Consolidation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

The Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Federated Hermes, certain Federated Hermes Funds and other entities in which Federated Hermes holds a controlling financial interest. Federated Hermes is involved with various entities in the normal course of business that may be deemed to be VREs or VIEs. From time to time, Federated Hermes invests in Federated Hermes Funds for general corporate investment purposes or, in the case of newly launched products, in order to provide investable cash to establish a performance history. Federated Hermes' investment in, and/or receivables from, these Federated Hermes Funds represents its maximum exposure to loss. The assets of each consolidated Federated Hermes Fund are restricted for use by the respective Federated Hermes Fund. Generally, neither creditors of, nor equity investors in, the Federated Hermes Funds have any recourse to Federated Hermes' general credit. Given that the entities follow investment company accounting, which prescribes fair-value accounting, a deconsolidation generally does not result in gains or losses for Federated Hermes. Receivables from all Federated Hermes Funds for advisory and other services totaled $41.1 million and $37.6 million at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

In the ordinary course of business, Federated Hermes may implement Fee Waivers for various Federated Hermes Funds for competitive, regulatory or contractual reasons. For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, Fee Waivers totaled $675.3 million, $427.3 million and $358.2 million, respectively, of which $537.8 million, $311.6 million and $242.9 million, respectively, related to money market funds which meet the scope exception of the consolidation guidance.

Like other sponsors of investment companies, Federated Hermes in the ordinary course of business may make capital contributions to certain money market Federated Hermes Funds in connection with the reorganization of such funds into certain affiliated money market Federated Hermes Funds or in connection with the liquidation of a money market Federated Hermes Fund. In these instances, such capital contributions typically are intended to either offset realized losses or other permanent impairments to a fund's NAV, increase the market-based NAV per share of the fund's portfolio that is being reorganized to equal the market-based NAV per share of the acquiring fund or to bear a portion of expenses relating to a fund liquidation. Under current money fund regulations and SEC guidance, Federated Hermes is required to report these types of capital contributions to U.S. money market mutual funds to the SEC as financial support to the investment company that is being reorganized or liquidated. There were no contributions for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.

In accordance with Federated Hermes' consolidation accounting policy, Federated Hermes first determines whether the entity being evaluated is a VRE or a VIE. Once this determination is made, Federated Hermes proceeds with its evaluation of whether to consolidate the entity. The disclosures below represent the results of such evaluations as of December 31, 2020 and 2019.

(a) Consolidated Voting Rights Entities

Most of the Federated Hermes Funds meet the definition of a VRE. Federated Hermes consolidates VREs when it is deemed to have control. Consolidated VREs are reported on Federated Hermes' Consolidated Balance Sheets primarily in Investments—Consolidated Investment Companies and Redeemable Noncontrolling Interest in Subsidiaries.

(b) Consolidated Variable Interest Entities

As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, Federated Hermes was deemed to be the primary beneficiary of, and therefore consolidated, certain Federated Hermes Funds as a result of its controlling financial interest. The following table presents the balances related to the consolidated Federated Hermes Fund VIEs that were included on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as well as Federated Hermes' net interest in the consolidated Federated Hermes Fund VIEs at December 31:


(in millions)	2020			2019

Investments—Consolidated Investment Companies		$	12.1		$	13.3
Other Assets		0.3			0.3
Less: Liabilities		0.1			0.1
Less: Redeemable Noncontrolling Interest in Subsidiaries		0.0			9.3
Federated Hermes' Net Interest in Federated Hermes Fund VIEs		$	12.3		$	4.2

Federated Hermes' net interest in the consolidated Federated Hermes Fund VIEs represents the value of Federated Hermes' economic ownership interest in these Federated Hermes Funds.

During the year ended December 31, 2020, Federated Hermes liquidated its investment in one consolidated VIE in which it was the only remaining shareholder. Accordingly, Federated Hermes redeemed $6.0 million from Investments—Consolidated Investment Companies on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of the date of the liquidation. There was no impact to the

Consolidated Statements of Income as a result of this liquidation. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Federated Hermes consolidated two additional Federated Hermes Fund VIEs as a result of being the only investor in these funds. There was no impact to the Consolidated Statements of Income as a result of these consolidations. There were no other consolidations or deconsolidations of VIEs during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Federated Hermes' involvement with certain Federated Hermes Funds that are deemed to be VIEs includes serving as the investment manager, or at times, holding a minority interest or both. Federated Hermes' variable interest is not deemed to absorb losses or receive benefits that could potentially be significant to the VIE. Therefore, Federated Hermes is not the primary beneficiary of these VIEs and has not consolidated these entities.

At December 31, 2020 and 2019, Federated Hermes' variable interest in non-consolidated VIEs was $106.0 million and $111.9 million, respectively, (primarily recorded in Cash and Cash Equivalents on the Consolidated Balance Sheets) and was entirely related to Federated Hermes Funds. AUM for these non-consolidated Federated Hermes Funds totaled $9.1 billion and $9.6 billion at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Of the Receivables—Affiliates at December 31, 2020 and 2019, $0.4 million and $1.1 million, respectively, related to non-consolidated VIEs and represented Federated Hermes' maximum risk of loss from non-consolidated VIE receivables.