The Wall Street Journal's Andrew Ackerman wrote in a blog post late Friday, "SEC's Piwowar: Give Investors Money-Fund Choices," which revealed that one SEC Commissioner is pushing to give fund groups and investors a choice between a floating NAV and redemption gates and fees. The online version of the Journal comments, "As U.S. securities regulators move to finalize long-awaited rules aimed at reducing risks to the $2.7 trillion money-market mutual-fund industry, one official wants investors to have greater choice in the types of funds in which they can invest. Michael Piwowar, a Republican member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said investors should be able to choose whether to invest in funds that float in value or those with stable share prices that can restrict redemptions during periods of market tumult."
Ackerman quotes Piwowar, "Funds should be able to offer investors the opportunity to make an informed choice. I think it's a reasonable alternative that is worthy of consideration." The piece adds, "Mr. Piwowar's suggestion comes as the SEC prepares to finalize rules floated last June to rein in risks in the money-fund industry. By giving investors a choice, Mr. Piwowar said, the agency would boost the appeal of the funds to the maximum number of investors. He joined the commission in August after the agency proposed its money-fund rule."
Finally, the Journal comments, "SEC staff are in the early stages of developing the contours of the finalized money-fund rules, according to people familiar with the matter who said the agency aims to finalize the rules in the first half of the year. Under the preliminary staff plan, the agency would scale back certain aspects of the proposal, including the definition of funds for mom-and-pop "retail" investors that would be allowed to maintain a fixed $1 share price, according to people familiar with the process. The changes would define any "natural person" as a retail investor, these people said, broader than the definition in the proposal. An SEC spokesman declined to comment."
In other news, a press release entitled, "Invesco Announces Inclusion on Bloomberg's New Money Market Trading Platform in North America," tell us, "Invesco announced today its presence on Bloomberg's recently launched North American Money Market Funds trading platform, conveniently allowing Bloomberg users who have been enabled by Invesco to view and exchange information about the Invesco institutional money market funds."
It quotes Bruce Simmons, National Sales Director for Invesco's Global Liquidity team, "Our institutional money market funds have long been sought after to meet a variety of cash management needs by institutional investors around the world. This new platform leverages the depth and breadth of Bloomberg's extensive network to offer greater access to our funds through a simple interface in a familiar trading environment."
Finally, Invesco adds, "The new trading platform is part of the Bloomberg Professional service, at no additional cost to Bloomberg subscribers, and provides a complete solution to efficiently trade and analyze Invesco's institutional money market funds by simply entering ('MMF' then 'GO') on the Bloomberg terminal."
