AFP to Host Liquidity Webinar Thurs.
The Association for Financial Professionals, which represents corporate treasurers, will host a webinar entitled, "Liquidity in Perspective: Results from the 2016 AFP Liquidity Survey," on Thursday, August 25 at 3pm Eastern. Presenters, including the AFP's Tom Hunt, Crane Data's Pete Crane, SSGA's Yeng Felipe Butler and Hilton Worldwide's Fred Schacknies, will discuss the recently-released 2016 AFP Liquidity Survey. (See our July 14 News, "AFP Liquidity Survey Shows Bank Deposits Still King, But Down; MMFs Up.") The session description says, "Attend this webinar to hear from key participants in the short-term corporate investing marketplace on strategies around managing cash effectively. Better understand how changes in money fund reform will impact investment decisions and timing around those decisions. Participants will walk away with an understanding of current investment allocation best practices, investment policy changes, and what corporate treasurers are doing in light of money market fund reform." Also, money market funds and cash investors are gearing up for the 2016 Annual Conference, which will take place October 23-26 in Orlando, Fla. (Crane Data will be exhibiting, so look for our booth if you're attending.) In other news, we just learned that the latest "Fed Minutes" contain a couple references to money market funds. (See today's "News".) They say, "Finally, the staff noted that various aspects of U.S. money markets, which determine short-term interest rates and are important for transmitting monetary policy, have changed since the financial crisis. The differences include changes the Federal Reserve has made to its policy tools and balance sheet, changes in market participants' business practices, and the regulatory changes made around the globe to strengthen the financial system. Taken together, these factors may, for example, raise the long-run demand for safe assets, including reserve balances, and they should help make U.S. money markets more stable than they were before and during the financial crisis.... During the intermeeting period, federal funds continued to trade at rates well within the FOMC's 0.25 to 0.50 percent target range. However, the average effective federal funds rate was modestly higher than in the previous intermeeting period. The slightly firmer conditions in the federal funds market were supported by higher rates in money markets for secured transactions, which appeared to reflect at least in part more cautious liquidity management by some money market participants in the wake of the U.K. referendum. Take-up at the System's overnight reverse repurchase agreement facility rose somewhat. The increase seemed to be in part the result of shifts in investments by money market funds in advance of the scheduled implementation in October of changes to the regulation of the money market fund industry." Finally, they say, "Although upcoming regulatory changes were expected to improve the stability of money market funds in the longer run, the staff noted the potential for large withdrawals by investors in anticipation of those changes to lead to some disruptions in the short run."
