Federated Hermes partners with Conduit Digital
Federated Hermes is partnering with Singapore-based Conduit Digital Holdings to launch a regulated tokenized money market fund distribution structure aimed at institutional and wholesale investors across the Asia-Pacific region.
Under the strategic alliance, a Conduit-managed investment fund will invest in the Federated Hermes Short-Term U.S. Prime Fund, an actively managed, UCITS-authorized money market fund, it says in a statement. Shares of the Conduit fund will subsequently be tokenized, giving investors in APAC exposure to the underlying Federated Hermes fund through a blockchain-based structure.
The initiative marks Federated Hermes’ first digital assets project in the Asia-Pacific region and comes as the asset manager expands its broader digital assets and tokenization strategy.
Federated Hermes has more than five decades of experience in money market investing and manages US$676.9 billion in money market assets. Its Short-Term U.S. Prime Fund invests primarily in high-quality, U.S.-dollar-denominated short-term debt instruments, including commercial paper and certificates of deposit, and seeks to provide current income while maintaining daily liquidity and stable principal value.
The partnership adds to a series of recent digital-asset initiatives by Federated Hermes. These include an alliance with UK-based Archax to provide tokenized access to three UCITS money market funds, participation in a regulated industry initiative using mirrored tokenization to improve the transferability and collateral utility of fund shares, and the launch of a U.S. money market fund aligned with the GENIUS Act and designed to support stablecoin reserve use cases.
Compelling Evolution in Investment Management
The firm’s digital assets strategy is led by Kevin Barr, who was appointed Director, Digital Assets Product and Platform Strategy in May 2026.
«Vaults represent a compelling evolution in investment management,» Barr said, adding that Federated Hermes sees an opportunity to bring its experience in liquidity management and fiduciary responsibility to the emerging tokenized investment market.
For Conduit Digital, the partnership is intended to move tokenized money market products beyond basic settlement. Richard Schroder, Co-Founder and CEO of Conduit Digital Holdings, said the company plans to develop applications for the tokens including collateral use, multicurrency management and integration with AI-driven treasury management systems.
Expansion Across APAC
The alliance also strengthens Federated Hermes’ expansion across APAC. The company already has offices in Singapore, Tokyo and Sydney and announced earlier this year plans to open a Hong Kong office as part of a longer-term strategy to deepen relationships with private banks, family offices, wealth intermediaries and institutional investors.
Jim Roland, Head of Business Development, Asia Pacific and Australia at Federated Hermes, said APAC’s strong adoption of tokenization makes the region a strategically important market for the firm’s latest digital assets initiative.
Conduit Asset Management will act as investment manager to the fund, combining its fiduciary oversight with Federated Hermes’ money market expertise.
The partnership highlights a broader shift among asset managers toward using regulated blockchain infrastructure to distribute traditional investment products.
