A press release entitled, "Dreyfus Celebrates 50 Years of Liquidity Management" tells us, "Dreyfus, one of the largest liquidity managers and affiliate of BNY Mellon (BK), celebrates the 50th anniversary of the launch of its first Dreyfus money market fund and the start of its journey as a trusted leader in the space. On January 28, 1974, Dreyfus introduced Dreyfus Liquid Assets, Inc., one of the first money market funds offered to investors. This year, BNY Mellon is also celebrating its 240-year anniversary and position as one of the pioneers of US financial services. Today, as BNY Mellon's liquidity solutions expert, Dreyfus aligns investor-specific needs, investment time horizons and risk profiles with the current market cycle and offers clients differentiated investment solutions across the liquidity vertical."
Chief Investment Officer John Tobin comments, "We are proud to be a part of the BNY Mellon family and our contributions to its heritage of innovation and resilience. As the world has changed, supporting our clients and local communities has always been at the center of what we do and how we do it."
The release continues, "Dreyfus has a history of innovation and launching intelligent solutions for its clients, including leveraging BNY Mellon's investment platforms and capabilities to align clients' philanthropic goals with their liquidity needs. This unique approach has led to recent launches of SPARK and BOLD share classes, offered exclusively through its flagship money market fund, Dreyfus Government Cash Management."
It adds, "Dreyfus offers a full suite of short-duration liquidity solutions, including domestic and offshore money market funds, separately managed accounts, an ultra-short income exchange-traded fund, sub-advised portfolio solutions, collective investment trusts (CITs), as well as white label and private label options. Dreyfus has been committed to delivering leading and innovative liquidity solutions for investors and investment professionals since 1974 -- a commitment they are excited to carry forward for the next 50 years."
In other news, the Investment Company Institute published its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" and "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" for December 2023 on Tuesday. ICI's monthly Trends shows money fund totals jumping $34.9 billion in December to a record $5.916 trillion (after a jump in November, a decrease in October and increases in September, August, July, June, May and April). Prior to this, the March 2023 jump (a $371.0 billion increase) was the third largest monthly increase ever and the largest in history if you exclude 2 coronavirus lockdown panic months in March and April 2020. Bond fund assets surged $135.5 billion to $4.745 trillion.
MMFs have increased by $1.139 trillion, or 23.8%, over the past 12 months (according to ICI's Trends through 12/31). Money funds' December asset increase follows an increase of $213.9 billion in November, a decrease of $13.6 billion in October and gains of $74.1 billion in September, $123.9 billion in August $31.4 billion in July, $30.6 billion in June, $172.7 billion in May, $8.4 billion in April, $371.0 billion in March, $60.0 billion in February and $31.5 billion in January. Money fund assets surpassed bond fund assets in September 2022 for the first time since 2010 and they continued to hold a sizeable lead last month. (The bond fund totals don't include bond ETFs, which total $1.446 trillion as of 11/30, according to ICI.)
ICI's monthly release states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $822.22 billion, or 3.3 percent, to $25.52 trillion in December, according to the Investment Company Institute's official survey of the mutual fund industry. In the survey, mutual fund companies report actual assets, sales, and redemptions to ICI.... Bond funds had an outflow of $8.50 billion in December, compared with an outflow of $14.07 billion in November.... Money market funds had an inflow of $16.93 billion in December, compared with an inflow of $196.35 billion in November. In December funds offered primarily to institutions had an outflow of $22.88 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $39.82 billion."
The Institute's latest statistics show that Taxable and Tax Exempt MMFs were both higher last month. Taxable MMFs increased by $33.8 billion in December to $5.792 trillion. Tax-Exempt MMFs increased $1.1 billion to $123.6 billion. Taxable MMF assets increased year-over-year by $1.128 trillion (24.2%), and Tax-Exempt funds rose by $11.2 billion over the past year (10.0%). Bond fund assets increased by $135.5 billion (after increasing $170.5 billion in November) to $4.745 trillion; they've increased by $252.4 billion (5.6%) over the past year.
Money funds represent 23.2% of all mutual fund assets (down 0.6% from the previous month), while bond funds account for 18.6%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds was 275, unchanged from the prior month and down from 291 a year ago. Taxable money funds numbered 229 funds, and tax-exempt money funds numbered 46 funds.
ICI's "Month-End Portfolio Holdings" confirms a jump in Repo and Treasuries last month. Repurchase Agreements remained the largest composition segment in December having increased $80.9 billion, or 3.3%, to $2.513 trillion, or 43.4% of holdings. Repo holdings have decreased $149.1 billion, or -5.6%, over the past year. (See our Jan. 11 News, "Jan. Portfolio Holdings: Repo Jumps, Time Deposits, Agenecies Slide.")
Treasury holdings in Taxable money funds increased last month; they remain the second largest composition segment. Treasury holdings increased $49.6 billion, or 2.4%, to $2.136 trillion, or 36.9% of holdings. Treasury securities have increased by $1.048 billion, or 96.3%, over the past 12 months. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they decreased $8.3 billion, or -1.3%, to $653.2 billion, or 11.3% of holdings. Agency holdings have increased by $121.0 billion, or 22.7%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) remained in fourth place; they decreased by $49.5 billion, or -15.6%, to $266.8 billion (4.6% of assets). CDs held by money funds rose by $95.7 billion, or 55.9%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper remained in fifth place, down $8.0 billion, or -3.3%, to $230.9 billion (4.0% of assets). CP increased $60.2 billion, or 35.3%, over one year. Other holdings increased to $22.4 billion (0.4% of assets), while Notes (including Corporate and Bank) decreased to $6.2 billion (0.1% of assets).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased to 64.356 million, while the Number of Funds was unchanged at 229. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 5.032 million and the number of funds decreased by 7. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 37 days, up 3 from November. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money have increased by 23.
