Thanks to everyone who attended our 9th annual Crane's Money Fund Symposium in Atlanta this week! Our near-record event (550 attendees) at the Atlanta Hyatt Regency wraps up Friday morning with sessions entitled, "Strategists Speak '17: Rising Rates, Repo, Risks," "Treasury, Fed RRP & Agency Supply Update," "Pros & Cons of Ultra-Short Bond Funds," and "Money Fund Trading, Technology & Data." (Feel free to drop by and "crash" the last half-day if you're in town!) Subscribers and attendees may access the recordings and binder via our "Content" center and our "Money Fund Symposium 2017 Download Center" page (watch for the final version and recordings to be posted Monday), and mark your calendars for next year's show in Pittsburgh (June 25-27, 2018). Watch for coverage and comments from the sessions next week, and in our next Money Fund Intelligence. Thank you once again to our excellent speakers, our generous sponsors and all our attendees!
The Investment Company Institute released its latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets report yesterday. The latest statistics show a big drop in overall assets but an increase in Prime MMFs assets. ICI's latest weekly figures show that Prime money market fund assets were up again, their 7th increase in the past 8 weeks. ICI says Prime assets increased by $3.0 billion to $411.2 billion. Year-to-date, Prime assets have increased by $33 billion, or 8.7%.
ICI writes, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $16.15 billion to $2.62 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, June 21, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $18.76 billion and prime funds increased by $3.02 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $418 million." Total Government MMF assets, which include Treasury funds too, stand at $2.077 trillion (79.4% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs stand at $411.2 billion (15.7%). Tax Exempt MMFs total $129.1 billion, or 4.9%.
They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $1.50 billion to $955.46 billion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $1.37 billion to $580.30 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $328 million to $251.69 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $464 million to $123.48 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 36.5%, and Government Retail assets make up 60.7% of all Retail MMFs.
ICI's release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $14.65 billion to $1.66 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $17.39 billion to $1.50 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.69 billion to $159.52 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $46 million to $5.66 billion." Institutional assets account for 63.5% of all MMF assets, with Government Inst assets making up 90.0% of all Institutional MMFs.
In other news, The Times of India writes "Paytm seeks RBI licence to start money market fund." The article says, "Paytm has applied for a licence to set up a money market mutual fund that will enable the company to expand its financial offerings to consumers."
It continues, "According to sources, Paytm has applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to start the fund in the coming months, a move that will enable the company to increase revenues from financial services. When contacted, Paytm declined to comment." (See our June 21 "Link of the Day," "Bloomberg on Indian Money Market Fund.")
The article explains, "The Alibaba and SoftBank-backed company had, last month, started its payments bank operations in the country and aims to garner 500 million customers by 2020. Paytm seems to be drawing inspiration from its investor, Alipay that set up Yu'e Bao in 2013 that allows Alipay customers to convert the money in their accounts into units of a money market fund, offering them higher interest rates. According to reports, Yu'e Bao had over $165 billion under management, making it one of the biggest money market funds in the world."
