Fund may also invest in a combination of exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") and cash to maintain correlation to its index, to assist with index rebalances, and to meet redemption or purchase requests.
The Fund may invest in financial futures, a type of derivative that may be used to obtain exposure to a variety of underlying assets, to provide liquidity for cash flows, to hedge dividend accruals or for other purposes that facilitate meeting the Fund's objective. The Fund's use of financial futures is intended to assist replicating the investment performance of the Index.
The Fund may lend its securities to increase its income.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not guaranteed. As with any mutual fund, the value of the Fund's shares will change, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The principal risks associated with investing in the Fund include:
•
Market risk - Portfolio securities may decline in value due to factors affecting securities markets generally, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates or adverse investor sentiment, public health issues, including widespread disease and virus epidemics or pandemics, war, terrorism or natural disasters, among others. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities. The values of securities may fall due to factors affecting a particular issuer, industry or the securities market as a whole.
•
Equity securities risk - Common and preferred stocks represent equity ownership in a company. Stock markets are volatile, and equity securities generally have greater price volatility than fixed-income securities. The price of equity or equity-related securities will fluctuate and can decline and reduce the value of a portfolio investing in equity or equity-related securities. The value of equity or equity-related securities purchased or held by the Fund could decline if the financial condition of the companies the Fund invests in decline or if overall market and economic conditions deteriorate. They may also decline due to factors that affect a particular industry or industries, such as labor shortages or an increase in production costs and competitive conditions within an industry. In addition, they may decline due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a company or industry, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the general outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or generally adverse investor sentiment.
•
Small-capitalization investing risk - Investing in smaller companies, some of which may be newer companies or start-ups, generally involves greater risks than investing in larger, more established ones. The securities of companies with smaller market capitalizations often are less widely held and trade less frequently and in lesser quantities, and their market prices often fluctuate more, than the securities of companies with larger market capitalizations.
•
License termination risk - The Fund may rely on licenses from a third party (licensor) that permit the Fund to use that party's intellectual property in connection with the Fund's name and/or investment strategies. The license may be terminated by the licensor, and as a result the Fund may lose its ability to use the licensed name or strategy, or receive important data from the licensor. Accordingly, a license may have a significant effect on the future operation of the Fund, including the need to change the investment strategy.
•
Derivatives risk - Investments in derivatives, which are financial instruments whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of underlying assets, reference rates, or indices, can be highly volatile and may be subject to transaction costs and certain risks, such as unanticipated changes in securities prices and global currency investment. Derivatives also are subject to leverage risk, liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, counterparty risk, and credit risk. They also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, interest rate or index. Gains or losses from derivatives can be substantially greater than the derivatives' original cost.
•
Exchange-traded funds investing risk - An investment in an ETF generally presents the following risks: (i) the same primary risks as an investment in a conventional fund (i.e., one that is not exchange-traded) that has the same investment objectives, strategies and policies; (ii) the risk that an ETF may fail to accurately track the market segment or index that underlies its investment objective; (iii) price fluctuation, resulting in a loss to the Fund; (iv) the risk that an ETF may trade at a discount to its net asset value; (v) the risk that an active market for an ETF's shares may not develop or be maintained; and (vi) the risk that an ETF may no longer meet the listing requirements of any applicable exchanges on which that ETF is listed. When the Fund invests in an ETF, shareholders of the Fund bear their proportionate share of the ETF's fees and expenses as well as their share of the Fund's fees and expenses.
•
Financial services risk - An investment in issuers in the financial services sector may be adversely affected by, among other things: (i) changes in the regulatory framework or interest rates that may negatively affect financial service businesses; (ii) exposure of a financial institution to a non-diversified or concentrated loan portfolio; (iii) exposure to financial leverage and/or investments or agreements which, under certain circumstances, may lead to losses (e.g., sub-prime loans); and (iv) the risk that a market shock or other unexpected market, economic, political, regulatory, public health or other event might lead to a sudden decline in the values of most or all companies in the financial services sector.
•
Passive investment risk - The Fund is not actively managed. Unlike with an actively managed fund, the Fund does not use techniques or defensive strategies designed to lessen the effects of market volatility or to reduce the impact of periods of market decline. This means that, based on market and economic conditions, the Fund's performance could be lower than actively managed funds that realign their portfolios more frequently based on the real-time market trends.
•
Index investing risk - The Fund's indexing strategy does not attempt to manage volatility, use defensive strategies, or reduce the effects of any long-term periods of poor stock performance. Should the Fund engage in index sampling, the performance of the securities selected will not provide investment performance tracking that of the Index. Fund performance may not exactly correspond with the performance of the relevant index for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to: the timing of purchases and redemptions of the Fund's shares, changes in the composition of the index, and the Fund's expenses. Certain regulatory limitations, such as fund diversification requirements, may limit the ability of the Fund to completely replicate an index.
•
Tracking error risk - Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Index. The Fund's return may not track the return of the Index for a number of reasons. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Index, pricing differences, differences in transaction costs, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Index does not. However, the Fund may be required to deviate its investments from the securities and relative weightings of the Index to comply with the 1940 Act, as amended to meet the issuer diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, applicable to regulated investment companies, or as a result of local market restrictions, or other legal reasons, including regulatory limits or other restrictions on securities that may be purchased by the Investment Adviser and its affiliates.
•
Securities lending risk - Securities lending involves the risk of loss or delays in recovery of the loaned securities or loss of rights in the collateral if the borrower fails to return the security loaned or becomes insolvent.


Performance. The performance information shown provides some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund's performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund's average annual returns compared with those of a broad-based securities market index and an additional index that the Adviser believes more closely reflects the market segments in which the Fund invests. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
The returns shown in the bar chart and table do not include charges that will be imposed by variable insurance products. If these amounts were reflected, returns would be less than those shown.
Effective April 29, 2024, the Morningstar® US Market Extended Index℠ replaced the S&P SmallCap 600® Index as the Fund's broad-based securities market index in accordance with new regulatory disclosure requirements. The S&P SmallCap 600® Index is included as an additional index for the Fund because the Adviser believes it more closely reflects the market segments in which the Fund invests.
Annual Total Returns as of December 31

Class I
Best Quarter (ended 12/31/2023): 15.16%; Worst Quarter (ended 6/30/2022): -14.17%

Average Annual Total Returns as of 12/31/2024
1 year
Life of Class (April 26, 2021)
JNL Small Cap Index Fund (Class I)
8.55
%
2.75
%
Morningstar US Market Extended Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
23.81
%
9.82
%
S&P SmallCap 600 Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
8.70
%
2.84
%

Portfolio Management.
Investment Adviser to the Fund:
Jackson National Asset Management, LLC ("JNAM")
Sub-Adviser:
Mellon Investments Corporation ("Mellon")
Portfolio Managers:
Name:
Joined Fund Management Team In:
Title:
Marlene Walker Smith
April 2021*
Senior Director, Head of Equity Index - Portfolio Management, Mellon
David France, CFA
April 2021*
Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Mellon
Todd Frysinger, CFA
April 2021*
Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Mellon
Vlasta Sheremeta, CFA
April 2021*
Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Mellon
Michael Stoll
April 2021*
Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Mellon
* The Fund serves as the Master Fund for the JNL/Mellon Small Cap Index Fund ("Feeder Fund"). Marlene Walker Smith, David France, Todd Frysinger, Vlasta Sheremeta, and Michael Stoll joined the Feeder Fund's management team in 2020.
Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares
Shares of the Fund are currently offered to life insurance company separate accounts, as well as a "feeder fund" in a master-feeder arrangement.
All such shares may be purchased or redeemed at net asset value without any sales or redemption charges. These purchases and redemptions are made at the price next determined after such purchases and redemptions of units of the separate accounts or the Feeder Fund.
Separate accounts of Jackson National Life Insurance Company ("Jackson National") or Jackson National Life Insurance Company of New York ("Jackson National NY") and series of registered investment companies in which either or both of those insurance companies invest may purchase shares of the Fund. You may invest indirectly in the Fund through your purchase of a variable annuity or life insurance contract issued by a separate account of Jackson National or Jackson National NY that invests directly, or through a fund, in this Fund. Any minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements and redemption procedures are governed by the applicable separate account through which you invest indirectly.
This Fund serves as an underlying investment by insurance companies, affiliated investment companies, and retirement plans for funding variable annuity and life insurance contracts and retirement plans.
Tax Information
The Fund expects to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and does not expect to make regular distributions (other than in redemption of Fund shares) to shareholders, which generally are the participating insurance companies investing in the Fund through separate accounts of Jackson National or Jackson National NY and mutual funds owned directly or indirectly by such separate accounts. You should consult the prospectus of the appropriate separate account or description of the plan for a discussion of the U.S. federal income tax consequences to you of your contract, policy, or plan.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Financial Intermediaries
If you invest in the Fund under a variable insurance contract or a plan that offers a variable insurance contract as a plan option through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a financial institution), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary's Website for more information.