Crane Data's latest Money Fund Intelligence International shows that assets in European or "offshore" money market mutual funds inched higher over the past 30 days to $1.083 trillion while yields jumped. GBP MMF assets fell, while USD and EUR MMFs rose. While up year-to-date, European MMF assets remain well below their record high of $1.101 trillion set in mid-December 2021. These U.S.-style money funds, domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg but denominated in US Dollars, Pound Sterling and Euros, increased by $4.1 billion over the 30 days through 8/11. The totals are up $53.3 billion (5.2%) year-to-date. (Note that currency moves in the U.S. dollar cause Euro and Sterling totals to shift when they're translated back into totals in U.S. dollars. See our latest MFI International for more on the "offshore" money fund marketplace. These funds are only available to qualified, non-U.S. investors.) (Note too: To learn more about these funds, please join us next month for our European Money Fund Symposium, which is Sept. 25-26, 2024 in Edinburgh. Make your hotel reservations ASAP -- our discount expires this week!)
Offshore US Dollar money funds increased $6.7 billion over the last 30 days and are up $36.7 billion YTD to $586.2 billion. Euro funds increased E1.1 billion over the past month. YTD, they're up E11.5 billion to E191.8 billion. GBP money funds decreased L3.0 billion over 30 days; they are down by L35.6 billion YTD to L227.9B. U.S. Dollar (USD) money funds (201) account for over half (54.1%) of the "European" money fund total, while Euro (EUR) money funds (111) make up 19.3% and Pound Sterling (GBP) funds (135) total 26.6%. We summarize our latest "offshore" money fund statistics and our Money Fund Intelligence International Portfolio Holdings (which went out to subscribers Monday), below.
Offshore USD MMFs yield 5.24% (7-Day) on average (as of 8/11/23), up from 5.04% a month earlier. Yields averaged 4.20% on 12/30/22, 0.03% on 12/31/21, 0.05% on 12/31/20, 1.59% on 12/31/19 and 2.29% on 12/31/18. EUR MMFs finally left negative yield territory in the second half of 2022; they're yielding 3.57% on average, up from 3.35% a month ago and up from 1.48% on 12/30/22, -0.80% on 12/31/21, -0.71% at year-end 2020, -0.59% at year-end 2019 and -0.49% at year-end 2018. Meanwhile, GBP MMFs yielded 5.02%, up 24 bps from a month ago, and up from 3.17% on 12/30/22. Sterling yields were 0.01% on 12/31/21, 0.00% on 12/31/20, 0.64% on 12/31/19 and 0.64% on 12/31/18.
Crane's August MFI International Portfolio Holdings, with data as of 7/31/23, show that European-domiciled US Dollar MMFs, on average, consist of 21% in Commercial Paper (CP), 16% in Certificates of Deposit (CDs), 35% in Repo, 12% in Treasury securities, 14% in Other securities (primarily Time Deposits) and 2% in Government Agency securities. USD funds have on average 60.9% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 4.7% maturing in 2-7 Days, 6.3% maturing in 8-30 Days, 8.9% maturing in 31-60 Days, 5.0% maturing in 61-90 Days, 10.1% maturing in 91-180 Days and 4.2% maturing beyond 181 Days. USD holdings are affiliated with the following countries: the US (35.9%), France (13.5%), Canada (10.8%), Japan (10.2%), the U.K. (5.2%), Sweden (5.2%), the Netherlands (4.0%), Australia (2.8%), Germany (2.3%) and Belgium (1.6%).
The 10 Largest Issuers to "offshore" USD money funds include: the US Treasury with $74.8 billion (12.2% of total assets), Fixed Income Clearing Corp with $41.5B (6.8%), BNP Paribas with $24.1B (3.9%), Credit Agricole with $23.0B (3.7%), RBC with $22.8B (3.7%), Federal Reserve Bank of New York with $20.6B (3.4%), Citi with $20.6B (3.4%), Barclays with $19.6B (3.2%), Bank of America with $18.8B (3.1%) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp with $17.7B (2.9%).
Euro MMFs tracked by Crane Data contain, on average 40% in CP, 23% in CDs, 22% in Other (primarily Time Deposits), 13% in Repo, 1% in Treasuries and 1% in Agency securities. EUR funds have on average 46.7% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 10.6% maturing in 2-7 Days, 11.4% maturing in 8-30 Days, 10.5% maturing in 31-60 Days, 5.8% maturing in 61-90 Days, 9.0% maturing in 91-180 Days and 5.9% maturing beyond 181 Days. EUR MMF holdings are affiliated with the following countries: France (27.5%), the U.S. (12.0%), Japan (11.6%), Sweden (7.4%), Canada (6.7%), Germany (5.2%), the U.K. (4.8%), Belgium (4.8%), the Netherlands (4.3%) and Austria (4.1%),.
The 10 Largest Issuers to "offshore" EUR money funds include: Republic of France with E10.0B (5.5%), Credit Agricole with E9.3B (5.1%), BNP Paribas with E7.6B (4.2%), KBC Group NV with E7.1B (3.9%), Erste Group Bank AG with E5.7B (3.1%), Credit Mutuel with E5.4B (3.0%), DZ Bank AG with E5.2B (2.8%), Societe Generale with E5.2B (2.8%), JP Morgan with E5.0B (2.8%) and Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd with E4.8B (2.6%).
The GBP funds tracked by MFI International contain, on average (as of 7/31/23): 39% in CDs, 18% in CP, 24% in Other (Time Deposits), 17% in Repo, 2% in Treasury and 0% in Agency. Sterling funds have on average 33.2% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 17.6% maturing in 2-7 Days, 10.9% maturing in 8-30 Days, 11.6% maturing in 31-60 Days, 9.6% maturing in 61-90 Days, 10.8% maturing in 91-180 Days and 6.3% maturing beyond 181 Days. GBP MMF holdings are affiliated with the following countries: France (17.6%), Japan (15.5%), Canada (14.3%), the U.K. (12.7%), Australia (7.4%), the U.S. (6.7%), the Netherlands (5.5%), Sweden (4.0%), Spain (3.4%) and Singapore (2.8%).
The 10 Largest Issuers to "offshore" GBP money funds include: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc with L10.1B (5.0%), Toronto-Dominion Bank with L9.1B (4.5%), BNP Paribas with L8.7B (4.3%), RBC with L7.1B (3.5%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd with L6.8B (3.4%), Banco Santander with L6.7B (3.3%), BPCE SA with L6.3B (3.1%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank with L6.0B (3.0%), Credit Agricole with L6.0B (3.0%) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia with L5.7B (2.8%).
