The September issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Wednesday morning, features the articles: "FSB Comment Letters Show Consensus on Reforms Close," which discusses the latest feedback on reforms; "BlackRock's Beccy Milchem Talks European MMF Issues," which profiles the new Head of EMEA Cash; and, "More D&I Share Classes on the Way, But ESG Takes Hit," which recaps the latest news on diversity MMFs. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Wednesday a.m., and have updated our Money Fund Wisdom database query system with 8/31/21 data. (MFI, MFI XLS and our Crane Index products are all available to subscribers via our Content center.) Our September Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Friday, Sept. 10, and our September Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out next Wednesday, Sept. 15.
MFI's lead article says, "Discussions continue to heat up and evolve over changing regulations governing money market funds, both in the U.S. and globally. The latest chapter in the saga is the posting of comment letters in response to the Financial Stability Board's 'Policy proposals to enhance money market fund resilience: Consultation Report.' Forty letters were posted in response and we've been quoting and summarizing from them since the August 12 deadline for comments passed. We review the latest highlights below."
It continues, "The Wall Street Journal discusses the pending money fund reforms in its article, 'Firms Wary as Money-Market Rule Changes Studied After Covid-19 Run.' They tell us, 'Investment managers are fighting for the future of money-market funds.... [F]inancial regulators are weighing rule changes designed to ensure that these funds fare better in the next crisis."
Our "BlackRock's Milchem" piece reads, "This month, MFI interviews Rebecca Milchem, BlackRock's new Head of Cash for EMEA. BlackRock is the 2nd largest manager of money funds worldwide and the largest manager of Euro and Sterling MMFs. We discuss the latest regulatory discussions, European vs. U.S. issues, and a number of other topics below in our Q&A."
MFI asks, "Give us a little bit of history. Milchem tells us, "Looking back at the BGI (Barclays) and BlackRock [merger] ... BGI always had the bigger Sterling book [and] BlackRock had a much bigger Dollar footprint when we put the businesses together back in 2009.... They were very complementary. I joined the business in 2008 ... so I had a bit of a baptism of fire.... I think we feel like we've been repeating history the last in the last year in terms of the experience from 2008.... But nothing brings a business together like going through some volatile market conditions and learning through and working with clients through those times."
The "D&I" article tells readers, "While it's been relatively quiet in the Social and ESG money fund space, there were a couple of developments over the past month. The good news was that BlackRock filed to launch several more D&I dealer affiliated share classes, while the bad news was that The Wall Street Journal took a shot at DWS and Deutsche Bank for overstating and struggling to define its ESG efforts."
It adds, "BlackRock's new Form N-1A Registration Statement filings include: Bancroft Capital Shares for BlackRock Liquid Federal Trust Fund, Cabrera Capital Markets Shares for TempFund and BlackRock Liquid Federal Trust Fund, Mischler Financial Group Shares for BlackRock Liquid Federal Trust Fund and Bancroft Capital Shares for the BlackRock Liquid Environmentally Aware Fund (LEAF). BlackRock already offers ESG MMFs BlackRock LEAF Direct (LEDXX) and LEAF Inst (LEFXX); BlackRock Wealth LEAF Inv (PINXX) and Inst (PNIXX); and BlackRock Liquidity FedFund Mischler (HUAXX)."
MFI also includes the News brief, "MFs Higher in August, Dip on Week," which says, "Money fund assets increased by $27.9 billion in August to $4.968 trillion, according to our MFI XLS. This follows declines of $38.5 billion in July and $84.8 billion in June. ICI's latest 'Money Market Fund Assets' report shows MMFs down $17.2 billion to $4.509 trillion in the latest week. Year-to-date, ICI shows MMFs up $212 billion, or 4.9%."
Another News brief, "August Portfolio Holdings: Treasuries Plunge Again; Repo, TDs Jump," comments, "Crane Data's latest Money Fund Portfolio Holdings, with data as of July 31, 2021, show another increase in Repo holdings, a jump in Other (Time Deposits) and another plunge in Treasuries. Treasury securities remained the largest portfolio segment, though Repo is closing in on the No. 1 spot. Agencies were the third largest segment, CP remained fourth, ahead of Other/Time Deposits, CDs and VRDNs."
Our September MFI XLS, with August 31 data, shows total assets increased $27.9 billion to $4.968 trillion, after decreasing $12.4 billion in July and $73.0 billion in June. They increased $74.0 billion in May and $62.2 billion in April. Assets rose $151.0 billion in March, $30.8 billion in February and $5.6 billion in January. Assets decreased $6.7 billion in December, $11.7 billion in November, $46.8 billion in October and $121.2 billion in September. Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was flat at 0.02%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) also remained flat at 0.02%.
On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 both remained at 0.09%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.07% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses Thursday once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 8/31.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 37 days (unchanged) while the Crane 100 WAM fell one day to 36 days). (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
