Crane Data released its March Money Fund Portfolio Holdings yesterday, and our latest collection of taxable money market securities, with data as of Feb. 28, 2017, shows declines in Treasuries and Agencies, and increases in CP and CDs. Money market securities held by Taxable U.S. money funds overall (tracked by Crane Data) decreased by $18.1 billion to $2.647 trillion last month, after increasing by $7.2 billion in Jan., $34.7 billion in Dec., and $106.5 billion in Nov. Repo remained slightly larger than Treasuries and the largest portfolio segment, as Treasuries fell and Repo was flat. Agencies, which declined slightly, remained the third largest segment. CDs also rose and were in fourth place, followed by Commercial Paper, Other/Time Deposits and VRDNs. Below, we review our latest Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics. (Visit our Content center to download the latest files, or contact us if you'd like to see a sample of our latest Portfolio Holdings Reports.)
Among all taxable money funds, Treasury securities fell $29.3 billion (-3.7%) to $755.5 billion, or 28.5% of holdings, after falling $37.8 billion in January, $59.4 billion in Dec. and rising $101.6 billion in November. Repurchase Agreements (repo) rose $3.3 billion (0.4%) to $792.1 billion, or 29.9% of holdings, after falling $43.6 billion in January, rising $56.3 billion in Dec. and falling $21.1 billion in Nov. Government Agency Debt decreased $10.7 billion (-1.6%) to $677.0 billion, or 25.6% of all holdings, after rising $35.3 billion in January, falling $7.7 billion in Dec., but increasing $20.3 billion in Nov. Repo, Treasuries and Agencies in total continued to gradually retreat from December's record levels, but they still represent a massive 84% of all taxable holdings. Govt and Treasury MMFs lost assets and Prime MMFs increased slightly last month.
CDs, CP and Other (Time Deposits) segments all increased again last month. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) were up $5.5 billion (3.2%) to $175.5 billion, or 6.6% of taxable assets, after rising $22.4 in January, declining $0.2 billion in Dec., and $1.0 billion in Nov. Commercial Paper (CP) was up $10.4 billion (7.4%) to $150.9 billion, or 5.7% of holdings (after rising $16.9 billion in January and decreasing $9.5 billion in Dec.), while Other holdings, primarily Time Deposits, rose $3.9 billion (6.5%) to $63.7 billion, or 2.4% of holdings. (Time Deposits normally rise after quarter-end as Repo falls.) VRDNs held by taxable funds decreased by $1.1 billion (-3.4%) to $32.0 billion (1.2% of assets).
Prime money fund assets tracked by Crane Data rose to $532 billion (up from $515 billion last month), or 20.1% (up from 19.3%) of taxable money fund holdings' total of $2.647 trillion. Among Prime money funds, CDs represent a third of holdings at 33.0% (the same as 33.0% a month ago), followed by Commercial Paper at 28.2% (up from 27.3%). The CP totals are comprised of: Financial Company CP, which makes up 16.8% of total holdings, Asset-Backed CP, which accounts for 5.8%, and Non-Financial Company CP, which makes up 5.7%. Prime funds also hold 1.7% in US Govt Agency Debt, 7.4% in US Treasury Debt, 6.5% in US Treasury Repo, 3% in Other Instruments, 9.8% in Non-Negotiable Time Deposits, 5.6% in Other Repo, 1.6% in US Government Agency Repo, and 4.2% in VRDNs.
Government money fund portfolios totaled $1.496 trillion (56.5% of all MMF assets), down from $1.517 trillion in January, while Treasury money fund assets totaled another $618 billion (23.3%) in February, down from $633 billion the prior month. Government money fund portfolios were made up of 44.6% US Govt Agency Debt, 16.0% US Government Agency Repo, 17.9% US Treasury debt, and 20.6% in US Treasury Repo. Treasury money funds were comprised of 72.4% US Treasury debt, 27.4% in US Treasury Repo, and 0.1% in Government agency repo, Other Instrument, and Investment Company shares. Government and Treasury funds combined now total $2.114 trillion, or almost 80% (79.9%) of all taxable money fund assets, down from 80.7% last month.
European-affiliated holdings decreased $3.9 billion in February to $469.5 billion among all taxable funds (and including repos); their share of holdings decreased to 17.7% from 17.8% the previous month. Eurozone-affiliated holdings increased $1.9 billion to $330.9 billion in Feb.; they now account for 12.5% of overall taxable money fund holdings. Asia & Pacific related holdings increased by $2.0 billion to $173.6 billion (6.6% of the total). Americas related holdings decreased $16.9 billion to $2.003 trillion and now represent 75.7% of holdings.
The overall taxable fund Repo totals were made up of: US Treasury Repurchase Agreements, which increased $13.9 billion, or 2.8%, to $513.1 billion, or 19.4% of assets; US Government Agency Repurchase Agreements (down $7.2 billion to $249.1 billion, or 9.4% of total holdings), and Other Repurchase Agreements ($30.0 billion, or 1.1% of holdings, down $3.4 billion from last month). The Commercial Paper totals were comprised of Financial Company Commercial Paper (up $5.6 billion to $89.4 billion, or 3.4% of assets), Asset Backed Commercial Paper (up $0.7 billion to $30.9 billion, or 1.2%), and Non-Financial Company Commercial Paper (up $4.1 billion to $30.6 billion, or 1.2%).
The 20 largest Issuers to taxable money market funds as of Feb. 28, 2017, include: the US Treasury ($755.5 billion, or 28.5%), Federal Home Loan Bank ($505.4B, 19.1%), Federal Reserve Bank of New York ($175.6B, 6.6%), BNP Paribas ($101.3B, 3.8%), Federal Farm Credit Bank ($68.6B, 2.6%), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Co. ($64.2B, 2.4%), Credit Agricole ($59.0B, 2.2%), RBC ($53.0B, 2.0%), Wells Fargo ($52.2B, 2.0%), Societe Generale ($40.6B, 1.5%), Bank of America ($37.0B, 1.4%), Nomura ($36.8B, 1.4%), Federal National Mortgage Association ($36.6B, 1.4%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. ($34.2B, 1.3%), JP Morgan ($31.2B, 1.2%), Bank of Montreal ($30.9B, 1.2%), Bank of Nova Scotia ($30.3B, 1.1%), Citi ($29.6B, 1.1%), HSBC ($27.6B, 1.0%), and Natixis ($27.1B, 1.0%).
In the repo space, the 10 largest Repo counterparties (dealers) with the amount of repo outstanding and market share (among the money funds we track) include: Federal Reserve Bank of New York ($175.6B, 22.2%), BNP Paribas ($90.5B, 11.4%), Credit Agricole ($45.7B, 5.8%), RBC ($41.9B, 5.3%), Wells Fargo ($41.1B, 5.2%), Nomura ($36.8B, 4.6%), Societe Generale ($33.8B, 4.3%), Bank of America ($33.0B, 4.2%), JP Morgan ($25.6B, 3.2%), and Citi ($23.2B, 2.9%). The 10 largest Fed Repo positions among MMFs on 2/28 include: Northern Trust Trs MMkt ($15.1B), Fidelity Cash Central Fund ($13.5B), JP Morgan US Govt ($12.6B), Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund ($7.1B), State Street Inst US Gvt ($6.8B), Northern Inst Gvt Select ($6.5B), First American Gvt Oblg ($6.3B), Morgan Stanley Inst Lq Gvt Sec ($6.3B), Goldman Sachs FS Gvt ($6.1B), and Dreyfus Govt Cash Mgmt ($6.0B).
The 10 largest issuers of "credit" -- CDs, CP and Other securities (including Time Deposits and Notes) combined -- include: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. ($15.2B, 4.4%), Credit Agricole ($13.3B, 3.9%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($13.1B, 3.8%), Bank of Montreal ($11.4B, 3.3%), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ($11.1B, 3.2%), Wells Fargo ($11.1B, 3.2%), RBC ($11.1B, 3.2%), Natixis ($10.9B, 3.2%), BNP Paribas ($10.9B, 3.2%), and Swedbank ($10.2B, 3.0%).
The 10 largest CD issuers include: Toronto-Dominion Bank ($12.6B, 7.2%), Bank of Montreal ($11.0B, 6.3%), Wells Fargo ($10.8B, 6.2%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. ($10.6B, 6.1%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Co ($7.8B, 4.5%), Svenska Handelsbanken ($7.5B, 4.3%), RBC ($6.7B, 4.3%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank ($6.5B, 3.7%), KBC Group NV ($6.2B, 3.5%), and Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd ($6.0B, 3.4%). The 10 largest CP issuers (we include affiliated ABCP programs) include: Commonwealth Bank of Australia ($7.7B, 5.8%), Credit Agricole ($6.3B, 4.7%), Societe Generale ($6.2B, 4.7%), BNP Paribas ($5.6B, 4.2%), Westpac Banking Co ($5.5B, 4.1%), Bank of Nova Scotia ($5.3B, 4.0%), National Australia Bank Ltd ($4.9B, 3.7%), JP Morgan ($4.5B, 3.4%), Swedbank AB ($4.4B, 3.3%), and General Electric ($4.3B, 3.2%).
The largest increases among Issuers include: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (up $19.9B to $175.6B), Bank of Montreal (up $4.4B to $30.9B), Natixis (up $3.7B to $27.1B), Federal National Mortgage Association (up $3.5B to $36.6B), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (up $3.1B to $16.2B), DnB NOR Bank ASA (up $2.0B to $9.8B), Swedbank AB (up $2.0B to $10.2B), Bank of America (up $1.8B to $37.0B), Toronto-Dominion Bank (up $1.8B to $23.6B), and Goldman Sachs (up $1.3B to $14.5B).
The largest decreases among Issuers of money market securities (including Repo) in February were shown by: The US Treasury (down $29.3B to $755.5B), Federal Home Loan Bank (down $11.0B to $505.4B), Credit Suisse (down $10.0B to $14.3B), JP Morgan (down $8.5B to $31.2B), Barclays PLC (down $2.9B to $26.4B), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (down $2.8B to $34.2B), Bank of Nova Scotia (down $2.1B to $30.3B), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Co (down $2.0B to $64.2B) and HSBC (down $2.0B to $27.6B).
The United States remained the largest segment of country-affiliations; it represents 69.6% of holdings, or $1.841 trillion. France (9.2%, $242.4B) remained in second place ahead of Canada (6.1%, $161.5B) in 3rd. Japan (4.8%, $127.0B) stayed in fourth, while the United Kingdom (2.5%, $66.1B) remained in fifth place. Germany (1.6%, $42.7B) ranked sixth, ahead of Sweden (1.5%, $40.0B), Australia (1.4%, $36.9B), The Netherlands (1.3%, $35.0B) and Switzerland (0.8%, $19.9B). (Note: Crane Data attributes Treasury and Government repo to the dealer's parent country of origin, though money funds themselves "look-through" and consider these U.S. government securities. All money market securities must be U.S. dollar-denominated.)
As of Feb. 28, 2017, Taxable money funds held 29.9% (up from 29.3%) of their assets in securities maturing Overnight, and another 14.8% maturing in 2-7 days (up from 14.2%). Thus, 44.7% in total matures in 1-7 days. Another 19.3% matures in 8-30 days, while 11.7% matures in 31-60 days. Note that over three-quarters, or 75.7% of securities, mature in 60 days or less (up from last month), the dividing line for use of amortized cost accounting under the new pending SEC regulations. The next bucket, 61-90 days, holds 10.0% of taxable securities, while 10.0% matures in 91-180 days, and just 4.3% matures beyond 180 days.
