Now that most of the major change announcements are out, we continue to see a steady stream of "housekeeping" moves among money fund managers as we approach the home-stretch (6 months to go) for implementing MMF Reforms. Among the latest batch, T. Rowe Price filed with the SEC to classify certain funds, and Federated officially changed the names of its Institutional funds. We cover the latest "baby steps" below, and we also excerpt from a recent Ignites article, entitled, "Reform Deadline Nears for Money Funds." (Watch for more on the coming April 14 Disclosure Reforms deadline and more on fund name changes in the pending April issue of Money Fund Intelligence, due out Thursday a.m.)
T. Rowe Price is making a couple of sizable moves leading up to reforms, most notably, switching its $6.5 billion TRP Prime Reserves fund to TRP Government Money Market Fund. (We first reported this our Aug. 19, 2015 News, "T Rowe Price to Launch Prime Inst MMF; ICI, JPM on Holdings, WAMs," where T. Rowe also announced that it planned to launch a Prime Inst Fund.) While we haven't seen a filing yet for the latter, we have come across others. In our March 9 News, "MF Market Share: Goldman Assets Surge; Yields Higher; T. Rowe Update," we reported that the $5 billion Summit Cash Reserves will change its name to the T. Rowe Price Cash Reserve Fund and qualify as a Retail fund, effective August 1.
Their latest Prospectus Supplement sets a new conversion date for T. Rowe Price Prime Reserves. The filing states, "On August 1, 2016, the fund will change its name to the T. Rowe Price Government Money Fund, which reflects the fund's intention to qualify as a "government money market fund" in accordance with amendments to Rule 2a-7." Also, T. Rowe's US Treasury Fund will be categorized as a Government fund, per a March 31 filing.
Furthermore, T. Rowe also designated all of its Tax-Exempt funds as Retail, including Summit Municipal Money Market Fund, Tax-Exempt Money Fund , Maryland Tax-Free Money Fund, New York Tax-Free Money Fund, and California Tax-Free Money Fund. All these funds will all be categorized as Retail on October 14.
Federated officially changed the names of several funds that it has designated as "Institutional" late last week. As we first reported in our Nov. 17, 2015 News, "Federated Designates Inst MMFs; Wells, Goldman, BlackRock Gain in Oct.," Federated designated 4 funds as Institutional -- Federated Money Market Management, Federated Prime Obligations Fund, Federated Prime Value Obligations Fund, and Federated Tax-Free Trust. Each will adopt a floating NAV on October 14, 2016. All of these fund names will be changed in the pending April MFI XLS.
Federated's filing explains, "Effective March 31, 2016, the Funds will change their names as follows: Federated Money Market Management will change to Federated Institutional Money Market Management; Federated Prime Obligations Fund will change to Federated Institutional Prime Obligations Fund; and Federated Prime Value Obligations Fund will change to Federated Institutional Prime Value Obligations Fund." Federated Tax-Free Trust's filing says, "Effective March 31, 2016, the Fund will change its name to Federated Institutional Tax-Free Cash Trust."
In other news, UBS's PACE Government Money Market Investments (which converted from Prime to Govt in November 2015) `filed a Prospectus Supplement that discusses the pending April 14 MMF disclosures. It says, "PACE Government Money Market Investments will disclose on UBS AM's Web site, within five business days after the end of each month, a complete schedule of portfolio holdings and information regarding the weighted average maturity of the fund. This information will be posted on the UBS Web site at the following internet address: http://www.ubs.com/usmoneymarketfundsholdings. In addition, the fund will file with the SEC on Form N-MFP, within five business days after the end of each month, more detailed portfolio holdings information. The fund's Forms N-MFP will be available on the SEC's Web site; UBS AM's Web site will also contain a link to these filings, when available."
It continues, "The UBS AM Web site will also disclose the following information for the fund as of the end of each business day for the previous six months: (1) the percentage of the fund's total assets invested in daily and weekly liquid assets; (2) the fund's daily net inflows and outflows; and (3) the fund's current market-based net asset value per share.... On each business day, PACE Government Money Market Investments will post its market-based net asset value per share for the prior business day on the UBS Web site at http://www.ubs.com/usmoneymarketfundsholdings."
Last week, mutual fund news source Ignites.com wrote on the pending "Phase II" of MMF Reforms. The article explains, "Beginning on April 14, sponsors of money market funds must update their websites daily with information about each product's shadow net asset value, net flows, and levels of daily and weekly liquid assets. The new website disclosure is just one element of a host of changes firms must put in place by that date under the SEC’s 2014 reforms. Other requirements set to kick in this month include conducting additional stress testing, applying more stringent diversification standards for holdings and providing more data in monthly disclosures." (See our March 22 News, "SEC MMF Stats: Assets, Yields Up in Feb; Updated FAQ; Keen on Phase II.")
It continues, "But of these requirements, implementing the expanded website disclosure probably has been the most operationally burdensome for firms, according to industry sources. There are a lot of "moving parts" involved in getting the data onto websites -- putting in place the mechanisms for collecting the necessary information for each fund, and making sure it's accurate and that it can be posted each day, says Peter Crane, CEO of Crane Data. And while a number of the larger money fund firms have been disclosing some of this information, such as the shadow NAV, via their websites for months -- and in some cases years -- none has been reporting all of the data points that the SEC requires be displayed on websites as of April 14, adds Crane."
Ignites adds, "Some firms are paying particular attention to one of the data points they will start posting in two weeks' time: the daily and weekly liquid net assets for each fund. That's because it will take on greater significance when the next and final deadline of the reforms kicks in on Oct. 14, says Stephen Keen, senior counsel at Perkins Coie.... Although the compliance date for the portion of the rule pertaining to fees and gates is not until October, this month's disclosure about daily and weekly liquid assets will give investors -- and anybody else who cares to look -- an indication of whether a fund may be close to that 30% threshold and therefore whether fees and gates may be imminent."
Finally, ignites says, "Some funds are putting in "extra review procedures" that are triggered prior to posting a number that's near the 30% threshold so they are prepared for possibly alerting shareholders or taking other measures, Keen says. "You don't want to put it on auto pilot and have `Pete Crane call you up and say, 'I see you're at 27% of weekly liquid assets,' and that's the first you realize it," says Keen.... And Crane will be watching. "In effect, what the new disclosures are going to do is start the clock ticking on the October 14 changes," Crane says. Investors won't be trading on shadow NAVs or weekly liquid asset disclosure at this point, but they will be "important numbers" come October, he adds."
