BMO Liquidating Inst Prime MMF
A Prospectus Supplement filing for BMO Institutional Prime Money Market Fund tells us about a "Fund Liquidation," saying, "On November 11, 2020, the Board of Directors of BMO Funds, Inc. approved a Plan of Liquidation for the BMO Institutional Prime Money Market Fund, subject to shareholder approval, upon the recommendation of BMO Asset Management Corp. to liquidate and dissolve the Fund. After considering a variety of factors, the Board concluded that it was in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders that the Fund be liquidated and dissolved. Shareholders will receive a proxy statement discussing the Board's decision to recommend the liquidation and dissolution of the Fund and requesting that shareholders vote to approve the Plan at a special meeting of shareholders. If the Plan is approved by shareholders, the Fund will be liquidated on December 23, 2020 or such other date as determined by management." It explains, "Any shareholders who have not redeemed their shares prior to the Liquidation Date will have their shares redeemed in cash and will receive a check representing their proportionate interest in the net assets of the Fund as of the Liquidation Date. Shareholders (other than tax-qualified plans or tax-exempt accounts) will recognize gain or loss for tax purposes on the redemption of their Fund shares in the liquidation.... The Board also approved the Adviser's recommendation to limit new investments in the Fund. Accordingly, effective November 13, 2020 the Fund will close to new investors except that retirement plans that have approved the inclusion of the Fund as an investment option for participants prior to the Closing Date may purchase Fund shares on behalf of existing and new participants. Existing shareholders may continue to purchase Fund shares following the Closing Date. The Adviser may, for any reason, make additional exceptions, limit, reject or otherwise modify an exception, and reopen the Fund to new shareholders at any time." The manager will continue to run Prime Retail MMFs. See also MarketWatch's article, "Prime money-market funds on the regulatory hot seat," which says, "Stung by the second severe market selloff in a decade that required the federal government to come to the rescue, financial market regulators are looking at additional reforms of Wall Street. This time, with COVID-19 hobbling the economy and markets stressed especially early in the crisis, it’s the non-bank sector under the microscope. In 2008, it was the 'too-big-to-fail' bank sector that got the brunt of the attention from Washington. One thing that the two financial crises have in common is that investors ran from money market funds at the first hint of trouble. The outflows put stress on the entire system of short-term funding, such as municipal finance.... In 2020, investors appear to have run from money market funds before the gates could be triggered."
