Over the past decade, we've been recapping money market fund lineup changes driven primarily by regulatory reforms in a series of "Roll with the Changes" news items. (Our thanks and apologies to the REO Speedwagon.) At the start of the New Year in many of these years, we'd review the major shifts and changes fund managers made ahead of and around the major rounds of reforms in 2016 and in 2023-24. While 2023 didn't see many exits from Prime MMFs or other shifts in preparation of the latest round of Money Fund Reforms (the year was eventful due to record assets and 5% yields though), 2024 did see a number of shifts and exits. Looking back, a year ago, we wrote "Rolling w/Reform Changes V: Little Change in '23 Ahead of MMF Reforms" (1/5/24), and 3 years ago, we wrote "Rolling w/Reform Changes IV: Recap of '21 Exits & Entries, ESG & News" (1/4/22).
Four years ago, we wrote "Rolling w/Reform Changes III: Recap of '20 Prime Exits, News & Moves" (1/7/21), which explained, "In January 2016, money market mutual funds were in the midst of a series of dramatic changes ahead of October 2016's Money Fund Reforms, the biggest changes to money fund regulations since their introduction in October 1970. Nine years ago, we ran the story, "Rolling w/Reform Changes II: Recap of '15 Announcements, '16 Plans" (1/6/16) which reviewed a number of major changes among the largest managers that took place during 2015. (We wrote the original "Managers Rolling with Reform Changes; Recap of Announcements So Far" on July 22, 2015.)
As with many of these past years, exits from Prime MMFs and fund repositioning were notable trends in 2024, as dozens of Prime Inst funds and over $400 billion in assets converted to Government or liquidated." Below, we review these changes and lineup shifts over the past year, as money funds implemented the latest (and perhaps final) round of regulatory changes. (See also our "Dec. 4, 2024 News, "Top 10 Stories of 2024: Assets Break $7 Trillion, Yields Heading Lower. Note: Readers may also review "Crane Data's News," "Link of the Day" and "Money Fund Intelligence Archives" for more stories from the past year, 5 years and decade-plus.)
We saw a steady stream of liquidations and lineup changes in 2024 ahead of the October deadline for Prime Inst MMFs' new emergency liquidity fee regime. In August, we wrote: "SSGA Sticks w/Prime Inst Money Funds; Discusses Reforms; Benchmarks" (8/29/24), "Prime Inst Exits Take Effect: Allspring, DWS, UBS; NY Fed RRP Updates" (8/27/24), "Aug. MFI: Prime Inst Conversions; Q2 Earnings on Sweeps; More Deposits" (8/7/24) and "J.P. Morgan's Donohue Makes Case for Prime Institutional Money Funds (8/1/24).
In July, June and May, we posted, "First American Inst Prime Obligations to Invest Solely in Liquid Assets" (7/23/24), "Schwab, JPM, Meeder Announce Prime Inst Conversions to Government" (7/18/24) "BoardIQ Writes on Prime Inst Exodus" (6/21/24), "Invesco Files to Liquidate Prime Inst MMFs; UBS MF Converting to Retail" (6/13/24), "June MFI: Latest Prime Inst MF Exits; ICI's 2024 Fact Book; Treasury Bills" (6/7/24) and "Federated Hermes Merging Prime Inst Money Funds; Prime Value To POF" (6/6/24) and "ICI's Pan, SEC's Gensler Discuss Liquidity Fees, Prime Inst Money Funds" (5/28/24).
While minor, we also wrote about fund liquidations, moves and changes, particularly in the Tax-Exempt or Municipal MMF space, in these updates: "ICI: Money Fund Assets Break Over $6.5 Trillion; BNY Liquidates Muni MF" (10/25/24), "UBS Files to Liquidate Tax-Free Fund" (10/15/24), "Alight Money Fund Liquidates; Bloomberg Law on Brokerage Sweep Suits" (9/19/24), "Dreyfus NY Muni MMF Liquidating" (8/14/24) and "Empower Govt MMF Liquidates" (6/24/24).
In addition to the sporadic exits and shifts, we saw continued launches in the D&I and Social space (and exits in the ESG fund space). We wrote: "Morgan Stanley Puts Impact Partner Class on Portal; UBS Changes Cutoff" (6/25/24), "Ramirez Govt MMF Partners w/Hispanic Fund; JPM: T-Bills to Go Bigger" (6/4/24), "DWS Liquidating ESG Liquidity Fund, 7th Prime Inst to Exit; MM Basics" (5/22/24) and "Ramirez Asset Management Launches Government MMF; Federated on 24" (1/3/24).
Finally, a number of articles discussed the final implementation of U.S. MMFs Reforms, including: "Federated Hermes' Earnings Call Discusses MMF Surge, Reforms, Direct" (10/28/24), "Bloomberg, ignites on Latest MMF Reforms; Prime Inst Shift a Nonevent" (10/23/24), "SSGA Sticks w/Prime Inst Money Funds; Discusses Reforms; Benchmarks" (8/29/24), "SEC's Money Fund Reforms One Year Later: Disclosures Latest to Go Live" (7/12/24), "Citi's Williams on Impact from MMF Reforms: No Big Deal; Assets Higher" (5/21/24), "JPM Sees Minor Impact on CP/CDs from Shift; Cunningham on Reforms" (5/26/24), "April MFI: Reforms Trigger Prime Shift; Bond Fund Event; ICI Worldwide" (4/5/24), "Fed Blog Shows Declines in Deposits Offset; Wells Fargo on MMF Reforms" (3/28/24) and "FSB's Thematic Review on Money Fund Reforms Reviews Global Markets" (2/28/24).
Happy New Year from Crane Data and Money Fund Intelligence! We'll be sure to keep you posted on product developments and any news impacting money market funds in 2025. So best wishes and thanks for your continued support!
