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Variable Interest Entities - Investment Products | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2012
Variable Interest Entities - Investment Products [Abstract] |
Variable Interest Entities - Investment Products | Variable Interest Entities – Investment Products The Company has created numerous investment products for its clients in various types of legal entity structures. The Company serves as the Manager, Administrator and Distributor for these investment products and may also serve as the Trustee for some of the investment products. Clients are the equity investors and participate in proportion to their ownership percentage in the net income or loss and net capital gains or losses of the products, and, on liquidation, will participate in proportion to their ownership percentage in the remaining net assets of the products after satisfaction of outstanding liabilities. An entity that lacks decision-making rights is a VIE. In some circumstances, the Manager or Trustee of the Company’s investment products controls the governing decisions about the investment activities with respect to the ongoing operations of the investment products without the equity investors possessing the right to remove the Manager or Trustee. Therefore, the equity investors, as a group, do not have the ability to make decisions that have an impact on the ongoing activities of such investment products. Consequently, some of the Company’s investment products have been determined to be VIEs at inception. The VIEs are marketed with investment objectives to generate positive returns; however, the nature of such investments exposes the investors to the risk that the value of the VIEs may increase or decrease. The purpose and design of the VIEs are to achieve the investment objective by implementing strategies which are designed to minimize potential losses; however, there is no assurance given that these strategies will be successful. The Company does not have a significant equity investment in any of the VIEs and does not have an obligation to enter into any guarantee agreements with the VIEs. The fees paid to the decision maker of a VIE are considered to be variable interests if the decision maker is not subject to substantive kick-out rights. The fees paid to the Company represent a variable interest when the decision maker is not subject to substantive kick-out rights. The Company is not the primary beneficiary of the VIEs because the expected fees and the expected return on any investment into the VIE by the Company relative to the expected returns of the VIE to the equity investor holders does not approach 50 percent of the expected losses or gains of the VIEs. Therefore, the Company is not required to consolidate any investment products that are VIEs into its financial statements. The Company’s variable interest in the VIEs, which consists of management fees and in some situations, seed capital, would not be considered a significant variable interest. The risks to the Company associated with its involvement with any of the investment products that are VIEs are limited to the cash flows received from the revenue generated for asset management, administration and distribution services and any equity investments in the VIEs. Both of these items are immaterial. The Company has no other financial obligation to the VIEs. Amounts relating to fees received from the VIEs included in Receivables and amounts relating to equity investments in the VIEs included in Investments Available for Sale on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets are immaterial to the total current assets of the Company.

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- Definition Disclosure related to the Company's nonconsolidated variable interest entities that are investment products and which the Company is not considered the primary beneficiary. + References No definition available. + Details
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