Variable Interest Entities Variable Interest Entities (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Variable Interest Entity, Not Primary Beneficiary, Disclosures [Abstract]

Variable Interest Entity, Policy

Variable Interest Entities

VIEs are entities that, by design, either (i) lack sufficient equity to permit the entity to finance its activities independently, or (ii) have equity holders that do not have the power to direct the activities of the entity that most significantly impact its economic performance, the obligation to absorb the entity’s losses, or the right to receive the entity’s residual returns. We consolidate a VIE when we are the primary beneficiary, which is the party that has both (i) the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance and (ii) through its interests in the VIE, the obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits from the VIE that could potentially be significant to the VIE.

We continually monitor our consolidated VIE to determine if any events have occurred that could cause the primary beneficiary to change. See Note 15 for further discussion of VIEs.

We consolidate the activities of VIEs for which we are the primary beneficiary. In order to determine whether we own a variable interest in a VIE, we perform qualitative analysis of the entity’s design, organizational structure, primary decision makers and relevant agreements.