ICI released its latest "Money Market Fund Assets" report, which showed money fund assets increasing for the 5th week out of the past 6. It says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $6.52 billion to $2.59 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, September 10, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, Treasury funds (including agency and repo) increased by $6.14 billion and prime funds increased by $1.53 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $1.15 billion." The release continues, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $470 million to $902.53 billion. Among retail funds, Treasury money market fund assets decreased by $160 million to $200.65 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $320 million to $515.62 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $630 million to $186.25 billion. Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $6.99 billion to $1.69 trillion. Among institutional funds, Treasury money market fund assets increased by $6.30 billion to $727.04 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $1.21 billion to $892.00 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $520 million to $71.32 billion." Also, American Banker published an opinion piece, "A Simple Fix for the Repo Market" by Scott Hein and Drew Winters. "The most recent financial crisis exposed significant problems with the repurchase agreement market. Unfortunately, policymakers are now gravitating toward a roundabout solution when there is a better, simpler alternative.... To improve the stability of the market, policymakers such as Federal Reserve Bank of Boston president Eric Rosengren have proposed raising capital requirements for companies that own broker-dealers. In theory, holding more capital would make broker-dealers less likely to fall into financial distress. They would therefore be able to maintain access to funding in the repo market." They continue, "An alternative solution exists that would be both less costly and easier to implement. Broker-dealers should be required to provide collateral that any lender would be willing to take, such as Treasury securities.... Rather than use higher capital requirements as an indirect solution to instability in the repo markets, it is far better to address the problem head-on. Low-quality credit securities were at the center of the last financial crisis. Returning to traditional money market securities is the surest way to prevent a reoccurrence." Finally, in the latest of a series of articles on money fund reform, the National Law Review published a piece called "New Money Market Fund Rules Require Review by Retirement Plan Sponsors." The article was written by attorneys from McDermott Will & Emery.

Email This Article




Use a comma or a semicolon to separate

captcha image

Daily Link Archive

2025 2024 2023
January December December
November November
October October
September September
August August
July July
June June
May May
April April
March March
February February
January January
2022 2021 2020
December December December
November November November
October October October
September September September
August August August
July July July
June June June
May May May
April April April
March March March
February February February
January January January
2019 2018 2017
December December December
November November November
October October October
September September September
August August August
July July July
June June June
May May May
April April April
March March March
February February February
January January January
2016 2015 2014
December December December
November November November
October October October
September September September
August August August
July July July
June June June
May May May
April April April
March March March
February February February
January January January
2013 2012 2011
December December December
November November November
October October October
September September September
August August August
July July July
June June June
May May May
April April April
March March March
February February February
January January January
2010 2009 2008
December December December
November November November
October October October
September September September
August August August
July July July
June June June
May May May
April April April
March March March
February February February
January January January
2007 2006
December December
November November
October October
September September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January