Consolidation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

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 voting rights entities (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 that 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 consolidated by Federated Hermes generally follow investment company accounting, which prescribes fair-value accounting, a deconsolidation generally does not result in the recognition of gains or losses for Federated Hermes.

In the ordinary course of business, Federated Hermes may implement fee waivers for various Federated Hermes Funds for competitive reasons (such as Voluntary Yield-related Fee Waivers or to maintain certain fund ratios/yields), to meet regulatory requirements or to meet contractual requirements (collectively, Fee Waivers). For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, Fee Waivers totaled $233.9 million and $680.0 million, respectively, of which $197.2 million and $573.5 million, respectively, related to money market funds which meet the scope exception of the consolidation guidance. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, Fee Waivers totaled $174.6 million and $490.0 million, respectively, of which $145.1 million and $386.8 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 affiliated money market Federated Hermes Funds in connection with the reorganization of such funds into certain other 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 net asset value (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 market fund regulations and Securities and Exchange Commission (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 three months ended September 30, 2021 and no material contributions for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. There were no contributions for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020.

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 September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020.

(a) Consolidated Voting Rights Entities

Although most of the Federated Hermes Funds meet the definition of a VRE, Federated Hermes consolidates VREs only 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 the periods ended September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, Federated Hermes was deemed to be the primary beneficiary of, and therefore consolidated, certain entities as a result of its controlling financial interest. The following table presents the balances related to the consolidated VIEs that were included on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as well as Federated Hermes' net interest in the consolidated VIEs for each period presented.


(in millions)	September 30, 2021		December 31, 2020
Cash and Cash Equivalents	$	3.3	$	0.2
Investments—Consolidated Investment Companies	35.3		12.1
Other Assets	0.5		0.1
Long-Term Investments	12.0		0.0
Less: Liabilities	1.7		0.1
Less: Redeemable Noncontrolling Interest in Subsidiaries	27.2		0.0
Federated Hermes' Net Interest in VIEs	$	22.2	$	12.3

Federated Hermes' net interest in the consolidated VIEs represents the value of Federated Hermes' economic ownership interest in that VIE.

During the first quarter of 2021, as a result of the HCL Acquisition, Federated Hermes consolidated certain VIEs not previously consolidated. See Note (3) for additional information. During the second quarter of 2021, Federated Hermes consolidated a Federated Hermes Fund VIE in which it was the primary beneficiary. There was no material impact to the Consolidated Statements of Income as a result of these consolidations. There were no other consolidations or deconsolidations of VIEs during the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Federated Hermes' involvement with certain Federated Hermes Funds that are deemed to be VIEs includes serving as 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 September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, Federated Hermes' variable interest in non-consolidated VIEs was $150.7 million and $106.0 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 $9.3 billion and $9.1 billion at September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively. Of the Receivables—Affiliates at September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, $0.6 million and $0.4 million, respectively, related to non-consolidated VIEs and represented Federated Hermes' maximum risk of loss from non-consolidated VIE receivables.