GTNews.com features "Money Market Fund Ratings and Surveillance: Tools for Corporate Treasurers". The article, written by Fitch Ratings' Aymeric Poizot and Roger Merritt, says, "The financial crisis severely challenged the US$6 trillion money market fund (MMF) industry. While positive regulatory changes in the US and Europe are under way, highly rated funds operate with additional conservatism and transparency." It explains, "Many institutional investors, including corporate treasurers, use ratings as a key selection criterion when investing short-term liquidity in MMFs. These play a central role in the short-term markets, acting as buyers of short-term debt as well as a liquid place to invest. Of the more than US$6 trillion of funds invested in them globally, more than US$3.4 trillion were invested in the US and US$1.9 trillion in Europe (as of the end of Q3 09). According to a recent survey that Fitch conducted of corporate treasurers, 40% of corporate treasurers typically invest some of their liquidity in MMFs. In many cases, such short-term investors look for 'AAA' ratings to determine whether or not to invest. As defined by Fitch, a 'AAAmmf' MMF rating indicates 'an extremely strong capacity to achieve fund's investment objective of preserving principal and providing shareholder liquidity through limiting credit, market, and liquidity risk'." See also, "Moody's withdraws the rating of the Russell Money Market Fund."
