Morgan Stanley's Money Funds Ask SEC to Perform Principal Transactions. A
recent SEC filing for
Morgan Stanley's money market mutual funds has requested an "
order to permit the Funds to engage in principal transactions in certain money market instruments with MS & Co."
Morgan Stanley follows a number of other fund advisors with affiliated broker-dealers, such as Goldman Sachs, in requesting permission for its funds to purchase money market securities from its dealer. The filing says, "
[T]he Advisers and MS & Co. are functionally indepdendent" and that "
MS & Co. is one of the world's largest dealers in Taxable Money Market Instruments". Morgan Stanley is among the
top 10 repurchase agreement dealers, is
one of 22 primary Treasury dealers, is the "
fifth largest manager of MTN (medium-term note) programs", and is "
a major participant in both the primary new issue market and in the secondary dealer market for Tax-Exempt Money Market Instruments," says the application. Following consolidation in the dealer community,
some money funds have had difficulty obtaining competitive bids when excluding their own affiliated broker-dealers.