Two press releases related to the online money market mutual fund trading "portal" marketplace were sent out on Monday. The first, entitled, "SunGard's Short-Term Cash Management Portal Surpasses $100 Billion in Total Money Fund Assets says, "The SunGard Global Network (SGN) Short-Term Cash Management portal surpassed $100 billion in total money market fund assets. The SGN Short-Term Cash Management portal is a global compliance, trading and connectivity solution for institutional cash investors. The solution is a multi-fund trading platform that helps corporate treasurers increase efficiency in researching, analyzing and gathering other relevant information and provides the ability to optimize short-term investments."
SunGard's statement explains, "The use of online money fund trading portals continues to run counter to the current trend of institutional money market asset declines. The Investment Company Institute's 2011 Investment Company Fact Book reports that nonfinancial businesses held 25% of their cash in money market funds as of year-end 2010, although this is down from 30% at year-end 2009. According to the Association for Financial Professionals' 2010 Liquidity Survey, 21% of organizations use an electronic, multi-family trading portal to execute at least some of their short-term investment transactions, and organizations using trading portals execute an average of 73% of their money market mutual fund transactions through the trading portal."
Bob Ward, chief operating officer of SunGard's wealth management business, comments, "The increasing asset volumes traded on the SGN Short-Term Cash Management portal suggest it is meeting the growing demand for integrated, electronic trading platforms to help global treasury and investment professionals manage risk, improve operational efficiencies and satisfy auditor requests. Offering the transparency of a fully disclosed, direct model and an international network with multiple currencies, the portal helps meet these requirements in one centralized, automated source to buy and sell shares in institutional money market funds."
The other release says, "BNY Mellon, the global leader in investment management and investment services, today announced the launch of BNY Mellon Connect Mobile, a new application that gives clients access to BNY Mellon product and service offerings via an iPad. Available for download at the iTunes App Store, BNY Mellon Connect Mobile debuts with a link to foreign exchange research from BNY Mellon Global Markets and a link to Liquidity DIRECT Mobile, which makes available via an iPad many of the transactional, reporting and account management features of Liquidity DIRECT, BNY Mellon's cash investment tool for institutional investors."
It adds, "Liquidity DIRECT Mobile allows clients to take the power of Liquidity DIRECT with them wherever they go. Clients can easily monitor and manage their cash investments via their iPad without being tied to their desktop. Liquidity DIRECT enables institutional clients to access a wide range of money market funds, provide custody for margin balances in counterparty transactions, and invest directly in individual money market securities through BNY Mellon's full service broker-dealer. It also gives users access to a wealth of Liquidity DIRECT's account performance and investment information, such as money market fund yields, returns and credit ratings. Liquidity DIRECT Mobile allows clients to invest, redeem and transfer cash via an iPad-compatible version of Liquidity DIRECT."
Jonathan Spirgel, executive vice president and global head of Liquidity Services at BNY Mellon, comments, "`As the first institutional investment portal adapted specifically for an iPad, Liquidity DIRECT Mobile continues our tradition of introducing first-to-market, client-focused cash investment technologies. We're going to maintain our innovation momentum by introducing iPhone and Android adaptations of Liquidity DIRECT Mobile during the second half of the year."
