ICI on Smooth MMF Transition
ICI writes "For Money Market Funds, Massive Preparation Has Paid Off in Smooth Transition Transition" in a new "ViewPoint. It says, "By October 14, the money market fund industry must fully implement the 2014 money market fund reforms passed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), cementing major changes for investors and fund complexes. ICI has been in close constant contact with members since the rules were enacted in 2014 and has been working with operations and other professionals throughout the industry to ensure an orderly transition -- including fully informing investors -- to the new regime in October. Throughout this time, funds have been actively creating and testing new systems and tools to implement requirements under the new rule. The upcoming changes have led to significant shifts in money market fund assets. These shifts were anticipated, and the thoughtful planning by industry leaders has helped to smoothly manage the $910 billion in money market fund asset flows we have seen to date. At ICI, we believe the industry is well positioned to navigate the remaining fluctuations as the new rules take hold. To ensure a smooth transition to the new regime, money market funds have been beefing up their liquidity, investing predominantly in securities with very short maturities. Data on the weighted average maturity (WAM) and weighted average life (WAL) of money market fund holdings show a significant shortening in each category. With shorter maturities, funds will have ample liquidity to accommodate high levels of outflows before and after October 14." The piece adds, "For more than two years now, operations, investment, and legal professionals in fund complexes across the United States have been working steadily to implement the SEC's new rules. ICI has helped coordinate important work streams addressing implementation issues in the following areas: Identifying retail versus institutional investors; Preparing funds to float their NAVs, including calculating NAVs to four decimal places; Preparing for intraday processing for floating NAV money market funds; and, Enabling funds to impose liquidity fees and redemption gates. Each of these work streams requires a different area of focus and expertise, so here's more detail about each stream and what it means for investors."
