ThZeal - The Zeal


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 online at https://www.vaneck.com/resources/documents/insurance-funds-literature/. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800.826.2333, or by sending an email request to info@vaneck.com. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated May 1, 2021, as may be supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus.

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The table does not include fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract and/or variable life insurance policy. Because these fees and expenses are not included, the fees and expenses that you will incur will be higher than the fees and expenses set forth in the table.

1 Van Eck Associates Corporation (the “Adviser”) has agreed to waive fees and/or pay Fund expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, interest expense, trading expenses, dividends and interest payments on securities sold short, taxes and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 1.10% for Initial Class shares of the Fund’s average daily net assets per year until May 1, 2022. During such time, the expense limitation is expected to continue until the Board of Trustees acts to discontinue all or a portion of such expense limitation.

The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example does not include fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract and/or variable life insurance policy. Because these fees and expenses are not included, the fees and expenses that you will incur will be higher than the fees and expenses set forth in the example.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then either redeem all of your shares at the end of these periods or continue to hold them. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same, and applies fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, if any, for the periods indicated above under “Annual Fund Operating Expenses”. Although your actual expenses may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:

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 that the Fund pays higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 248% of the average value of its portfolio.

Under normal conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in emerging market debt securities. An instrument will qualify as an emerging market debt security if it is either (i) issued by an emerging market government, quasi- government or corporate entity (regardless of the currency in which it is denominated) or (ii) denominated in the currency of an emerging market country (regardless of the location of the issuer). The Fund may also invest in non-emerging market debt securities. The Fund may also invest in debt securities rated below investment grade (“junk bonds”). The Fund is considered to be “non-diversified” which means that it may invest a larger portion of its assets in a single issuer. The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities.

The Fund invests in debt issued in emerging market and developed market currencies by governments and government- owned, controlled, or related entities (and their agencies and subdivisions), and by corporations. The Fund may invest in corporate bonds, debentures, notes, commercial paper, time deposits, and certificates of deposit, as well as debt obligations, which may have a call on a common stock or commodity by means of a conversion privilege or attached warrants.

The Fund may also invest in emerging market or developed market currencies. The Fund may use derivative instruments denominated in any currency to enhance return, hedge (or protect) the value of its assets against adverse movements in commodity prices, currency exchange rates, interest rates and movements in the securities markets, manage certain investment risks and/or as a substitute for the purchase or sale of securities, currencies or commodities. The Fund may also use derivative instruments to implement “cross-hedging” strategies, which involve the use of one currency to hedge against the decline in the value of another currency, or to hedge the value of a currency that is embedded in the value of another currency (for example, the value of the Euro that may be embedded in the Polish zloty). The Fund expects to use forward currency contracts; futures on securities, indices, currencies, commodities, swaps and other investments; options; and interest rate swaps, cross-currency swaps, total return swaps and credit default swaps. The Fund may also invest in credit-linked notes. Credit-linked notes are typically issued by a limited purpose trust or other vehicle that, in turn, invests in a derivative or basket of derivatives instruments, such as credit default swaps, interest rate swaps and/or other securities, in order to provide exposure to certain high yield, sovereign debt, emerging markets, or other fixed income markets. The notional value of a cash-settled forward currency contract or other derivative instrument on an emerging market currency (or a currency that is embedded in an emerging market currency) or security (including any security that is a reference security for a credit default swap) will be treated as an emerging market debt security for purposes of complying with the Fund’s policy of investing at least 80% of its net assets in emerging market debt securities.

The Adviser has broad discretion to identify countries that it considers to qualify as emerging markets. The Adviser selects emerging market countries and currencies that the Fund will invest in based on the Adviser’s evaluation of economic fundamentals, legal structure, political developments and other specific factors the Adviser believes to be relevant. The Fund’s investment strategy normalizes countries’ economic fundamentals and compares them to the valuations of the relevant asset prices, particularly the relevant currency’s valuation, the relevant currency’s interest rate, and the relevant hard-currency security’s credit spread. The Fund may invest in instruments whose return is based on the return of an emerging market security such as a derivative instrument, rather than investing directly in emerging market securities.

The Fund’s holdings may include issues denominated in currencies of emerging countries, investment companies (like country funds) that invest in emerging countries, American Depositary Receipts, and similar types of investments, representing emerging market securities. The Fund may purchase securities of any maturity or duration. Duration is a measure of the expected life of a fixed income security that is used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a security’s duration, the more sensitive it will be to changes in interest rates. Similarly, a fund with a longer average portfolio duration will be more sensitive to changes in interest rates than a fund with a shorter average portfolio duration. By way of example, the price of a bond fund with an average duration of five years would be expected to fall approximately 5% if interest rates rose by one percentage point.

The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in securities issued by other investment companies (each an “Underlying Fund”), including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”). The Fund may also invest in money market funds, but these investments are not subject to this limitation. The Fund may invest in ETFs to participate in, or gain exposure to, certain market sectors, or when direct investments in certain countries are not permitted or available. The Fund also may invest in restricted securities, including Rule 144A securities.

Below Investment Grade Securities. Below investment grade securities (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds”) are more speculative than higher-rated securities. These securities have a much greater risk of default and may be more volatile than higher-rated securities of similar maturity. These securities may be less liquid and more difficult to value than higher-rated securities.

Credit. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt security or the counterparty to an over-the-counter contract (including many derivatives) will be unable or unwilling to make timely principal, interest or settlement payments or otherwise honor its obligations. The Fund invests in debt securities that are subject to varying degrees of risk that the issuers of the securities will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default, potentially reducing the value of the securities.

Credit-Linked Notes. As the buyer of a credit-linked note, the Fund assumes the risk of default by the issuer and the underlying reference asset or entity. If the underlying investment defaults, the payments and principal received by the Fund will be reduced or eliminated. Also, in the event the issuer defaults or there is a credit event that relates to the reference asset, the recovery rate generally is less than the Fund’s initial investment, and the Fund may lose money.

Debt Securities. Debt securities are subject to credit risk and interest rate risk. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer of a debt security will be unable to make interest payments or repay principal when it becomes due. Interest rate risk refers to fluctuations in the value of a debt security resulting from changes in the general level of interest rates. Debt securities with longer durations have higher risk and volatility.

Derivatives. The use of derivatives, such as swap agreements, options, warrants, futures contracts, currency forwards and structured notes, presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities. The use of derivatives can lead to losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the underlying currency, security, asset, index or reference rate. Derivative strategies often involve leverage, which may exaggerate a loss, potentially causing the Fund to lose more money than it would have lost had it invested in the underlying security. Also, a liquid secondary market may not always exist for the Fund’s derivative positions at times when the Fund might wish to terminate or sell such positions. Over-the-counter instruments may be illiquid, and transactions in derivatives traded in the over-the-counter market are subject to counterparty risk.

Emerging Market Securities. Emerging market securities typically present even greater exposure to the risks described under “Foreign Securities” and may be particularly sensitive to certain economic changes. Emerging market securities are exposed to a number of risks that may make these investments volatile in price or difficult to trade. Companies in emerging market countries generally may be subject to less stringent financial reporting, accounting and auditing standards than companies in more developed countries. In addition, securities law and the enforcement of systems of taxation in many emerging market countries may change quickly and unpredictably, and the ability to bring and enforce actions may be limited.

Foreign Securities. Foreign investments are subject to greater risks than U.S. domestic investments. These additional risks may include exchange rate fluctuations and exchange controls; less publicly available information; more volatile or less liquid securities markets; and the possibility of arbitrary action by foreign governments, or political, economic or social instability. Foreign companies also may be subject to significantly higher levels of taxation than U.S. companies, including potentially confiscatory levels of taxation, thereby reducing the earnings potential of such foreign companies.

Hedging. Losses or gains generated by a derivative or other instrument or practice used by the Fund for hedging purposes (including for hedging interest rate risk and credit risk) should be substantially offset by gains or losses on the hedged investment. However, the Fund is exposed to the risk that changes in the value of a hedging instrument will not match those of the investment being hedged.

Latin American Issuers. Investments in securities of Latin American issuers involve special considerations not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers located in the United States. The economies of certain Latin American countries have, at times, experienced high interest rates, economic volatility, inflation, currency devaluations and high unemployment rates. In addition, commodities (such as oil, gas and minerals) represent a significant percentage of the region’s exports and many economies in this region are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in commodity prices. Adverse economic events in one country may have a significant adverse effect on other countries of this region. Most Latin American countries have experienced, at one time or another, severe and persistent levels of inflation, including, in some cases, hyperinflation. This has, in turn, led to high interest rates, extreme measures by governments to keep inflation in check, and a generally debilitating effect on economic growth.

Market Risk. The prices of the securities in the Fund are subject to the risks associated with investing in the securities market, including general economic conditions, sudden and unpredictable drops in value, exchange trading suspensions and closures and public health risks. These risks may be magnified if certain social, political, economic and other conditions and events (such as natural disasters, epidemics and pandemics, terrorism, conflicts and social unrest) adversely interrupt the global economy; in these and other circumstances, such events or developments might affect companies world-wide. An investment in the Fund may lose money.

Non-Diversification. A non-diversified fund’s greater investment in a single issuer makes the fund more susceptible to financial, economic or market events impacting such issuer. A decline in the value of or default by a single security in the non-diversified fund’s portfolio may have a greater negative effect than a similar decline or default by a single security in a diversified portfolio.

Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities and thus may experience a high portfolio turnover rate. This may result in significant taxable capital gains as a result of the frequent trading of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund will incur transaction costs in connection with buying and selling the securities, which may lower the Fund’s return.

Sovereign Bonds. Investments in sovereign bonds involve special risks not present in corporate bonds. The governmental authority that controls the repayment of the bonds may be unable or unwilling to make interest payments and/or repay the principal on its bonds or to otherwise honor its obligations. If an issuer of sovereign bonds defaults on payments of principal and/or interest, the Fund may have limited recourse against the issuer.

The following chart and table provide 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 total returns compare with those of a broad measure of market performance and one or more other performance measures. For instance, the 50% J.P. Morgan Emerging Market Bond Index Global Diversified Index/50% J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets Global Diversified Index, shown in the table, is a blended, unmanaged index created by the Adviser. The Fund’s past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Furthermore, the Fund implemented changes to its principal investment strategies on May 1, 2013. If the Fund had invested its assets in accordance with its current principal investment strategies since inception, the performance of the Fund would have been different than that shown below.

Fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract and/or variable life insurance policy are not reflected; if these amounts were reflected, returns would be lower than those shown. Additionally, large purchases and/or redemptions of shares of a class, relative to the amount of assets represented by the class, may cause the annual returns for each class to differ. Updated performance information for the Fund is available on the VanEck website at vaneck.com.



Average Annual Total Returns as of 12/31/2020	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Initial Class Shares (9/1/89)	8.92%	6.58%	2.39%
50% J.P. Morgan Emerging Market Bond Index Global Diversified
Index/50% J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets
Global Diversified Index (reflects no deduction for expenses or taxes)	4.04%	6.98%	3.90%
J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets Global Diversified
Index (reflects no deduction for expenses or taxes)	2.69%	6.72%	1.49%
J.P. Morgan Emerging Market Bond Index Global Diversified Index
(reflects no deduction for expenses or taxes)	5.26%	7.08%	6.22%

The Fund is available for purchase only through variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies offered by the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Shares of the Fund may not be purchased or sold directly by individual owners of variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance policies. If you are a variable annuity contract or variable life insurance policy holder, please refer to the prospectus that describes your annuity contract or life insurance policy for information about minimum investment requirements and how to purchase and redeem shares of the Fund.

The Fund normally distributes its net investment income and net realized capital gains, if any, to its shareholders annually, the participating insurance companies investing in the Fund through separate accounts. These distributions may not be taxable to you as a holder of a variable annuity contract or variable life insurance policy; please see “How the Fund is managed—Taxes” and consult the prospectus or other information provided to you by your participating insurance company regarding the federal income taxation of your contract or policy.

If you purchase the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as an insurance company), the Fund and/or its affiliates may pay intermediaries 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 financial professional to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial professional or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.



	Initial Class
Management Fees	1.00	%
Other Expenses	0.91	%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	1.91	%
Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements1	-0.81	%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements	1.10	%


Best Quarter:	+21.61%	2Q 2020
Worst Quarter:	-21.35%	1Q 2020


			VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND (INITIAL CLASS)


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