Federated Hermes announced the 50th anniversary of Money Market Management, the company's first and one of the industry's oldest money market mutual funds. A press release entitled, "Federated Hermes, Inc. celebrates 50 years of money market innovation" explains, "Federated Hermes, Inc. (FHI), a global leader in active, responsible investing, today celebrates 50 years of money market innovations focused on improving client experiences and investment outcomes. Over five decades, Federated Hermes has maintained a steadfast dedication to products and services that are vetted through diligent credit analysis and broad diversification -- providing clients with competitive yields and daily liquidity." (Note: Federated Hermes will feature several speakers and play host for our next Money Fund Symposium, which will take place June 12-14 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Mark your calendars and watch for more on the 50th anniversary at the show!)
President & CEO J. Christopher Donahue comments, "For 50 years, through seasons of volatility and calm, Federated Hermes has confidently managed money market funds as the ballast in our ship. Our team of investment management professionals has maintained an unwavering focus on providing sound and innovative cash management solutions for our clients. With an average of 25 years of investment experience, the investment professionals on our liquidity team have provided rigorous money market management through a variety of interest-rate environments, regulatory changes, bull and bear economies and changing geopolitical conditions."
The release tells us, "On Jan. 16, 1974, the company launched a mutual fund called Money Market Management. It was the first fund name to include 'money market,' an asset class that has grown to $6 trillion at the start of 2024. Federated Hermes managed approximately $560 billion in money market assets, as of Dec. 31, 2023."
Deborah A. Cunningham, CIO for Global Liquidity Markets, adds, "For five decades, we have offered clients innovation, creativity and experience navigating various market conditions with the goal of making cash a resilient and attractive asset class. Even as the current rate environment benefits our clients, we continue to explore future innovations that could enhance the utility of money markets for clients around the world."
In other news, Crane Data published its latest Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics Wednesday (a day late due to the MLK Day Holiday), which track a shifting subset of our monthly Portfolio Holdings collection. The most recent cut (with data as of January 12) includes Holdings information from 69 money funds (down 5 from two weeks ago), or $3.098 trillion (up from $3.071 trillion) of the $6.333 trillion in total money fund assets (or 48.9%) tracked by Crane Data. (Our Weekly MFPH are e-mail only and aren't available on the website. See our latest Monthly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings here.)
Our latest Weekly MFPH Composition summary shows Government assets dominating the holdings list with Treasuries totaling $1.319 billion (up from $1.147 trillion two weeks ago), or 42.6%; Repurchase Agreements (Repo) totaling $1.243 trillion (down from $1.328 trillion two weeks ago), or 40.1%, and Government Agency securities totaling $266.3 billion (down from $290.1 billion), or 8.6%. Commercial Paper (CP) totaled $97.4 billion (down from two weeks ago at $109.4 billion), or 3.1%. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) totaled $75.1 billion (down from $93.4 billion two weeks ago), or 2.4%. The Other category accounted for $68.0 billion or 2.2%, while VRDNs accounted for $29.6 billion, or 1.0%.
The Ten Largest Issuers in our Weekly Holdings product include: the US Treasury with $1.319 trillion (42.6% of total holdings), Fixed Income Clearing Corp with $267.6B (8.6%), Federal Home Loan Bank with $204.4B (6.6%), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with $201.9 billion (6.5%), RBC with $81.4B (2.6%), JP Morgan with $73.4B (2.4%), Citi with $68.2B (2.2%), Goldman Sachs with $65.0B (2.1%), BNP Paribas with $55.8B (1.8%) and Federal Farm Credit Bank with $54.0B (1.7%).
The Ten Largest Funds tracked in our latest Weekly include: JPMorgan US Govt MM ($259.2B), Goldman Sachs FS Govt ($224.4B), JPMorgan 100% US Treas MMkt ($184.8B), Fidelity Inv MM: Govt Port ($184.5B), State Street Inst US Govt ($151.5B), BlackRock Lq FedFund ($147.9B), Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Govt ($141.7B), Fidelity Inv MM: MM Port ($123.2B), Allspring Govt MM ($119.2B) and Dreyfus Govt Cash Mgmt ($115.2B). (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest domestic U.S. and/or "offshore" Weekly Portfolio Holdings collection and summary.)
ICI also released its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Holdings" summary, which reviews the aggregate daily and weekly liquid assets, regional exposure, and maturities (WAM and WAL) for Prime and Government money market funds. This release says, "The Investment Company Institute (ICI) reports that, as of the final Friday in December, prime money market funds held 41.3 percent of their portfolios in daily liquid assets and 56.0 percent in weekly liquid assets, while government money market funds held 80.6 percent of their portfolios in daily liquid assets and 88.8 percent in weekly liquid assets." Prime DLA was down from 41.5% in November, and Prime WLA was down from 58.5%. Govt MMFs' DLA was up from 79.1% and Govt WLA increased from 86.7% the previous month.
ICI explains, "At the end of December, prime funds had a weighted average maturity (WAM) of 36 days and a weighted average life (WAL) of 52 days. Average WAMs and WALs are asset-weighted. Government money market funds had a WAM of 38 days and a WAL of 81 days." Prime WAMs were 2 days shorter and WALs were 3 days shorter from the previous month. Govt WAMs were 4 days longer and WALs were 3 days longer from November.
Regarding Holdings by Region of Issuer, the release tells us, "Prime money market funds’ holdings attributable to the Americas rose from $473.15 billion in November to $562.38 billion in December. Government money market funds' holdings attributable to the Americas rose from $4,332.73 billion in November to $4,496.18 billion in December."
The Prime Money Market Funds by Region of Issuer table shows Americas-related holdings at $562.4 billion, or 59.8%; Asia and Pacific at $167.0 billion, or 17.8%; Europe at $201.6 billion, or 21.4%; and, Other (including Supranational) at $9.4 billion, or 1.1%. The Government Money Market Funds by Region of Issuer table shows Americas at $4.496 trillion, or 91.9%; Asia and Pacific at $121.1 billion, or 2.5%; Europe at $259.8 billion, 5.3%, and Other (Including Supranational) at $15.1 billion, or 0.3%.
