The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows that MMF totals rose for the 9th week in a row, increasing by $141.2 billion, or 4.6%, since April 17. Money fund assets have increased by $137 billion, or 4.5%, year-to-date, and they've increase by $382, or 13.6%, over the past 52 weeks. Assets are now at their highest level since February 2010 and recent gains are all the more impressive given that they've occurred over a corporate tax payment date and a seasonally weak period. (See also yesterday's Crane Data News, "SEC Stats: MF Assets Continue Past $3.5 Trillion, Prime Tops $1 Trillion" for more on recent asset growth shown by a separate data series.)
They write, "Total money market fund assets increased by $12.61 billion to $3.18 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, June 19, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $11.47 billion and prime funds increased by $658 million. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $488 million." ICI's weekly series shows Institutional MMFs rising $12.7 billion and Retail MMFs falling $0.03 billion. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, stood at $2.375 trillion (74.6% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs rose to $673.4 billion (21.1%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $135.4 billion, or 4.3%.
ICI states, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $33 million to $1.22 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $1.35 billion to $694.32 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $1.44 billion to $402.67 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $126 million to $125.15 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 38.4%, and Government Retail assets make up 56.8% of all Retail MMFs.
The release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $12.65 billion to $1.96 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $12.82 billion to $1.68 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $786 million to $270.77 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $615 million to $10.27 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 61.6% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 85.7% of all Institutional MMF totals.
In other news, a press release entitled, "Cisco Systems Honored with Treasury Management Award using ICD AutoPay Technology," tells us, "Cisco Systems, the global technology leader that has been making the Internet work since 1984, was highly commended by Treasury Today magazine's Adam Smith Awards for Best FinTech Solution, using ICD's AutoPay. This secure technology enables ICD clients to authorize trade execution and trade settlement with a single mouse click, improving efficiency and minimizing risk."
Cisco Senior VP & Treasurer Roger Biscay explains, "ICD collaborated with Cisco throughout the entire AutoPay development process. We needed an automated payment methodology for our treasury department and ICD delivered a comprehensive and innovative solution that improves our efficiency, while reducing Cisco's trade settlement risk. I have always been impressed with ICD’s ability to go to market with products that are ahead of the competition."
The release says, "Cisco uses ICD Portal to manage all aspects of its short-term investments and worked very closely with ICD's product organization to craft the AutoPay technology."
ICD Co-founder & Managing Director Tom Newton comments, "Since our inception, we've been focused on providing superior products and services. Just as our risk management application Transparency Plus revolutionized our clients' ability to drill down into a fund's portfolio holdings, ICD's AutoPay technology now revolutionizes how clients securely wire money to settle their investments."
The piece adds, "In addition to the award Cisco received from Treasury Today, ICD received notification this week from the US Patent and Trademark Office that AutoPay was awarded three utility patents, covering its innovative security processes and the TrueMark Encapsulated Security Token technology.... ICD's AutoPay mitigates the risk of cybercriminals, rogue traders and/or human error of sending funds to unapproved destinations with this patented technology."
Tory Hazard, CEO of ICD, states, "It is fantastic to see Cisco recognized for their use of AutoPay to not only improve the security of their trade settlement process, but also to see the impact it has had on the treasury organization's productivity. We are also thrilled with the recent issuance of patents tied to the underlying functionality of AutoPay. The ICD Technology team worked very closely with Cisco to bring this game-changing technology to the market, which is now used extensively throughout ICD's client base."
Note: Our annual Crane's Money Fund Symposium starts on Monday afternoon (6/24) at the Renaissance Boston Hotel. On Wednesday, Crane Data's Peter Crane and State Street Fund Connect's Greg Fortuna will discuss "Technology, Software & Portal Issues," and we invite anyone in the area to stop by. (Registration is required for Monday and Tuesday, but not for Wednesday morning's half-day segment.) We hope to see you next week!
