Crane Data's latest Money Fund Intelligence International shows that assets in European or "offshore" money market mutual funds moved higher again over the past 30 days to a record $1.210 trillion, while yields inched lower. Assets for USD, EUR and GBP MMFs all rose over the past month. Last month, European MMF assets broke above their previous record high of $1.185 trillion set in mid-December 2023, and they've now surpassed last month's record of $1.197 trillion. These U.S.-style money funds, domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg and denominated in US Dollars, Pound Sterling and Euros, increased by $25.6 billion over the 30 days through 1/12. The totals are up $13.0 billion (1.1%) year-to-date for 2024, they were up $166.9 billion (16.2%) for the year 2023. (Note that currency moves in the U.S. dollar cause Euro and Sterling totals to shift when they're translated back into totals in U.S. dollars. See our latest MFI International for more on the "offshore" money fund marketplace. These funds are only available to qualified, non-U.S. investors and are almost entirely institutional.)
Offshore US Dollar money funds increased $12.0 billion over the last 30 days and are up $6.3 billion YTD to $655.8 billion, they’ve increased $100.0 billion for the year of 2023. Euro funds increased E8.4 billion over the past month. YTD, they're down E3.5 billion to E231.4 billion, for 2023, they increased by E54.5 billion. GBP money funds increased L3.7 billion over 30 days, and they're up L8.3 billion YTD at L243.6B, for 2023, they fell L28.1 billion. U.S. Dollar (USD) money funds (209) account for over half (54.2%) of the "European" money fund total, while Euro (EUR) money funds (115) make up 20.5% and Pound Sterling (GBP) funds (139) total 25.3%. We summarize our latest "offshore" money fund statistics and our Money Fund Intelligence International Portfolio Holdings (which went out to subscribers Tuesday), below.
Offshore USD MMFs yield 5.30% (7-Day) on average (as of 1/12/23), down 2 bp from a month earlier. Yields averaged 4.20% on 12/30/22, 0.03% on 12/31/21, 0.05% on 12/31/20, 1.59% on 12/31/19 and 2.29% on 12/31/18. EUR MMFs finally left negative yield territory in the second half of 2022 but they should remain flat until the ECB moves rates again. They're yielding 3.86% on average, unchanged from a month ago and up from 1.48% on 12/30/22, -0.80% on 12/31/21, -0.71% at year-end 2020, -0.59% at year-end 2019 and -0.49% at year-end 2018. Meanwhile, GBP MMFs broke the 5.0% barrier 6 months ago and now yield 5.23%, down 1 bp from a month ago, and up from 3.17% on 12/30/22. Sterling yields were 0.01% on 12/31/21, 0.00% on 12/31/20, 0.64% on 12/31/19 and 0.64% on 12/31/18.
Crane's January MFI International Portfolio Holdings, with data as of 12/31/23, show that European-domiciled US Dollar MMFs, on average, consist of 24% in Commercial Paper (CP), 15% in Certificates of Deposit (CDs), 22% in Repo, 26% in Treasury securities, 10% in Other securities (primarily Time Deposits) and 3% in Government Agency securities. USD funds have on average 41.5% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 6.4% maturing in 2-7 Days, 11.9% maturing in 8-30 Days, 12.5% maturing in 31-60 Days, 7.5% maturing in 61-90 Days, 13.7% maturing in 91-180 Days and 6.6% maturing beyond 181 Days. USD holdings are affiliated with the following countries: the US (43.7%), Canada (11.3%), France (10.5%), Japan (8.0%), Sweden (4.5%), the U.K. (3.4%), Australia (3.3%), the Netherlands (2.8%), Germany (2.7%), and Belgium (1.7%).
The 10 Largest Issuers to "offshore" USD money funds include: the US Treasury with $178.6 billion (25.7% of total assets), Fixed Income Clearing Corp with $45.8B (6.6%), RBC with $19.1B (2.8%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd with $17.3B (2.5%), BNP Paribas with $16.2B (2.3%), Credit Agricole with $15.9B (2.3%), Nordea Bank with $15.2B (2.2%), Bank of Nova Scotia with $15.1B (2.2%), Toronto-Dominion Bank with $14.3B (2.1%) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc with $12.7B (1.8%).
Euro MMFs tracked by Crane Data contain, on average 42% in CP, 22% in CDs, 19% in Other (primarily Time Deposits), 13% in Repo, 3% in Treasuries and 1% in Agency securities. EUR funds have on average 37.3% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 9.2% maturing in 2-7 Days, 16.2% maturing in 8-30 Days, 14.5% maturing in 31-60 Days, 9.0% maturing in 61-90 Days, 8.4% maturing in 91-180 Days and 5.4% maturing beyond 181 Days. EUR MMF holdings are affiliated with the following countries: France (32.6%), Japan (14.2%), the U.S. (8.2%), Canada (6.9%), the U.K. (6.4%), Germany (6.2%), the Netherlands (4.4%), Austria (3.5%), Belgium (3.0%) and Sweden (2.9%).
The 10 Largest Issuers to "offshore" EUR money funds include: Credit Agricole with E14.0B (6.3%), Republic of France with E12.9B (5.8%), BNP Paribas with E12.2B (5.5%), Credit Mutuel with E10.9B (4.9%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd with E7.9B (3.5%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc with E7.6B (3.4%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp with E7.0B (3.1%), BPCE SA with E6.7B (3.0%), Societe Generale with E6.6B (3.0%), and Toronto-Dominion Bank with E5.6B (2.5%).
The GBP funds tracked by MFI International contain, on average (as of 12/31/23): 37% in CDs, 19% in CP, 23% in Other (Time Deposits), 17% in Repo, 4% in Treasury and 0% in Agency. Sterling funds have on average 36.4% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 10.2% maturing in 2-7 Days, 13.1% maturing in 8-30 Days, 13.8% maturing in 31-60 Days, 8.1% maturing in 61-90 Days, 12.6% maturing in 91-180 Days and 5.7% maturing beyond 181 Days. GBP MMF holdings are affiliated with the following countries: Japan (16.5%), the U.K. (16.2%), France (15.6%), Canada (13.8%), the U.S. (8.1%), Australia (7.8%), the Netherlands (3.4%), Sweden (3.2%), Singapore (3.1%) and Abu Dhabi (2.3%).
The 10 Largest Issuers to "offshore" GBP money funds include: UK Treasury with L18.6B (8.2%), Toronto-Dominion Bank with L9.5B (4.2%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd with L9.0B (4.0%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc with L8.9B (3.9%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank with L7.5B (3.3%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp with L7.5B (3.3%), BNP Paribas with L7.3B (3.2%), RBC with L7.2B (3.2%), Credit Agricole with L6.8B (3.0%) and BPCE SA with L6.8B (3.0%).
In other news, money fund yields dipped by one basis point to 5.17% on average (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index) in the week ended Jan. 12, after falling 2 bps the week prior. Our Crane 100 is an average of 7-day yields for the 100 largest taxable money funds. Yields were 5.20% on 12/31/23 and on 11/30, 5.19% on 10/31, 5.17% on 9/30, 5.16% on 8/31, 5.09% on July 31, 4.94% on June 30, 4.61% on March 31 and 4.05% on 12/31/22. The vast majority of money market fund assets now yield 5.0% or higher. Assets of money market funds fell by $12.8 billion last week to $6.333 trillion according to Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Weighted average maturities were unchanged last week.
The broader Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 690), shows a 7-day yield of 5.07%, down 1 bp in the week through Friday. Prime Inst MFs were down 2 bps at 5.28% in the latest week. Government Inst MFs were down 1 bp at 5.14%. Treasury Inst MFs were down 1 bp at 5.09%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 4.88%, Government Retail MFs yield 4.84%, and Prime Retail MFs yield 5.09%, Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were down 96 bps to 2.02%.
According to Tuesday's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, with data as of Friday (1/12), 124 money funds (out of 814 total) yield under 3.0% with $130.9 billion in assets, or 2.1%; 3 funds yield between 3.00% and 3.99% ($12.0 billion, or 0.0%), 223 funds yield between 4.0% and 4.99% ($1.294 trillion, or 20.4%) and 464 funds now yield 5.0% or more ($4.908 trillion, or 77.5%). Our Brokerage Sweep Intelligence Index, an average of FDIC-insured cash options from major brokerages, was unchanged at 0.61%. The latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, with data as of Jan. 12, shows that there were no changes over the past week. Three of the 11 major brokerages tracked by our BSI still offer rates of 0.01% for balances of $100K (and lower tiers). These include: E*Trade, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.
