News Archives: April, 2026
The Investment Company Institute published its monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing - March 2026" and "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" on Wednesday. The latest "Trends" shows money fund totals decreasing $16.9 billion, or -0.2%, in March to $7.772 trillion. MMFs increased by $797.2 billion, or 11.4%, over the past 12 months (through 3/31/26). Money funds' March asset decrease follows an increase of $59.9 billion in February, a decrease of $17.3 billion in January, an increase of $170.2 billion in December, $107.7 billion in November, $146.8 billion in October, $104.5 billion in September, $123.4 billion in August, $69.0 billion in July, $29.3 billion in June and $84.7 billion in May. Assets decreased $63.8 billion in April and $10.9 billion last March. Bond fund assets decreased $109.7 billion to $5.574 trillion, and bond ETF assets increased $5.8 billion to $2.399 trillion in March 2026.
The monthly release states, "The combined assets of the nation’s mutual funds decreased by $1.28 trillion, or 4.0 percent, to $30.79 trillion in March, according to the Investment Company Institute’s official survey of the mutual fund industry. In the survey, mutual fund companies report actual assets, sales, and redemptions to ICI.... Bond funds had an outflow of $11.61 billion in March, compared with an inflow of $33.78 billion in February.... Money market funds had an outflow of $29.68 billion in March, compared with an inflow of $45.65 billion in February. In March funds offered primarily to institutions had an outflow of $62.66 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $32.98 billion."
The Institute's latest statistics show that Taxable MMFs were lower while Tax Exempt MMFs were higher from last month. Taxable MMFs decreased by $19.2 billion in March to $7.627 trillion. Tax-Exempt MMFs increased $2.3 billion to $144.9 billion. Taxable MMF assets increased year-over-year by $788.3 billion (11.5%), and Tax-Exempt funds rose by $8.9 billion over the past year (6.5%). Bond fund assets decreased by $109.7 billion (after increasing by $103.8 billion in February) to $5.574 trillion; they've increased by $389.6 billion (7.5%) over the past year.
Money funds represent 25.2% of all mutual fund assets (up 0.9% from the previous month), while bond funds account for 18.1%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds was 266, up 1 from the prior month and up from 264 a year ago. Taxable money funds numbered 225 funds, and tax-exempt money funds numbered 41 funds.
ICI's "Portfolio Holdings" confirms an increase in Treasuries and a drop in Repo last month. Treasury holdings remain the largest composition segment. In March, they increased $14.0 billion, or 0.4%, to $3.191 trillion, or 41.8% of holdings. Treasury securities have increased by $468.3 billion, or 17.2%, over the past 12 months. (See our April 13 News, "April MF Portfolio Holdings: T-Bills Inch Higher, Repo Falls, Agencies Flat.")
Repurchase Agreements, the second largest composition segment, decreased $42.7 billion, or -1.5%, to $2.780 trillion, or 36.4% of holdings. Repo holdings have increased $132.8 billion, or 5.0%, over the past year. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they increased $2.7 billion, or 0.3%, to $1.013 trillion, or 13.3% of holdings. Agency holdings have increased by $165.7 billion, or 19.6%, over the past 12 months.
Commercial Paper was in fourth place; CP holdings decreased by $21.5 billion, or -7.2%, to $276.3 billion (3.6% of assets). CP held by money funds fell by $24.5 billion, or -8.2%, over 12 months. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) were in fifth place, down $16.6 billion, or -5.8%, to $270.2 billion (3.5% of assets). CDs decreased $43.9 billion, or -14.0%, over one year. Other holdings decreased to $26.6 billion (0.3% of assets), while Notes (including Corporate and Bank) decreased to $39.7 billion (0.5% of assets).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased to 87.163 million, while the Number of Funds was up 1 to 225. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 9.597 million and the number of funds increased by 2. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was 43 days, up 2 days from February. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money are up 9 days.
According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have decreased by $115.6 billion to $8.076 trillion month-to-date in April (as of 4/28). (Our asset series' record high, $8.280 trillion, was set on 3/18/26.) Assets decreased by $49.3 billion in March, but increased by $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 in January and $126.3 billion in December. Crane's MFI Daily series shows money funds growing $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May. MMFs fell by $24.4 billion last April. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.
In other news, a release, "Federal Reserve Issues FOMC Statement," tells us, "Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace. Job gains have remained low, on average, and the unemployment rate has been little changed in recent months. Inflation is elevated, in part reflecting the recent increase in global energy prices. The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. Developments in the Middle East are contributing to a high level of uncertainty about the economic outlook. The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate."
It states, "In support of its goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 percent. In considering the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will carefully assess incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks. The Committee is strongly committed to supporting maximum employment and returning inflation to its 2 percent objective."
The FOMC explains, "In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook. The Committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee's goals. The Committee's assessments will take into account a wide range of information, including readings on labor market conditions, inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and financial and international developments."
They add, "Voting for the monetary policy action were Jerome H. Powell, Chair; John C. Williams, Vice Chair; Michael S. Barr; Michelle W. Bowman; Lisa D. Cook; Philip N. Jefferson; Anna Paulson; and Christopher J. Waller. Voting against this action were Stephen I. Miran, who preferred to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point at this meeting; and Beth M. Hammack, Neel Kashkari, and Lorie K. Logan, who supported maintaining the target range for the federal funds rate but did not support inclusion of an easing bias in the statement at this time."
Ameriprise Financial (AMP) released its Q1'26 Earnings late last week (see call transcript here, where CEO Jim Cracchiolo comments, "Our cash business remained stable with nearly $30 billion in sweep balances. As you saw, our advisers again generated meaningful productivity and revenue growth with productivity increasing another 10% in the quarter to a record $1.2 million per adviser. Our strategy remains grounded in organic growth, built, not bought. Advisers consistently value Ameriprise for the depth of our value proposition and the strength of our partnership."
CFO Walter Berman explains, "Let's turn to Wealth Management financials.... Adjusted operating net revenues increased 14% to $3.2 billion. The core distribution business is performing well given the value of our planning model and the multiple touch points we have with the client to meet their needs holistically. Our fee-based and transaction revenues remained quite strong, increasing 17%, benefiting from growth in client assets and higher activity levels. In addition, our bank revenues increased 6% from business growth, including the expansion of our lending products, while revenues from cash sweep and certificates declined."
He continues, "Pretax adjusted operating earnings increased 20% to $951 million with continued strong contribution from core distribution and core cash earnings.... Bank earnings grew 6% in the quarter, while certificate earnings declined. In total, core cash earnings were essentially flat from a year ago. We continue to take actions to build the bank portfolio in a way that supports stable earnings contributions going forward. The overall bank has a yield of 4.6% with a 4-year duration with now only 7% of portfolio on the floating rate securities. In the quarter, new purchases at the bank were $1.9 billion at a yield of 5% with a 4.1 year duration. Last, our aggregate margins remained excellent at 30%, up from 28% a year ago. Underlying that, our core distribution margin is over 20%, with a solid contribution from cash."
Berman says, "Total client cash of $86 billion was essentially flat year-over-year and sequentially. Bank assets increased 6% year-over-year to $25.5 billion, with the bank representing a stable source of earnings going forward. Cash sweep balances decreased slightly to $29.4 billion compared to $29.9 billion in the prior quarter, which is consistent with the seasonal tax pattern we would expect to see."
He adds, "Certificate balances declined to $7.6 billion from $8.2 billion in the prior quarter, given the interest rate environment. We continue to have elevated cash balances in third-party money market funds at nearly $48 billion. We have seen that decline for the first time in January and February. But with the volatility later in the quarter, we saw cash levels build modestly again. This remains an important opportunity when rates decline to see these cash balances deployed into other products on the platform."
During the Question-and-Answer Session, Brennan Hawken of BMO Capital Markets asks, "There's a lot of focus within the wealth space on the cash and whether or not these AI tools are going to allow for optimization of cash. It's not a huge central feature for you guys in your business model. But how are you thinking about that as you move forward? I know you've got the bank as part of the strategy now. But have you considered looking at some of these tools within your own network? And how are you considering that development that's likely to come down the pike?"
Cracchiolo responds, "Good question. So first and foremost, and I think Walter tried to give you some further information of the cash contribution as we looked at it for this quarter as we reported. And you can see, cash adds a certain amount to our margin, but the bulk of our earnings and profitability is from the real wealth management part of that component with the fees and the transactions and things that we conduct on behalf of the clients. Our transaction revenue from the sweep, as we said, is a very, very small part. It's only a few percent. So from our perspective, it's not the bulk of our earnings, number one. And honestly, I don't know why that people wouldn't look at the core margin and give it even more valuation than where people are making all of their earnings from cash."
He states, "Now in our case, what we tried to do is then develop the bank in a way that we can add value added from both lending activities and savings programs that we'll be ramping up with even on checking and activities. But the amount of cash that will still be in transaction, whether AI assisted or not, is so low that money will be moving in and out to do that, just like a basic checking account to some extent. From -- looking at it, we already provide so much in capability and ease for our advisers to do that on behalf of their clients and with their clients, but that's why our cash levels that we maintain is, on average, $100. So we're not as concerned with it. And if there are other capabilities that come about that makes sense, we will look at them. But we're not looking at that as a major change to what's being held there."
Berman adds, "So just let me emphasize again as we -- our average balance now is $6,000. We -- as Jim said, very active. And certainly, it's at transactional levels that meet that minimum standard in the account. So again, we are constantly evaluating it, but I think we're at a very good level. And the percentage of our earnings that come from cash is certainly at the level that is probably lower than most of our peers. And therefore, certainly manageable because we've had that balance."
Finally, Berman says on "certificate" balances, "That's strictly a spread, play, really as it relates to it. And so I think we're going to see it candidly probably stabilize and stay in this range or increase a little go up. Again, but it's strictly spread depending on where rates are going from that standpoint."
For more on AI and cash sweeps, see our recent Crane Data News stories: "Raymond James Call Responds to 'Agentic AI Cash Sweep Optimization'" (4/24/26), "Barron's on Schwab AI Sweeps Worries" (4/21/26), "Earnings: JP Morgan Talks AI Cash Allocation Tool; BNY on Tokenization" (4/20/26), "Schwab Says AI a Tailwind, Not a Threat to Cash Sweeps on Q1 Update" (4/17) and "Morgan Stanley Q1 Call: AI & Sweeps" (4/16).
The Investment Company Institute released its "2026 Investment Company Fact Book," an annual compilation of statistics and commentary on the mutual fund space. Subtitled, "A Review of Trends and Activities in the Investment Company Industry," the latest edition tells us, " With stock markets rising around the globe in 2025 (17% in the United States, 36% in Europe, and 29% in the Asia-Pacific region) worldwide total net assets of equity funds, which invest primarily in publicly traded stocks, increased by 19% to $42.6 trillion at year-end 2025. Bond funds -- which invest primarily in fixed-income securities -- saw their total net assets increase 21% over the same period, somewhat reflecting total returns (capital gains and interest income) in bond markets. In 2025, the total return on bonds was 7% in the United States, 1% in Europe, and 1% in the Asia-Pacific region. Net assets of money market funds, which are regulated funds restricted to holding short-term, high-quality debt instruments, rose by 15%." We excerpt from the latest "Fact Book" below.
Discussing "Worldwide" mutual funds (page 9), ICI writes, "Worldwide net sales of money market funds declined somewhat in 2025 but still attracted $1.3 trillion in net inflows.... Investors across all geographical regions continued to demonstrate demand for money market funds, with the $901 billion in inflows in the United States accounting for more than two-thirds of total net inflows. Investor demand for money market funds in the Asia-Pacific Region and Europe was $217 billion and $169 billion in 2025, respectively."
They explain, "Investors use money market funds because they are professionally managed, tightly regulated vehicles with holdings limited to high-quality, short-term debt instruments. As such, they are highly liquid, attractive, cash-like alternatives to bank deposits. Generally, demand for money market funds is dependent upon their yields and interest rate risk exposure relative to other high-quality fixed-income securities."
ICI continues, "In the United States, money market funds continued to see inflows in 2025 because of sustained demand from both retail and institutional investors. High market yields -- relative to the past 16 years -- and the low interest-rate risk offered by money market funds continued to drive this demand. These reasons are also likely the key drivers for inflows into money market funds in both Europe and the Asia-Pacific region."
Under the section "Role of Investment Companies in Financial Markets," they say, "Investment companies held 24% of bonds issued by US corporations and foreign bonds held by US residents at year-end 2025 and 19% of the US Treasury and government agency securities outstanding. Investment companies also have been important investors in the US municipal securities market, holding 29% of the securities outstanding at year-end 2025. Finally, mutual funds (primarily prime money market funds) held 25% of the US commercial paper market -- a critical source of short-term funding for many major corporations around the world."
ICI writes in Chapter 3, "Overview of Mutual Fund Trends," "The US mutual fund industry remained the largest in the world, with $31.4 trillion in total net assets at year-end 2025. The majority of US mutual fund net assets were in long-term mutual funds, with equity funds alone making up 52% of US mutual fund net assets. Money market funds were the second-largest category, with 25% of net assets. Bond funds (18%) and hybrid funds (6%) held the remainder."
They state, "A variety of factors influence investor demand for mutual funds. For example, US households rely on equity, bond, and hybrid mutual funds to meet long-term personal financial objectives, such as preparing for retirement, saving for emergencies, or saving for education. US households, as well as businesses and other institutional investors, use money market funds as cash management tools because they provide a high degree of liquidity and access to short-term market yields."
ICI adds, "Investor demand for mutual funds in 2025 showed notable differences across fund types. Money market funds experienced strong demand as investors were attracted to relatively high short-term yields when compared with those received in bank deposit accounts. Bond mutual funds saw modest demand, likely driven by bond market performance and portfolio rebalancing. By contrast, equity mutual funds experienced outflows in 2025 (despite strong stock market returns), primarily reflecting portfolio rebalancing and an ongoing shift to other products."
Discussing, "Investors in US Mutual Funds," they comment, "Demand for mutual funds is, in part, related to the types of investors who hold mutual fund shares. Retail investors (i.e., households) held the vast majority (87%) of the $31.4 trillion in US mutual fund net assets at year-end 2025.... When looking at only long-term mutual funds, the share of net assets held by retail investors was even higher (94%). Retail investors also held substantial money market fund net assets ($5.3 trillion), but this was a relatively small share (19%) of their total mutual fund net assets ($27.4 trillion)."
The Fact Book continues, "By contrast, institutional investors such as nonfinancial businesses, financial institutions, and nonprofit organizations held a relatively small portion of mutual fund net assets. At year-end 2025, institutions held $3.9 trillion or 13% of mutual fund net assets.... The majority (62%) of which was held in money market funds. One of the primary reasons institutions use money market funds is to help manage their cash balances."
The section on "Money Market Funds" (page 46), explains, "In 2025, money market funds saw substantial inflows of $672 billion ... as short-term interest rates remained elevated. Demand was positive for all categories of money market funds in 2025, with government money market funds experiencing the bulk of inflows ($558 billion). Prime money market funds and tax-exempt money market funds saw inflows of $102 billion and $12 billion, respectively."
Finally, ICI writes, "Despite the Federal Reserve's rate cuts in 2025, money market funds remained appealing to investors when compared to other short-term options like bank deposits. The yield on taxable money market funds averaged 3.9% at year-end 2025 compared with 0.6% for money market deposit accounts.... Money market funds attract both institutional and retail investors due to their combination of high liquidity, minimal risk, and solid returns. In periods of market volatility, many investors often shift toward government money market funds in search of greater quality and stability."
A press release titled, "Morgan Stanley Investment Management Launches Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio," tells us, "Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) ... announced the launch of the Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio (MSNXX), part of the Morgan Stanley Institutional Liquidity Funds trust. The Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio is a new government money market fund designed to align with the stablecoin reserves investment requirements of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act). The Fund offers payment stablecoin issuers an eligible money market fund option where they can invest their required reserves that back their outstanding payment stablecoins." (See Crane Data's March 23 News, "Fidelity Files for Reserves Digital Fund, 5th Stablecoin Reserve MMF.")
Fred McMullen, Co-Head of Global Liquidity for Morgan Stanley Investment Management, comments, "We are pleased to deliver a new investment solution to the marketplace that seeks to address the needs of stablecoin issuers. The significant increase in stablecoin issuers as well as the growing number of assets held in stablecoins represents an evolving portion of the marketplace that is ripe for future growth."
The release explains, "The Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio seeks preservation of capital, daily liquidity and maximum current income, consistent with seeking to maintain a stable $1.00 net asset value (NAV). The Fund invests only in cash, U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds with remaining maturities of 93 days or less, as well as certain overnight repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities and/or cash."
Morgan Stanley's Head of Digital Asset Strategy Amy Oldenburg, states. "Developing innovative ways to work with stablecoin issuers is another step towards modernizing the financial infrastructure and a key way to improve our institutional clients' experience. Creating opportunities for all client segments as markets evolve will make the next phase of finance possible and more broadly accessible."
The statement continues, "The Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio builds on MSIM's commitment to expanding its digital assets offerings. In April, MSIM debuted its first cryptocurrency ETP, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), which seeks to track the performance of bitcoin. BNY (BK), a global financial services company, provides digital asset custody services for MSBT as well as serving as the administrator and transfer agent, providing account, recordkeeping and cash management services."
It adds, "Earlier this year, MSIM introduced DAP Class shares of its Morgan Stanley Institutional Liquidity Funds Treasury Securities Portfolio. DAP Class shares are designed to participate in BNY's Money Market Funds (MMFs) mirrored record tokenization initiative. Currently, DAP Class shares are available via BNY's LiquidityDirect and Digital Asset platforms, the corresponding value of which will be represented through mirrored record tokenization on a blockchain, while BNY maintains the official books and records for the fund shares."
Finally, McMullen says, "We have actively engaged across the industry to develop the ability to offer digital asset related liquidity solutions. While still in the early stages, these recent product launches signify our commitment to develop relevant, timely solutions that may address evolving investor needs in an increasingly digital marketplace."
For more on Stablecoin Reserve funds, see these Crane Data News stories: "'Dec. MFI: MMFs Hit $8.0T, Top 10; JPM '26 Outlook; Stablecoin Reserves" (12/5/25), "'State Street Files for Stablecoin Reserves MMF; BNY's Stephanie Pierce" (11/19/25), "BNY Stablecoin Reserves Goes Live; ICI: Assets Eke Out Record $7.5T" (11/14/25),"BNY's Vince on Q3 Call: Money Market Evolution, Dreyfus, Stablecoins" (10/22/25), "BlackRock Breaks $1 Trillion in Money Funds; Offers Stablecoin Reserve" (10/17/25), "Sept. MFI: Assets Break $7.6T; Stablecoin Reserves; JPM on Offshore MFs" (9/8/25), "BNY Dreyfus to Launch Stablecoin Reserves Fund; Joins Goldman, Circle" (8/20) and "Goldman Files to Launch Stablecoin Reserves Fund; Circle Q2 Earnings" (8/13/25).
In related news, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently published, "Making Stablecoins Stable." It states, "Payment stablecoins are privately issued digital money with the potential to enhance payment efficiency, foster innovation, and improve financial inclusion. At the same time, they are vulnerable to runs and associated welfare losses. One way to lower run risk is to require stablecoin issuers to hold safe assets. But doing so may lower issuers' profitability and thus their incentive to provide stablecoins, hampering payment innovation and product variety."
The IMF explains, "This paper offers a theoretical framework to navigate the tradeoff between maintaining stability and incentivizing issuance. Based on the Diamond and Dybvig (1983) model of bank runs, the paper shows that an unregulated private equilibrium is suboptimal. Stablecoin issuers hold risky assets to maximize profits, increasing run risk. A social planner can improve the equilibrium by requiring the backing of stablecoins with a safe asset (such as central bank reserves in a narrow bank setting), and creating conditions for other sources of revenue for issuers (such as central bank reserves remuneration or policies for payment data utilization). The model offers a baseline for the ongoing policy discussion while identifying considerations for further study."
It tells us, "Stablecoins have emerged to the forefront of policy discussions. Stablecoins are crypto assets purported to maintain a stable value typically relative to a national currency like the U.S. dollar. The enactment of the U.S. Genius Act in July 2025 marked a turning point for stablecoins, providing a legal foundation for issuance and regulation in the U.S. and positioning stablecoins more prominently in the global discussion. Prior to this, the popularity of stablecoins had fluctuated, reaching a peak following Facebook's 2018 Libra announcement and a trough around the bankruptcy of Terra Luna, a popular stablecoin, in 2022. Parallel regulatory developments contributed to the evolution of the policy landscape. These include the European MiCa Regulation in 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore's acknowledgement that regulated stablecoins could serve as a potentially acceptable form of money for financial transactions, and further developments of legal and regulatory frameworks in Japan and the United Kingdom."
The paper adds, "Stablecoins promise to bring significant benefits. These are discussed widely, including in IMF (2025). They include faster, cheaper, and more accessible payments within and across borders. Stablecoin payments can be made around the clock by anyone with access to a global blockchain.... But stablecoins also come with notable risks. These are also discussed in IMF (2025). Many pertain to operational stability, financial integrity, the protection of user funds, and contagion to other financial institutions, especially banks. Many of these risks are being addressed to different extents by nascent laws and regulations. Risks to macro-financial stability also arise." (See also, the Financial Times' "How worried should Wall St be about the stablecoin threat to deposits?")
Brokerage Raymond James reported its latest quarterly earnings yesterday (see the Seeking Alpha transcript here), and the topic of AI and cash sweep accounts was again a big topic. CFO Jonathan Oorlog comments, "Clients' domestic cash sweep and enhanced savings program balances ended the quarter at $57.8 billion, down 1% compared to the preceding quarter and representing 3.7% of domestic ... client assets. Based on April activity to date, domestic cash sweep and enhanced savings program balances have declined due to the collection of record quarterly fee billings of approximately $1.9 billion along with further declines largely driven by the seasonal impact of client tax activity. Combined net interest income and RJBDP fees from third-party banks declined 3% from the prior quarter to $650 million.... The average yield on RJBDP balances with third-party banks decreased 6 basis points to 2.7%, primarily due to the full quarter impact of the Fed interest rate cuts in the December quarter."
During the Q&A, Devin Ryan from Citizens JMP Securities says, "It sounds like you think AI will be a net positive for the business versus an overall risk. So would love to hear a little bit more about why. And then if you can just weigh in on how you're thinking about implications of this potential agentic cash sweep optimization, which I think some people think in theory could pressure transactional cash balances, and whether you would consider kind of evolving the monetization with like a platform fee or something else?"
CEO Paul Shoukry responds, "Maybe on your second question first around the agentic AI cash optimization tool, which I think is conceptual, I haven't seen it yet, but I think when you step back, it's really the dynamic that the industry has been seeing since rates started rising. And we were talking about before, as you recall, Devin, before rates started rising, which is as rates rise, advisers will help clients invest in higher-yielding alternatives."
He continues, "At Raymond James, we've been offering one of the most open platforms of higher-yielding alternatives, whether it's the enhanced savings program, which offers a very competitive rate with up to $50 million of FDIC insurance, as well as the purchase money market funds, which we let all clients avail themselves to the institutional share class to get higher rates, and a whole host of other higher-yielding alternatives for their cash."
Shoukry states, "And because of that, you've seen in our industry, transactional or sweep cash balances go down 40% to 50%. And now in fee-based accounts, the average cash balance per account is less than $10,000. So without AI, you've seen that trend happen, and I don't think it requires AI for that cash to be invested in higher-yielding alternatives. I think AI is kind of being ... used to describe the phenomenon that we already anticipated would happen."
He adds, "So I don't see much more of an incremental threat maybe to the e-brokers where there's not a financial adviser involved that's been helping clients reinvest those cash balances. Perhaps, I'm not sure. We're not an e-broker, so I'm not an expert in that space. But I don't see it really impacting our space much more incrementally. But again, I haven't seen the AI agentic solution either that everyone is talking about, so I'm not sure to tell you the truth. But we feel like the sweep balances have stabilized over the last several quarters. We have the quarterly fee billings. We have the tax dynamic every year that we talked about. But outside of that, there's not a whole lot of cash in movement right now given where rates are at. It's been pretty stable across the industry overall."
Wolfe Research's Steven Chubak then asks, "I did want to dig into some of the comments you made around agentic AI, specifically, as it relates to the impact that, that could have on cash levels. Paul, you made compelling points about easy access to cash alternatives, you cited lower sweep cash per account, but it's also pretty clear that the market is ascribing a lower terminal value to cash-derived profits just given the risk from whether it's agentic AI, tokenization, pick your poison here."
He says, "Just trying to gauge in a scenario where competitors in the event that they pivot to more of a fee-based model or approach to reduce the reliance on cash economics, is that something that you're amenable to? And are there barriers to introducing things like platform fees given the fact that you service multiple affiliation options with your omnichannel approach?"
Shoukry replies, "I mean, ultimately, we want to have a profitable and competitive and fair pricing structure. Fair, most importantly, for the clients, [but] also the financial professionals and the firm. And so if that evolves in the industry, based on competitive pressures and competitive dynamics and the client preferences, most importantly, then of course, we would be flexible and open to evolving with where clients and advisers in the industry is evolving to. I mean we look at that on an ongoing basis for all of our pricing fees and payout."
Finally, James Mitchell of Seaport Research Partners queries, "Maybe a follow-up just on TriState [Bank]. You don't talk about it a lot, but it looks like the deposit growth there has been pretty substantial since you acquired it, maybe over 50%, and has picked up over the last year. So how is that helping -- what are the spreads on those deposits? And do you see it as a big contributor to profitable growth in the lending channel?"
Shoukry answers, "Yes, absolutely. The reason that we had TriState join the Raymond James family is because, one, their SBL [securities-based lending] capability, their lending capability more broadly, and also it diversifies the funding sources through its various deposit products. So you're absolutely right. It's been a contributor on all fronts, very successful. The leadership team, again, going back to culture and joining a family is still in place. They're still independent, branded independently, still separately chartered bank, and so just been a really great addition to the Raymond James family."
For more on AI and cash sweeps, see our recent Crane Data News stories: "Barron's on Schwab AI Sweeps Worries" (4/21/26), "Earnings: JP Morgan Talks AI Cash Allocation Tool; BNY on Tokenization" (4/20/26), "Schwab Says AI a Tailwind, Not a Threat to Cash Sweeps on Q1 Update" (4/17) and "Morgan Stanley Q1 Call: AI & Sweeps" (4/16).
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Statistics" summary, which shows that total money fund assets decreased by $50.7 billion in March 2026 to $8.290 trillion, after hitting a record high $8.341 trillion the month prior. The SEC shows Prime MMFs decreased $0.5 billion in March to $1.382 trillion, Govt & Treasury funds decreased $52.0 billion to $6.756 trillion and Tax Exempt funds increased $1.8 billion to $151.9 billion. Taxable yields were lower in March following declines in February. The SEC's Division of Investment Management summarizes monthly Form N-MFP data and includes asset totals and averages for yields, liquidity levels, WAMs, WALs, holdings, and other money market fund trends. We review their latest numbers below. (Our MFI XLS monthly shows money fund assets decreasing $59.9 billion in March 2026 to $8.198 trillion. In April month-to-date through 4/21, total money fund assets have decreased by $104.3 billion to $8.088 trillion, according to Crane Data's separate, and slightly smaller, MFI Daily series.)
March's asset decrease follows an increase of $123.7 billion in February, $36.6 billion in January, $125.0 billion in December, $125.1 billion in November, $153.2 billion in October, $106.0 billion in September, $138.0 billion in August, $60.2 billion in July, $4.3 billion in June, $94.9 billion in May, a decrease of $17.5 billion in April and a rise of $2.8 billion last March. Over the 12 months through 3/31/26, total MMF assets have increased by $898.9 billion, or 12.2%, according to the SEC's series.
The SEC's stats show that of the $8.290 trillion in assets, $1.382 trillion was in Prime funds, down $0.5 billion in March. Prime assets were up $18.2 billion in February, $22.4 billion in January, $1.2 billion in December, $3.1 billion in November, $9.1 billion in October, $6.2 billion in September, $20.2 billion in August, $22.7 billion in July, $9.8 billion in June, $11.8 billion in May, $2.3 billion in April and $22.1 billion last March. Prime funds represented 16.7% of total assets at the end of March. They've increased by $126.4 billion, or 10.1%, over the past 12 months. (Note that the SEC's series includes a number of internal money funds not tracked by ICI, though Crane Data includes most of these assets in its collections.)
Government & Treasury funds totaled $6.756 trillion, or 81.5% of assets. They decreased $52.0 billion in March, increased $104.5 billion in February, increased $23.1 billion in January, increased $117.3 billion in December, increased $115.4 billion in November, increased $142.1 billion in October, increased $97.8 billion in September, increased $118.1 billion in August, increased $39.0 billion in July, decreased $0.7 billion in June, increased $82.7 billion in May, decreased $25.1 billion in April and $21.8 billion last March. Govt & Treasury MMFs are up $762.3 billion over 12 months, or 12.7%. Tax Exempt Funds increased $1.8 billion to $151.9 billion, or 1.8% of all assets. The number of money funds was 287 in March, up 1 from the previous month and up 10 funds from a year earlier.
Yields for Taxable MMFs were lower while Tax Exempt MMFs were up in March. The Weighted Average Gross 7-Day Yield for Prime Institutional Funds on March 31 was 3.81%, down 2 bps from the prior month. The Weighted Average Gross 7-Day Yield for Prime Retail MMFs was 3.82%, down 2 bps from the previous month. Gross yields were 3.71% for Government Funds, down 2 bps from last month. Gross yields for Treasury Funds were unchanged at 3.72%. Gross Yields for Tax Exempt Institutional MMFs were up 58 basis points to 2.52% in March. Gross Yields for Tax Exempt Retail funds were up 33 bps to 2.50%.
The Weighted Average 7-Day Net Yield for Prime Institutional MMFs was 3.71%, down 2 bps from the previous month and down 67 bps from 3/31/25. The Average Net Yield for Prime Retail Funds was 3.55%, down 3 bps from the previous month and down 69 bps since 3/31/25. Net yields were 3.50% for Government Funds, down 1 bp from last month. Net yields for Treasury Funds were down 1 bp from the previous month at 3.51%. Net Yields for Tax Exempt Institutional MMFs were up 57 bps from February to 2.41%. Net Yields for Tax Exempt Retail funds were up 34 bps at 2.28% in March. (Note: These averages are asset-weighted.)
WALs and WAMs were mixed in March. The average Weighted Average Life, or WAL, was 63.5 days (up 2.0 days) for Prime Institutional funds, and 51.7 days for Prime Retail funds (up 0.4 days). Government fund WALs averaged 94.4 days (up 2.3 days) while Treasury fund WALs averaged 96.9 days (up 1.0 days). Tax Exempt Institutional fund WALs were 4.6 days (down 0.8 days), and Tax Exempt Retail MMF WALs averaged 29.0 days (down 1.1 days).
The Weighted Average Maturity, or WAM, was 37.4 days (up 1.9 days from the previous month) for Prime Institutional funds, 32.8 days (up 0.5 days from the previous month) for Prime Retail funds, 41.8 days (up 2.0 days from previous month) for Government funds, and 47.5 days (up 0.5 days from previous month) for Treasury funds. Tax Exempt Inst WAMs were down 0.8 days at 4.4 days, while Tax Exempt Retail WAMs were down 0.5 days from previous month at 28.2 days.
Total Daily Liquid Assets for Prime Institutional funds were 53.0% in March (up 1.9% from the previous month), and DLA for Prime Retail funds was 51.4% (up 4.7% from previous month) as a percent of total assets. The average DLA was 62.9% for Govt MMFs and 94.7% for Treasury MMFs. Total Weekly Liquid Assets was 66.0% (down 0.4% from the previous month) for Prime Institutional MMFs, and 63.1% (up 2.3% from the previous month) for Prime Retail funds. Average WLA was 77.0% for Govt MMFs and 99.0% for Treasury MMFs.
Note that the SEC made a number of changes to their monthly release in April 2025, so we're no longer publishing a number of tables. A press release titled, "SEC Publishes New Data and Analysis About Registered Investment Companies and Money Market Funds," states, "The Securities and Exchange Commission ... published new data and analysis in a pair of reports that provide the investing public with updated key information about registered investment companies and money market funds. 'It is important that the Commission publicly shares the information it collects in a clear and transparent way,' says Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda. 'These two reports will provide the public with key information about the approximately $41.5 trillion investors trust to funds and the approximately $7.39 trillion invested in money market funds.'"
The SEC says, "Money Market Fund Statistics is an enhanced version of the money market funds report generated by the Division of Investment Management. This report contains additional statistical analysis and enhancements, as well as certain metrics based on Form N-MFP data. The modifications to the report are designed to further facilitate the public's ability to efficiently review, digest, and use aggregate information about the money market fund industry by including summaries of more money market fund data, including information about internal affiliated funds, portfolio investments, flows, and industry concentration. The report extends the downloadable historical statistical series of data back to 2010."
Tim Husson, who leads the SEC's Division of Investment Management's Analytics Office, adds, "Forms N-MFP and N-CEN provide insights into key areas of the investment company industry. The reports reflect our continued dedication to enhance the public's use of important information about the industry."
The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal wrote a piece recently titled, "Companies Would Need to Disclose Stablecoin Holdings Under FASB Proposal." It tells us, "The Financial Accounting Standards Board wants to require companies to disclose significant stablecoin holdings as part of a broader move to have companies break out their different types of cash equivalents. The accounting standard-setter voted [last] Wednesday to propose that all companies must annually disclose the dollar amounts of the significant components of their cash equivalents. These components include investments with maturities of three months or less, like money-market funds, Treasury bills, commercial paper and possibly, stablecoins, for which there are no specific accounting rules at present. Equivalents are highly liquid, short-term but low-risk investments."
The article explains, "The FASB has been researching whether some cryptocurrency assets qualify as cash equivalents as opposed to financial instruments or other asset classifications. In particular, companies in the industry have been seeking more clarity on booking stablecoins, a popular asset typically pegged to a government currency, such as the U.S. dollar. The board decided to widen the scope to include any companies with cash equivalents on their balance sheet."
It continues, "Under the plan, if companies include a significant amount of stablecoins in their cash equivalents, those must be disclosed as a specific class alongside traditional equivalents like commercial paper or money-market funds.... The board also said it would propose clarifying how companies account for stablecoins. Under its thinking, a stablecoin would qualify as a cash equivalent if it is backed by sufficient liquid reserves and the holder has a contractual right to a known amount of cash directly from the issuer."
They quote FASB Boardmember Christine Botosan, "We can't turn a blind eye to the fact that stablecoins are a new asset class. They exist in evolving regulatory environments. In light of that, it is perfectly reasonable for investors to say that they need to understand whether stablecoins are included among the companies' cash equivalents."
CFO Journal writes, "Coinbase Global, in its latest annual filing in February, said it changed the way it accounted for 'payment stablecoins' -- digital assets used to pay a settlement -- to classify them as cash equivalents instead of financial instruments. The retroactive change increased the company's total cash and cash equivalents in 2024, to $9.3 billion from $8.5 billion. Coinbase reported $11.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents for 2025."
They add, "The FASB said it plans to issue a formal proposal and ask the public for feedback over a 90-day period. The FASB added the cash-equivalent issue to its agenda in October with a focus on some stablecoins. The issue -- among the first of more than 70 the FASB is considering adding to its agenda -- came in response to an 'agenda consultation' in which companies, investors and others submitted letters last year on what they want the standard-setter to prioritize." (See FASB's "Current Projects: Cash Equivalents -- Disclosure Enhancement and Classification of Certain Digital Assets" for more.)
In other news, Crane Data published its latest Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics Tuesday, which track a shifting subset of our monthly Portfolio Holdings collection. The most recent cut (with data as of April 17) includes Holdings information from 62 money funds (up 12 from two weeks ago), or $4.135 trillion (up from $3.364 trillion) of the $8.063 trillion in total money fund assets (or 51.3%) tracked by Crane Data. (Note: Our Weekly MFPH are e-mail only and aren't available on the website. See our latest Monthly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings here and our April 13 News, "April MF Portfolio Holdings: T-Bills Inch Higher, Repo Falls, Agencies Flat.")
Our latest Weekly MFPH Composition summary shows Government assets dominating the holdings list with Treasuries totaling $1.904 trillion (up from $1.627 trillion two weeks ago), or 46.0%; Repurchase Agreements (Repo) totaling $1.482 trillion (up from $1.161 trillion two weeks ago), or 35.8%, and Government Agency securities totaling $409.0 billion (up from $318.0 billion two weeks ago), or 9.9%. Commercial Paper (CP) totaled $149.3 billion (up from $112.9 billion two weeks ago), or 3.6%. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) totaled $77.3 billion (up from $66.0 billion two weeks ago), or 1.9%. The Other category accounted for $74.0 billion or 1.8%, while VRDNs accounted for $39.8 billion or 1.0%.
The Ten Largest Issuers in our Weekly Holdings product include: the US Treasury with $1.904 trillion, Fixed Income Clearing Corp with $495.3B, the Federal Home Loan Bank with $239.8B, JP Morgan with $158.5B, Citi with $112.4B, RBC with $103.6B, Federal Farm Credit Bank with $102.7B, BNP Paribas with $94.9B, Wells Fargo with $78.0B and Bank of America with $56.9B.
The Ten Largest Funds tracked in our latest Weekly include: JPMorgan US Govt MM ($322.0B), JPMorgan 100% US Trs MM ($309.5B), Goldman Sachs FS Govt ($274.3B), Fidelity Inv MM: Govt Port ($260.1B), Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Govt ($213.7B), State Street Inst US Govt ($204.4B), BlackRock Lq FedFund ($181.7B), BlackRock Lq Treas Tr ($175.7B), Fidelity Inv MM: MM Port ($165.5B) and Dreyfus Govt Cash Mgmt ($157.5B). (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest domestic U.S. and/or "offshore" Weekly Portfolio Holdings collection and summary.)
Money fund yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) were up 1 bp at 3.47% on average during the week ended Friday, April 17 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after decreasing 1 bp the week prior. Fund yields haven't been below 3.5% since November 2022, and they are down from a recent high of 5.20% in November 2023. They should remain flat in coming days (and weeks) since the Fed left short-term rates unchanged five weeks ago. Yields were 3.58% on 12/31/25, 3.78% on 11/30, 3.90% on 10/31, 3.94% on 9/30, 4.11% on 8/31, 4.12% on 7/31, 4.13% on 6/30, 4.14% on 3/31/25 and 4.28% on average on 12/31/24. MMFs averaged 4.75% on 9/30/24, 5.10% on 6/28/24, 5.14% on 3/31/24 and 5.20% on 12/31/23.
The broader Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 682), shows a 7-day yield of 3.37%, up 2 bps in the week through Friday. Prime Inst money fund yields were up 2 bps at 3.59% in the latest week. Government Inst MFs were up 2 bps at 3.46%. Treasury Inst MFs were up 1 bp at 3.43%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 3.20%, Government Retail MFs yield 3.18% and Prime Retail MFs yield 3.38%, Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were up 54 bps to 2.75%.
Money market mutual fund assets have fallen since hitting a record high of $8.280 trillion on March 18, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Assets have fallen $135.8 billion in the week through Friday, and they've decreased by $128.8 billion in April month-to-date (through 4/17). MMF assets decreased by $49.3 billion in March, increased by $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose by $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May. But MMFs decreased $24.4 billion last April. Weighted average maturities were at 43 days for the Crane MFA and 44 days the Crane 100 Money Fund Index.
According to Monday's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, with data as of Friday (4/17), just 142 money funds (out of 792 total) yield under 3.0% with $143.0 billion in assets, or 1.8%, while the vast majority (650) of funds yield between 3.00% and 3.99% ($7.920 trillion, or 98.2%). No funds yield over 4.0%. Our Brokerage Sweep Intelligence Index, an average of FDIC-insured cash options from major brokerages, was unchanged at 0.30%, after falling 1 basis point sixteen weeks prior. The latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, with data as of April 17, shows no changes over the past week. Four of the 10 major brokerages tracked by our BSI offer rates of 0.01% for balances of $100K (and lower tiers). These include: E*Trade, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Schwab.
In other news, State Street reported its Q1'26 earnings last week, and the earnings call contained some discussions of deposits and tokenization (but no AI and cash mentions like many of the other calls). CEO Ronald O'Hanley comments, "In digital, we are focused on building the market infrastructure clients need to bridge seamlessly between traditional and digital finance. Following the recent launch of our digital asset platform, we are executing against a clear and comprehensive product road map that includes tokenization of assets, funds and cash for institutional investors. These capabilities are designed to drive greater efficiency, enhance liquidity and support new avenues of growth for markets, our clients, and for State Street."
He continues, "We are well advanced with clients to support their launch of tokenized fund strategies this year. Furthermore, State Street is deeply engaged in a number of digital asset-related industry initiatives, including DTCC's tokenization efforts as well as Fnality's work to create an ecosystem of central bank connected blockchain-based payment systems. These initiatives are key to the development of digital markets and consistent with our track record as a critical market infrastructure provider and standard setter."
O'Hanley adds, "Our scaled franchises within Investment Management also create a competitive advantage and will enable us to capitalize on several important global trends, including the shift from savings to investment, the move globally towards funded retirement systems, the expansion of digital assets and the continued democratization of investing. For example, in digital, we are preparing to launch the State Street Galaxy Onchain Liquidity Sweep Fund, a tokenized private liquidity fund designed to support 24/7 onchain liquidity for institutional investors."
CFO John Woods tells us, "Assets under management increased 20% year-over-year to $5.6 trillion, reflecting higher period end market levels and continued client inflows. Net inflows totaled $49 billion for the quarter, led by strength across index strategies and solutions, including ETFs and fixed income, as well as our cash franchise."
During the Q&A session, Woods talks about deposits, saying, "I think I mentioned the level of deposits, I'd anchor to that $250 billion to $260 billion range. When it comes to mix, we originally talked about around 10% of noninterest bearing. I think that's still a good anchor maybe over time. But I mean, I think in '26, it appears that we've got a higher ... noninterest-bearing opportunity.... When it comes to deposit drivers, ... there are external drivers, internal drivers. The internal drivers that we control are continuing to grow our platform and just serving our clients ... that's really where we're sourcing those deposits.... The external things to keep an eye on, deposits tend to rise when money supply is growing."
Asked about "tokenization and the digital asset platform," O’Hanley responds, "If you think about some of the use cases, they're already very real in terms of the tokenization of assets. That's in the end net new opportunity for us. And ... we've talked to you before in other venues about tokenized money market funds. I mean, that's a real use case and it's beneficial to the market. It's beneficial to liquidity and will result in more revenues for us. The whole on-ramp, off-ramp bridge from 'traditional' finance to digital finance is also a real opportunity. I mean, what I'm -- the way to think about what's going on here, is there's lots of new railroads being manufactured and being laid."
Finally, he comments, "There's not yet the interchange to those. And that's a very real thing. And when you think about everything, ... whether it's the stablecoin providers ... or some of the other digital platforms ... the volumes are growing fast, but ... off a very small base. And part of the reason for that is the on-ramps and off-ramps really are underdeveloped at this point. Being part of that on-ramp, off-ramp and providing that infrastructure is a second source of new revenues, so we see it as both going forward."
J.P. Morgan Chase released its Q1 2026 Earnings early last week (see the earnings call transcript here," and one of the main discussions during the Q&A involved a new AI tool to allocate cash. Wolfe Research's Steven Chubak comments, "So maybe to start on the AI cash tool, which, Jamie, you commented on in your letter. There's been lots of focus on this particular ... launch given that this is a tool which could potentially result in some consumer deposit pressure as well as drive some impact on increased competition [and] higher deposit betas. I was hoping you could just speak to how you see deposit competition unfolding as similar smart tools become more widespread." (See our April 17 News, "Schwab Says AI a Tailwind, Not a Threat to Cash Sweeps on Q1 Update," and our April 16 Link of the Day, "Morgan Stanley Q1 Call: AI & Sweeps.")
JPM Chase CEO Jamie Dimon responds, "Yes. It's a great question, and obviously, there's early stages for this particular product. So you have to look at it literally segment by segment, how people manage their money, how they want to manage their money. People are pretty astute at it, particularly the higher net worth. They have tons of choices. They often have money at many different places. So the question for us is, how can we make it easier for them to manage their money in a way they're comfortable. Most of you on this call, you have in your mind, how much days in a checking account and then you write a ticket to a money market fund or a deposit account, something like that. And that's all we're trying to do."
He continues, "And we provide great values to people. If you're a customer of J.P. Morgan, I remind people, if you have this product, you have ATMs, you've got branches, you've got advice, you have instant payment systems like Zelle. So we look at the whole basket. How we can do a better job for the client? And yes, it may squeeze some margin somewhere and create more competition somewhere, that's life. Jeff Bezos has always said, 'Your margin is my opportunity.' And I kind of agree with that. We're trying to look at the world from the point of view of the customer, what more can we do with them. And this is really early stages. And as you know, there's tons of competition out there for the money."
CFO Jeremy Barnum adds, "The only thing I was going to add to that, it's sort of understandable that this has gotten attention because it has ... 'AI' in it.... But as Jamie says, ... competition for deposits has always been very intense. It continues to be intense, and we have both external and internal competition from higher-yielding alternatives and people sort of optimize that, and that's part of running the business. And also as Jamie just alluded to, this thing is like kind of not even live yet, and it's ... targeted at a very small subset of the client base, particularly clients with investments where we think there's an opportunity to take a larger share of the investment wallet as part of this. So ... it's understandable the amount of interest that it's gotten, but I think the right way to think of it is sort of as an experiment right now."
When asked about digital assets and stablecoin, Barnum responds, "There's like so much to say on the stablecoin front. Obviously, there's a lot of like legislative and regulatory stuff going on. I think ... your question is a little bit more about sort of long-term impact on the payments ecosystem. So I guess, through that lens, I would actually start with the wholesale business and talk about all of the innovation that we've done in sort of modernizing payments through Kinexys and the way that some of that is starting to play out and giving a lot of our customers kind of exciting new features like programmable money and different hours and the associated tokenized deposits and all that type of stuff."
Jamie Dimon's recent "Chairman and CEO Letter to Shareholders," which first mentioned the AI cash allocator tool, contains segment titled, "We continue to bring all our clients, regardless of size, best-in-class money management tools." The letter explains, "We have continued to grow our Wealth Management business through our branch bank model, J.P. Morgan advisors and Self-Directed Investing. In total, client investment assets in this area rose 17% in 2025 to $1.3 trillion. In 2026, we intend to make it much easier for clients to automatically move money from their regular checking account to higher-yielding brokerage products and vice versa so they can maximize yield while managing day-to-day cash flow. It won't require multiple steps to trade, clear and transfer cash between accounts -- our Smart Cash capability will do it for them. Eventually, AI will allow clients to predict cash flow needs and anticipate upcoming bills, doing their budgeting for them."
In other earnings news, BNY, or The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation also released its Q1'26 earnings last week. (See the Q1 transcript here.) CFO Dermot McDonogh states, "Average deposit balances increased by 3% sequentially, reflecting 2% growth in interest-bearing and 6% growth in noninterest-bearing deposits. And average interest-earning assets were up 2% quarter-over-quarter. Cash and reverse repo balances were flat.... In Clearance and Collateral Management, investment services fees increased by 19%, reflecting broad-based growth in collateral balances and clearance volumes. Average collateral balances ... increased by 18% year-over-year, reflecting higher market activity and growth on the back of a robust environment for financing with U.S. treasury securities, strong money market fund balances and increasing client demand for noncash collateral."
He comments, "Ahead of the central clearing mandate for U.S. Treasuries, we are engaging with central counterparties and our clients, and we're delivering innovative solutions from across BNY that help them find new ways to access the market, clear transactions and manage collateral and margin. In the quarter, we also saw strong growth in clearing volumes, reflecting net new business wins, particularly in international clearance and from expanding wallet share with existing clients doing more with BNY."
Asked about the need for tokenization of assets, BNY CEO Robin Vince responds, "Look, I don't think the world needs everything tokenized. But there's no question that global financial market infrastructure is transforming and moving towards more of an always-on operating model. And so that's not just about blockchain technology immediately replacing traditional systems. It's about the two things working in concert and in some cases, just being able to unlock new possibilities that haven't been possible before without the always-on operating model."
He explains, "So look, we're in the business of moving, storing, managing money, creating interoperability, all of that stuff is stuff that we do today. And so what we're doing is we're advising clients to use the right tool for the job.... If they want to do real-time payment systems in the United States, we've got real-time payments in the United States. And same thing is true in Europe. They're actually even more advanced, which is why stablecoin usage in traditional financial markets hasn't really taken up as much in Europe. Although if you go to an emerging market and they've got high inflation, then the benefit of that 24/7 dollar-based stablecoin actually has quite a lot of advantages to sidestep what otherwise would be inflationary friction."
Vince then says, "So it's very much about the case. And what is the BNY strategy? Ours is to be a bridge and to be in both places. So we're doing business with traditional clients who frankly would like us to help them with their careful selection of what they should do in the digital assets market. So we're helping clients being able to launch new funds. Maybe they want to launch a new share class for those people who are very focused on digital assets or maybe it is a Bitcoin custody for clients who want to be able to launch an ETF, and we've had one of those recently that we announced with Morgan Stanley. So if you look at these different types of innovation, we are helping the clients sort of bridge into the new stuff. And frankly, the new clients, the ones who are really, really digital asset native, they need a lot of traditional capabilities as well."
Finally, Vince adds, "They need cash management. They need investment management. They need custody. Stablecoin providers would need all of those types of things. So we've invested across this ecosystem. We've stood up a bigger team together with our Head of Product and Innovation and Digital Assets to really make sure that we are able to deliver against these different use cases.... As you point out, money market funds essentially work pretty well. But when you're talking about the loans market, the commodities market, there are a lot of opportunities to bring things deeper into the financial system and actually improve them from where they are today."
Charles Schwab reported its Q1'26 earnings Thursday, and discussed cash sweeps and the potential impact of AI on revenues extensively during their Spring Business Update. CFO Michael Verdeschi comments, "Client cash followed typical seasonal trends to begin the year. However, as volatility increased during the back half of the quarter, clients took a slightly more defensive posture, which in conjunction with the cash build from organic growth and the long short strategies contributed to $25 billion of cash inflows during the month of March resulting in an $8 billion sequential quarter increase in client transactional sweep cash. For the second quarter, we still anticipate the typical drawdown in client cash due to tax payments in April. And similar to past years, we expect this activity to impact both transactional sweep cash as well as other liquid cash alternatives such as money market funds. Beyond seasonal considerations, continued market volatility could influence client cash allocations."
He says, "Before we move on to Q&A, I wanted to take a moment to build on Rick's AI comments, specifically the conversation relating to cash. There are three key points to remember. One, Schwab provides an industry-leading value proposition to individual investors and RIAs. Two, with help from Schwab, our clients are actively managing their cash allocations. And three, Schwab's ability to help clients with more of their financial lives enhances the flexibility of our client-driven model.... [W]e provide a broad suite of cash management solutions that offer clients a range of products with different features to help meet their diverse needs."
Verdeschi continues, "We also proactively seek to raise awareness around the cash options available on the platform and efficiently enable them to move between the various options with as little as one click of a button. At the same time, independent RIAs continue to help their end clients manage their portfolio allocations, including cash to help meet their individual financial goals. Today, this has resulted in total cash levels running around 10% of client assets [with] transactional cash allocated at about a 4% level, or approximately $10,000 per account. And as we see demand for new products or capabilities for cash, you would expect us to deliver those to our clients."
He adds, "Importantly, given how easy we have made it for clients to move their cash between different solutions and based on the trends observed over the past few years, client cash is actively allocated today. To the extent additional efficiencies are enabled down the line, the broader evolution of the platform enables continued flexibility in managing our economics. Finally, as Rick noted, we view the emergence of artificial intelligence as a tailwind to Schwab's strategy. So by continuing to put clients first, Schwab's platform has built up immense flexibility. Our motto is informed by investors' preferences for lower explicit fees without sacrificing product access, convenience or service."
During the Q&A, Verdeschi tells us, "Looking at the forward curve now, perhaps the market is anticipating no cuts. So that is more favorable for us. And at the same time, when you look at cash, we had a good first quarter for cash and typically, over the course of the year, you will see that seasonality play a factor certainly in 2Q. But stepping back, we're expecting the continued upward trajectory of cash being driven by organic growth. So we think over the course of the year ... the lack of rate cuts [and] strong client engagement [will] bring us new assets in cash."
Analyst Brennan Hawken with BMO Capital states, "So investors have been rather focused on an announcement that JPMorgan has made in rolling out a product to reduce the friction around brokerage cash. Are you considering similar tools? You spoke a lot in your prepared remarks about cash and continuing to innovate.... How should investors be thinking about your flexibility in adjustment both to the competitive environment and the realities of the economics of the business?"
CEO Richard Wurster responds, "We've been trying to make it easy for clients to allocate their cash in the appropriate way forever, really. And we do lots to support that, whether it's our FCs proactively reaching out to clients and letting them know they have cash balances in sweep cash, and understanding what their intention is for that cash, and explaining other options. When someone logs in, a high proportion of the time, their first screen is 'Earn More on Your Cash at Schwab.' And certainly, our advisers as part of their fiduciary responsibility are managing cash tightly."
He explains, "So we've done everything we think to make it as easy as possible optimize and be intentional about where your cash sits today. So we feel good about that. The second thing I would say is there's a lot of reasons why when given the choice between cash options, clients are choosing to be in our sweep cash program. Number one, they needed to be able to move money around to pay their bills to afford their life. We've got a couple of hundred billion that move in and out of the firm every month in terms of cash. They need to be able to trade, and over a 2-day period, we trade roughly $300 billion of equities."
Wurster continues, "So there's cash needed to move, to support that trading level. There are lots of reasons why we think clients have their cash intentionally allocated and why a big portion of it is on the balance sheet.... We are launching an agentic capability this summer.... I expect that everything you can do at Schwab today by going and pointing and clicking to move around the website or through a mobile app, will be able to done ... through an agentic experience.... So the one click it takes to move cash today may become an agentic experience over time. Now if clients want their cash managed as part of a broader asset allocation, we think that would be a fee-based solution, and that's something that we will be prepared to offer as well. The final [comment] I'd make on cash ... is that we believe we have many ways to charge clients for the value we add.... Clients love working with us."
He adds, "The clients really see the value of what we do. How we have charged our clients over time for that value proposition has changed. It used to be heavily reliant on commissions. And certainly, we've adapted our business to deal with a declining commissions environment. So my views on this are really two-fold. One, we think clients have been intentional about their cash, and we've tried to make it really easy. Two, ... agentic capabilities that will make everything at Schwab very easy. And three, we've got lots of flexibility in how we monetize at Schwab for the value that we provide. So we feel we're on a strong footing and are incredibly excited about AI as an accelerant to our strategy, not as a headwind."
Verdeschi then says, "In terms of the cash, yes, ... we did see that good pickup in the month of March, and there were a few factors that caused that.... If you look at the quarter, it was really March where you began to see that decline in equity markets and that shift in sentiment. So that certainly was a contribution to that pickup in cash that we saw late in the quarter. But then in addition, other activities such as that long short strategy [and] strong net new assets over the course of the quarter ... that also served to bring us cash as well.... As I said, in April, we're expecting ... that normal tax season.... It's the combination of that transactional cash as well as money market funds contributing to those tax statements."
Asked about monetizing cash sweeps, Wurster responds, "I want to be clear, before we get into how we would change our economics, we do not see this currently as a big risk. We believe our clients have intentionally allocated their cash, and we go out of our way to make it incredibly easy to make sure clients land in the right cash solution for them. And there's lots of reasons, as I mentioned, that clients choose sweep cash.... In terms of how it evolves, I think we have lots of levers to pursue. We make money in lots of different ways.... If someone is going to want us to proactively move cash for them without ... being involved in that movement, that is likely an advisory offer, and we charge for advisory offers and would for an Agentic advisory offer. So ... I'm incredibly bullish about our ability to grow our revenue in any environment."
Finally, he comments, "We have built long-standing deep relationship with clients that highly value what we do. And just as we figured it out, as commissions went down, we'll figure it out if the economics changed in this environment. But we're also very confident that we've gone out of our way to make sure our clients' cash is intentionally allocated and that we'll support them in any way.... It's important to remember that client cash is, I believe, less than 4% or so of overall relationships that clients have here. We're helping them on 100% of their financial life. There's lots of ways we're going to be able to monetize those relationships as if things were to change."
Crane Data's latest Money Fund Intelligence International shows that assets in European or "offshore" money market mutual funds increased over the past 30 days to a record high $1.672 trillion, increasing from $1.652 trillion the month prior. Yields were mixed, while assets for USD, EUR and GBP MMFs all rose over the past month. Like U.S. money fund assets, European MMFs have repeatedly hit record highs in 2023, 2024 and 2025 (after a pause in Q2'25). These U.S.-style money funds, domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg and denominated in US Dollars, Pound Sterling and Euros, increased by $29.0 billion over the 30 days through 4/14. The totals are up $87.2 billion (5.5%) year-to-date for 2026. They were up $151.9 billion (10.6%) for 2025, up $235.3 billion (19.7%) for 2024 and up $166.9 billion (16.2%) for the year 2023. (Note that currency moves in the U.S. Dollar cause Euro and Sterling totals to shift when they're translated back into totals in USD. See our latest MFI International for more on the "offshore" money fund marketplace. These funds are only available to qualified, non-U.S. investors and are almost entirely institutional.) (Note too: Mark your calendars for our next European Money Fund Symposium, which will be held Sept. 24-25 in Paris, France. Watch for the preliminary agenda to be released in coming weeks.)
Offshore US Dollar money funds increased $11.2 billion over the last 30 days and are up $43.4 billion YTD to $879.4 billion; they increased $92.3 billion in 2025. Euro funds increased E10.2 billion over the past month. YTD, they're up E21.7 billion to E352.1 billion, for 2025, they increased by E12.6 billion. GBP money funds increased L4.4 billion over 30 days, and they're up L13.9 billion YTD at L287.0B, for 2025, they rose L18.5 billion. U.S. Dollar (USD) money funds (318) account for over half (52.6%) of the "European" money fund total, while Euro (EUR) money funds (231) make up 24.4% and Pound Sterling (GBP) funds (211) total 23.0%. We summarize our latest "offshore" money fund statistics and our Money Fund Intelligence International Portfolio Holdings (which went out to subscribers Wednesday), below.
Offshore USD MMFs yield 3.58% (7-Day) on average (as of 4/14/26), down 1 bp from a month earlier. Yields averaged 4.20% on 12/30/22 and 0.03% on 12/31/21. EUR MMFs, which left negative yield territory in the second half of 2022, yield 1.94% on average, up 2 bps from a month ago and up from 1.48% on 12/30/22 and -0.80% on 12/31/21. Meanwhile, GBP MMFs broke above the 5.0% barrier 32 months ago, but they broke back below 5.0% 21 months ago. They now yield 3.72%, unchanged from a month ago, but up from 3.17% on 12/30/22. Sterling yields were 0.01% on 12/31/21.
Crane's April MFI International Portfolio Holdings, with data as of 3/31/26, show that European-domiciled US Dollar MMFs, on average, consist of 28% in Commercial Paper (CP), 17% in Certificates of Deposit (CDs), 25% in Repo, 17% in Treasury securities, 11% in Other securities (primarily Time Deposits) and 2% in Government Agency securities. USD funds have on average 48.0% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 5.0% maturing in 2-7 Days, 10.4% maturing in 8-30 Days, 8.8% maturing in 31-60 Days, 6.3% maturing in 61-90 Days, 13.7% maturing in 91-180 Days and 7.9% maturing beyond 181 Days. USD holdings are affiliated with the following countries: the U.S. (36.4%), Canada (12.5%), France (9.7%), Japan (7.8%), Germany (5.3%), the Netherlands (5.1%), Australia (5.1%), the U.K. (4.5%), Sweden (3.1%) and Finland (2.4%).
The 10 Largest Issuers to "offshore" USD money funds include: the US Treasury with $157.2B (17.2%), Fixed Income Clearing Corp with $42.1B (4.6%), RBC with $34.5B (3.8%), Wells Fargo with $27.9B (3.1%), JP Morgan with $26.1B (2.9%), Credit Agricole with $21.5B (2.4%), Toronto-Dominion Bank with $20.1B (2.2%), Nordea Bank with $20.0B (2.2%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp with $18.5B (2.0%) and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd with $18.2B (2.0%).
Euro MMFs tracked by Crane Data contain, on average 37% in CP, 23% in CDs, 16% in Other (primarily Time Deposits), 21% in Repo, 3% in Treasuries and 0% in Agency securities. EUR funds have on average 36.4% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 10.8% maturing in 2-7 Days, 13.5% maturing in 8-30 Days, 9.6% maturing in 31-60 Days, 8.8% maturing in 61-90 Days, 14.1% maturing in 91-180 Days and 6.7% maturing beyond 181 Days. EUR MMF holdings are affiliated with the following countries: France (25.6%), Canada (10.4%), Japan (10.4%), the U.S. (10.2%), the Netherlands (7.5%), Germany (5.1%), the U.K. (4.8%), Australia (4.4%), Belgium (3.9%) and Finland (3.7%).
The 10 Largest Issuers to "offshore" EUR money funds include: Credit Agricole with E15.8B (5.2%), BNP Paribas with E15.1B (5.0%), ING Bank with E11.5B (3.8%), JP Morgan with E10.9B (3.6%), Agence Central de Organismes de Securite Sociale with E10.0B (3.3%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp with E9.2B (3.0%), Republic of France with E8.6B (2.8%), Bank of Nova Scotia with E7.6B (2.5%), RBC with E7.5B (2.5%) and Nordea Bank with E7.5B (2.5%).
The GBP funds tracked by MFI International contain, on average (as of 3/31/26): 37% in CDs, 21% in CP, 21% in Other (Time Deposits), 19% in Repo, 2% in Treasury and 0% in Agency. Sterling funds have on average 36.9% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 6.8% maturing in 2-7 Days, 11.7% maturing in 8-30 Days, 12.2% maturing in 31-60 Days, 7.8% maturing in 61-90 Days, 14.2% maturing in 91-180 Days and 10.5% maturing beyond 181 Days. GBP MMF holdings are affiliated with the following countries: Canada (16.5%), France (15.1%), the U.K. (13.1%), Japan (12.8%), the U.S. (9.3%), Australia (7.7%), the Netherlands (5.2%), Singapore (3.9%), Finland (2.9%) and Sweden (2.6%).
The 10 Largest Issuers to "offshore" GBP money funds include: UK Treasury with L17.8B (6.9%), RBC with L12.6B (4.9%), BNP Paribas with L10.8B (4.2%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank with L9.2B (3.6%), Bank of Nova Scotia with L7.7B (3.0%), Toronto-Dominion Bank with L7.2B (2.8%), Nordea Bank with L7.1B (2.8%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp with L7.1B (2.7%), Goldman Sachs with L6.8B (2.6%) and Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd with L6.7B (2.6%).
The April issue of our Bond Fund Intelligence, which will be sent to subscribers Wednesday a.m., features the articles, "Worldwide BF Assets Jump to $16.7 Tril., Led by US & China," which reviews the latest global bond fund statistics from ICI; and "Bond Fund Symposium '26: Senior PM Perspectives," which highlights a panel from our recent fixed-income conference in Boston. BFI also recaps the latest Bond Fund News and includes our Crane BFI Indexes, which show that bond fund returns fell hard in March while yields jumped. We excerpt from the new issue below. (Contact us if you'd like to see our latest Bond Fund Intelligence and BFI XLS spreadsheet, or our Bond Fund Portfolio Holdings data.)
BFI's lead article states, "Bond fund assets worldwide increased in the latest quarter to $16.66 trillion, led higher by the four largest bond fund markets -- the U.S., Luxembourg, China and Ireland. We review the ICI's 'Worldwide Regulated Open-End Fund Assets and Flows, Fourth Quarter 2025' release and statistics below."
It continues, "ICI's report says, 'Worldwide regulated open-end fund assets, excluding funds of funds, increased 3.6% to $87.96 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025.... The Investment Company Institute compiles worldwide regulated open-end fund statistics on behalf of the International Investment Funds Association (IIFA).'"
Our "Symposium" article states, "We recently hosted our latest `Crane's Bond Fund Symposium in Boston, which brings together ultra-short bond fund managers and securities issuers. A panel titled, 'Senior Portfolio Manager Perspectives,' featured J.P. Morgan Asset Management's Dave Martucci, BlackRock's Richard Mejzak and UBS AM's Dave Rothweiler." (Note: Crane Data subscribers and Attendees may access the conference binder, Powerpoints and recordings via our 'Bond Fund Symposium 2026 Download Center.')
It continues, "Rothweiler comments, 'Well, we were just chatting before, every time we have this gathering in March, there's something going on, whether it’s a bank crisis, COVID <b:>`_…. I’m getting good exercise, walking back to my room for calls…. Just looking at something like, the one-to-three corporate OIS, we’re … still not to the level we were during the tariff tantrum. `But if you put on top of that the curve backing up ... Put that together, a lot of stress, more vol. At the same time, I see some opportunity in that as well, buying other things, looking at names that were basically very rich. I think industrials, AA credit. You get a market move like this and it gives you an opportunity to add to or diversify your portfolio more in that sense, those kinds of things.'"
Our first News brief, "Returns Plunge, Yields Jump in March," states, "Bond fund returns fell for the first time in 8 months in March while yields rose. Our BFI Total Index fell 1.31% over 1-month and rose 4.73% over 12 months. (Money funds rose 3.96% over 1-year as measured by our Crane 100 Index.) The BFI 100 decreased 1.53% in March and rose 4.86% over 12 mos. Our BFI Conservative Ultra-Short Index was up 0.12% over 1-month and 4.34% for 1-year; Ultra-Shorts rose 0.00% and 4.33%. Short-Term lost 0.64% and 4.40%, and Intm-Term fell 1.76% in March and rose 4.77% over 12 mos. BFI’s Long-Term Index was down 2.21% and up 4.22%. High Yield fell 0.92% in March and rose 6.30% over 12 months."
A second News brief, "Bloomberg on Active Fixed Income ETFs,' states, "The summary says, 'In a recent episode of Bloomberg's Inside Active podcast, Jeff Johnson, Vanguard head of U.S. fixed income product, sat down with host David Cohne to discuss the growing momentum behind active fixed income ETFs -- fueled by investor demand for transparency, flexibility, and skilled management in a higher-yield environment.' Johnson comments, 'We're seeing advisors increasingly adopt active ETFs to capture a team's best ideas.'"
Another brief says, "Weitz Debuts Short Duration Bond ETF. The press release, 'Weitz Investment Management Expands ETF Platform with Launch of Short Duration Bond ETF (WSDB),' tells us, 'Weitz Investment Management … announced the launch of the Weitz Short Duration Bond ETF (WSDB), an actively managed strategy designed to seek income while maintaining lower interest rate sensitivity. The ETF began trading on April 1, 2026.... Current [Weitz] offerings include the Short Duration Income Fund (WEFIX) and Core Plus Income Fund (WCPBX), along with the Weitz Core Plus Bond ETF (WCPB) and Weitz Multisector Bond ETF (WMSB), providing a range of solutions across duration and credit exposures. The Short Duration strategy has been managed by Tom Carney.'"
A BFI sidebar, "Federated: Munis on a Roll," says, "Federated Hermes posted a video titled, 'Munis on a roll,' which featured Ann Ferentino and Kyle Stewart. Stewart says, 'Ann, first of all, congratulations on your promotion to the head of the muni bond group.... I look forward to the new chapter together. But let me shift to the business at hand. Tax season is right around the corner. Investors could be considering ways to limit their tax liabilities. I think muni bonds are a great option. How would you characterize the current state of the muni industry?'"
Finally, another sidebar, "BF Expenses Down to 0.36%," states, "The Investment Company Institute published a press release entitled, 'Mutual Fund and ETF Fees Remained Near Historic Lows in 2025,' along with the report, 'Trends in the Expenses and Fees of Funds, 2025.' The full report tells us, 'On an asset-weighted basis, average expense ratios incurred by mutual fund investors have fallen substantially over the past 29 years.... In 1996, equity mutual fund investors incurred expense ratios of 1.04%, on average, or $1.04 for every $100 in assets. By 2025, that average had fallen to 0.40%. Average expense ratios for hybrid and bond mutual funds, as well as money market funds, have also declined meaningfully since 1996.'"
Money fund yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) were down 1 bp at 3.46% on average during the week ended Friday, April 10 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after remaining unchanged the week prior. Fund yields haven't been below 3.5% since November 2022, and they are down from a recent high of 5.20% in November 2023. They should remain flat in coming days (and weeks) since the Fed left short-term rates unchanged four weeks ago. Yields were 3.58% on 12/31/25, 3.78% on 11/30, 3.90% on 10/31, 3.94% on 9/30, 4.11% on 8/31, 4.12% on 7/31, 4.13% on 6/30, 4.14% on 3/31/25 and 4.28% on average on 12/31/24. MMFs averaged 4.75% on 9/30/24, 5.10% on 6/28/24, 5.14% on 3/31/24 and 5.20% on 12/31/23.
The broader Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 682), shows a 7-day yield of 3.35%, down 2 bps in the week through Friday. Prime Inst money fund yields were down 2 bps at 3.57% in the latest week. Government Inst MFs were down 3 bps at 3.44%. Treasury Inst MFs were down 1 bp at 3.42%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 3.19%, Government Retail MFs yield 3.17% and Prime Retail MFs yield 3.36%, Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were up 18 bps to 2.22%.
Money market mutual fund assets have paused since hitting a record high of $8.280 trillion on March 18, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Assets have risen $18.5 billion in the week through Friday, and they've increased by $7.0 billion in April month-to-date (through 4/10). MMF assets decreased by $49.3 billion in March, increased by $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose by $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May. But MMFs decreased $24.4 billion last April. Weighted average maturities were at 43 days for the Crane MFA and 44 days the Crane 100 Money Fund Index.
According to Monday's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, with data as of Friday (4/10), just 171 money funds (out of 792 total) yield under 3.0% with $225.9 billion in assets, or 2.8%, while the vast majority (621) of funds yield between 3.00% and 3.99% ($7.973 trillion, or 97.2%). No funds yield over 4.0%. Our Brokerage Sweep Intelligence Index, an average of FDIC-insured cash options from major brokerages, was unchanged at 0.30%, after falling 1 basis point sixteen weeks prior. The latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, with data as of April 10, shows no changes over the past week. Four of the 10 major brokerages tracked by our BSI offer rates of 0.01% for balances of $100K (and lower tiers). These include: E*Trade, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Schwab.
In other news, J.P. Morgan posted a "Short-Term Fixed Income" brief titled, "Here comes the sun ... and the tax bill." After discussing Iran, they comment, "Meanwhile, funding markets have remained broadly orderly. Repo conditions through March quarter-end were benign, with overnight GC repo at 3.73%, below the SRP rate. As a result, SOFR increased to 3.68%, a 5bp rise DoD, one of the smallest rises since 2Q24 on a quarter-end date."
The piece continues, "Funding conditions have remained soft so far this month as well, with Thursday's SOFR closing at 3.57%, 8bp below IORB and the narrowest spread since August of last year. This softness has been supported by continued Fed T-bill purchases of $31bn (between March 25 and April 8), alongside $62bn in T-bill paydowns and approximately $55bn in seasonal inflows into MMFs so far this month (total AUM at about $8.1tn)."
It says, "However, looking ahead to the April tax date, funding conditions should firm slightly. Households and corporations will draw down MMF balances and bank deposits to meet tax obligations, draining liquidity in the system (reserves). In recent years, outflows from MMFs and declines in reserve balances have been materially larger, particularly during periods of stronger asset returns."
JPM tells explains, "Specifically, MMF AUM declined by approximately $140bn in 2022, $160bn in 2024, and $175bn in 2025, while reserve balances fell by nearly $470bn in 2022, $285bn in 2024, and $233bn in 2025. Given near-record capital gains distributions in 2025, particularly in the U.S. mutual fund industry, this year's tax-related outflows from MMFs and bank reserves could be in line with those seen over the past few years, though this is likely to be offset by lower expected tax liabilities as a result of the OBBBA bill passed last year.... All told, it would not be surprising if MMF AUMs declined by $125–$175bn over the days surrounding the tax date, while bank reserves decrease by $200–$350bn."
The article adds, "The drain in liquidity related to April 15 should provide a slight, temporary firming in funding conditions next week. In particular, SOFR has historically risen by about 2bp on the tax date. And with mid-month coupon settlements of nearly $50bn occurring concurrently, the upward pressure could be slightly further amplified. Still, with $170bn of T-bill paydowns already seen from the mid-March local peak to today, together with our expectation of $110bn of further paydowns over the remainder of the month and the anticipated continuation of RMPs, broader funding conditions should remain well contained."
Crane Data's April Money Fund Portfolio Holdings, with data as of March 31, 2026, show that holdings of Treasuries increased while Repo declined. Money market securities held by Taxable U.S. money funds (tracked by Crane Data) decreased by $103.0 billion to $8.075 trillion in March, after increasing $113.2 billion in February, but decreasing $54.6 billion in January. Holdings assets increased $231.8 billion in December, $134.3 billion in November, $158.4 billion in October, $56.1 billion in September, $166.6 billion in August, $17.6 billion in July, $84.0 billion in June and $72.0 billion in May. They decreased by $73.8 billion last April. Treasuries, the largest portfolio composition segment, inched higher by $19.2 billion. Repo, the second largest segment, decreased $69.4 billion in March. Agencies were the third largest segment, and CP remained fourth, ahead of CDs, Other/Time Deposits and VRDNs. Below, we review our Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics. (Visit our Content center to download, or contact us to request our latest Portfolio Holdings reports.)
Among taxable money funds, Treasury securities increased $19.2 billion (0.6%) to $3.420 trillion, or 42.4% of holdings, after increasing $26.8 billion in February, decreasing $135.2 billion in January, but increasing $44.8 billion in December, $67.4 billion in November, and $180.5 billion in October. Repurchase Agreements (repo) fell by $69.4 billion (-2.3%) to $2.923 trillion, or 36.2% of holdings, in March, after increasing $43.5 billion in February and decreasing $33.5 billion in January. Repo increased $156.0 billion in December and $69.5 billion in November, but decreased $6.0 billion in October. Government Agency Debt was flat (down $2.6 billion), or -0.2%, to $1.093 trillion, or 13.5% of holdings. Agencies increased $28.4 billion in February, $60.5 billion in January, and $22.9 billion in December. Repo, Treasuries and Agency holdings now total $7.436 trillion, representing 92.1% of all taxable holdings.
Money fund holdings of CP and CDs fell while Other (mainly Time Deposits) also declined in March. Commercial Paper (CP) decreased $23.3 billion (-7.4%) to $291.1 billion, or 3.6% of holdings. CP holdings decreased $4.3 billion in February, increased $39.3 billion in January, and decreased $26.7 billion in December. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) decreased $4.5 billion (-2.2%) to $199.9 billion, or 2.5% of taxable assets. CDs decreased $2.5 billion in February, increased $23.2 billion in January, and decreased $0.7 billion in December. Other holdings, primarily Time Deposits, decreased $22.9 billion (-14.9%) to $131.4 billion, or 1.6% of holdings, after increasing $21.0 billion in February, decreasing $8.7 billion in January, and increasing $34.5 billion in December. VRDNs increased to $16.9 billion, or 0.2% of assets. (Note: This total is VRDNs for taxable funds only. We will post our Tax Exempt MMF holdings separately Monday around noon.)
Prime money fund assets tracked by Crane Data decreased to $1.374 trillion, or 17.0% of taxable money funds' $8.075 trillion total. Among Prime money funds, CDs represent 14.5% (down from 14.8% a month ago), while Commercial Paper accounted for 21.1% (down from 22.8% a month ago). The CP totals are comprised of: Financial Company CP, which makes up 13.0% of total holdings, Asset-Backed CP, which accounts for 6.4%, and Non-Financial Company CP, which makes up 1.7%. Prime funds also hold 0.7% in US Govt Agency Debt, 12.6% in US Treasury Debt, 18.2% in US Treasury Repo, 1.5% in Other Instruments, 6.1% in Non-Negotiable Time Deposits, 10.6% in Other Repo, 13.2% in US Government Agency Repo and 1.0% in VRDNs.
Government money fund portfolios totaled $4.353 trillion (53.9% of all MMF assets), down from $4.450 trillion in February, while Treasury money fund assets totaled another $2.320 trillion (28.7%), down from $2.323 trillion the prior month. Government money fund portfolios were made up of 24.8% US Govt Agency Debt, 17.8% US Government Agency Repo, 32.9% US Treasury Debt, 24.0% in US Treasury Repo, 0.3% in Other Instruments. Treasury money funds were comprised of 77.3% US Treasury Debt and 22.6% in US Treasury Repo. Government and Treasury funds combined now total $6.674 trillion, or 82.7% of all taxable money fund assets.
European-affiliated holdings (including repo) decreased by $109.6 billion in March to $610.9 billion; their share of holdings fell to 7.6% from last month's 8.8%. Eurozone-affiliated holdings decreased to $438.5 billion from last month's $502.1 billion; they now account for 5.4% of overall taxable money fund holdings. Asia & Pacific related holdings were down at $308.6 billion (3.8% of the total) from last month's $334.0 billion. Americas related holdings increased to $7.151 trillion from last month's $7.117 trillion; they now represent 88.6% of holdings.
The overall taxable fund Repo totals were made up of: US Treasury Repurchase Agreements (down $21.3 billion, or -1.2%, to $1.817 trillion, or 22.5% of assets); US Government Agency Repurchase Agreements (down $52.5 billion, or -5.2%, to $957.7 billion, or 11.9% of total holdings), and Other Repurchase Agreements (up $4.4 billion, or 3.1%, to $147.8 billion, or 1.8% of holdings). The Commercial Paper totals were comprised of Financial Company Commercial Paper (down $10.7 billion to $179.1 billion, or 2.2% of assets), Asset-Backed Commercial Paper (down $4.1 billion to $88.2 billion, or 1.1%), and Non-Financial Company Commercial Paper (down $8.5 billion to $23.8 billion, or 0.3%).
The 20 largest Issuers to taxable money market funds as of March 31, 2026, include: the US Treasury ($3.420T, 40.7%), Fixed Income Clearing Corp ($1.249T, 9.7%), Federal Home Loan Bank ($755.1B, 9.1%), JP Morgan ($328.5B, 2.8%), RBC ($218.8B, 2.7%), Federal Farm Credit Bank ($209.6B, 3.5%), Wells Fargo ($175.2B, 1.8%), Citi ($167.2B, 1.8%), BNP Paribas ($152.9B, 1.9%), Bank of America ($100.9B, 2.2%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp ($75.5B, 0.7%), Credit Agricole ($75.1B, 1.6%), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp ($68.4B, 0.9%), Barclays PLC ($59.7B, 0.7%), Bank of Montreal ($58.8B, 0.9%), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ($58.4B, 0.7%), Goldman Sachs ($58.0B, 1.1%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($58.0B, 1.1%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc ($55.9B, 0.9%) and the Federal National Mortgage Association ($55.0B, 0.7%).
In the repo space, the 10 largest Repo counterparties (dealers) with the amount of repo outstanding and market share (among the money funds we track) include: Fixed Income Clearing Corp ($1.228T, 42.0%), JP Morgan ($316.9B, 10.8%), RBC ($176.2B, 6.0%), Wells Fargo ($165.4B, 5.7%), Citi ($163.0B, 5.6%), BNP Paribas ($145.7B, 5.0%), Bank of America ($70.2B, 2.4%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp ($61.2B, 2.1%), Credit Agricole ($60.8B, 2.1%) and Goldman Sachs ($55.4B, 1.9%).
The largest users of the $6.4 billion in Fed RRP include: UBS Prime Fund ($2.9B), UBS Select Treasury Fund ($2.0B), UBS RMA Govt MM ($0.6B), Columbia Short-Term Cash Fund ($0.6B), Principal Government MM ($0.2B), UBS Limited Purpose Cash Inv Fund ($0.2B), Cavanal Hill Govt Svc MM ($0.0B) and Cavanal Hill US Treas ($0.0B).
The 10 largest issuers of "credit" -- CDs, CP and Other securities (including Time Deposits and Notes) combined -- include: RBC ($42.7B, 7.8%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($37.5B, 6.9%), Bank of America ($30.7B, 5.6%), Bank of Montreal ($22.7B, 4.2%), Fixed Income Clearing Corp ($21.4B, 3.9%), Barclays PLC ($21.3B, 3.9%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd ($20.8B, 3.8%), ING Bank ($20.1B, 3.7%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc ($17.1B, 3.1%) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank ($16.9B, 3.1%).
The 10 largest CD issuers include: Toronto-Dominion Bank ($17.8B, 8.9%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank ($13.9B, 7.0%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp ($12.3B, 6.2%), Barclays PLC ($11.9B, 6.0%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc ($11.3B, 5.7%), Bank of America ($11.0B, 5.5%), Wells Fargo ($9.8B, 4.9%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd ($9.6B, 4.8%), Bank of Nova Scotia ($9.5B, 4.8%) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ($8.7B, 4.3%).
The 10 largest CP issuers (we include affiliated ABCP programs) include: RBC ($24.1B, 9.1%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($18.2B, 6.9%), Bank of Montreal ($14.6B, 5.5%), JP Morgan ($11.6B, 4.4%), National Bank of Canada ($9.1B, 3.4%), Barclays PLC ($8.9B, 3.4%), Bank of America ($7.1B, 2.7%), Northcross Capital Management ($6.9B, 2.6%), UBS AG ($6.5B, 2.5%) and Westpac Banking Corp ($6.4B, 2.4%).
The largest increases among Issuers include: Fixed Income Clearing Corp (up $79.7B to $1.249T), the US Treasury (up $19.2B to $3.420T), JP Morgan (up $8.5B to $328.5B), the Federal Farm Credit Bank (up $7.1B to $209.6B), the Federal National Mortgage Association (up $5.2B to $55.0B), UBS AG (up $3.7B to $8.8B), Svenska Handelsbanken (up $1.3B to $11.0B), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (up $1.1B to $7.7B), Citi (up $1.0B to $167.2B) and Westpac Banking Corp (up $0.6B to $8.6B).
The largest decreases among Issuers of money market securities (including Repo) in March were shown by: Barclays PLC (down $31.8B to $59.7B), Societe Generale (down $20.1B to $38.8B), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (down $14.0B to $75.5B), the Federal Home Loan Bank (down $12.7B to $755.1B), BNP Paribas (down $9.5B to $152.9B), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (down $9.1B to $10.9B), Bank of America (down $8.4B to $100.9B), Credit Agricole (down $7.6B to $75.1B), BNY Mellon (down $6.5B to $14.3B) and Wells Fargo (down $6.3B to $175.2B).
The United States remained the largest segment of country-affiliations; it represents 83.1% of holdings, or $6.710 trillion. Canada (5.5%, $441.2B) was in second place, while France (3.9%, $312.3B) ranked third. Japan (3.0%, $238.1B) occupied fourth place. The United Kingdom (1.6%, $126.9B) remained in fifth place. Australia (0.6%, $49.7B) was sixth, followed by Netherlands (0.6%, $46.7B), Germany (0.5%, $43.3B), Spain (0.4%, $35.2B), and Sweden (0.3%, $22.7B). (Note: Crane Data attributes Treasury and Government repo to the dealer's parent country of origin, though money funds themselves "look-through" and consider these U.S. government securities. All money market securities must be U.S. dollar-denominated.)
As of March 31, 2026, Taxable money funds held 46.6% (up from 45.9%) of their assets in securities maturing Overnight, and another 9.7% maturing in 2-7 days (down from 10.7%). Thus, 56.4% in total matures in 1-7 days. Another 11.7% matures in 8-30 days, while 9.7% matures in 31-60 days. Note that over three-quarters, or 77.8% of securities, mature in 60 days or less, the dividing line for use of amortized cost accounting under SEC regulations. The next bucket, 61-90 days, holds 5.5% of taxable securities, while 10.5% matures in 91-180 days, and just 6.2% matures beyond 181 days.
Crane Data's latest monthly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics will be sent out Friday, and we'll be writing our regular monthly update on the new March data for Monday's News. But we also already uploaded a separate and broader Portfolio Holdings data set based on the SEC's Form N-MFP filings on Thursday. (We continue to merge the two series, and the N-MFP version is now available via our Portfolio Holdings file listings to Money Fund Wisdom subscribers.) Our new N-MFP summary, with data as of March 31, includes holdings information from 997 money funds (up 4 from last month), representing assets of $8.127 trillion (down from $8.327 trillion a month ago). Prime MMFs fell to $1.251 trillion (down from $1.263 trillion), or 15.4% of the total. We review the new N-MFP data and we also look at our revised MMF expense data, which shows charged expenses were mostly flat and money fund revenues fell to $21.6 billion (annualized) in March.
Our latest Form N-MFP Summary for All Funds (taxable and tax-exempt) shows Treasuries and Repurchase Agreements (Repo) remain the largest types of portfolio holdings in money market funds. Treasury holdings in money market funds now total $3.402 trillion (up from $3.386 trillion), or 41.9% of all assets, while Repo holdings fell to $2.836 trillion (down from $3.001 trillion), or 34.9% of all holdings. Government Agency securities total $1.097 trillion (down from $1.099 trillion), or 13.5%. Holdings of Treasuries, Government agencies and Repo (almost all of which is backed by Treasuries and agencies) combined total $7.336 trillion, or a massive 90.3% of all holdings.
The Other category (primarily Time Deposits) totals $141.1 billion (down from $163.9 billion), or 1.7%, and Commercial Paper (CP) totals $301.2 billion (down from $325.7 billion), or 3.7% of all holdings. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) total $199.7 billion (down from $204.2 billion), 2.5%, and VRDNs account for $149.8 billion (up from $146.2 billion), or 1.8% of money fund securities.
Broken out into the SEC's more detailed categories, the CP totals were comprised of: $178.8 billion, or 2.2%, in Financial Company Commercial Paper; $88.3 billion, or 1.1%, in Asset Backed Commercial Paper; and $34.1 billion, or 0.4%, in Non-Financial Company Commercial Paper. The Repo totals were made up of: U.S. Treasury Repo ($1.765 trillion, or 21.7%), U.S. Govt Agency Repo ($924.0 billion, or 11.4%) and Other Repo ($146.8 billion, or 1.8%).
The N-MFP Holdings summary for the Prime Money Market Funds shows: CP holdings of $259.4 billion (down from $277.3 billion), or 20.7%; Repo holdings of $531.7 billion (up from $518.0 billion), or 42.5%; Treasury holdings of $170.6 billion (up from $156.5 billion), or 13.6%; CD holdings of $171.3 billion (down from $177.1 billion), or 13.7%; Other (primarily Time Deposits) holdings of $97.2 billion (down from $114.0 billion), or 7.8%; Government Agency holdings of $8.3 billion (up from $8.1 billion), or 0.7%; and VRDN holdings of $12.4 billion (up from $12.0 billion), or 1.0%.
The SEC's more detailed categories show CP in Prime MMFs made up of: $162.1 billion (down from $171.3 billion), or 13.0%, in Financial Company Commercial Paper; $75.6 billion (down from $76.6 billion), or 6.0%, in Asset Backed Commercial Paper; and $21.8 billion (down from $29.4 billion), or 1.7%, in Non-Financial Company Commercial Paper. The Repo totals include: U.S. Treasury Repo ($226.7 billion, or 18.1%), U.S. Govt Agency Repo ($172.1 billion, or 13.8%), and Other Repo ($133.0 billion, or 10.6%).
In related news, money fund charged expense ratios (Exp%) were mostly flat in March. Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index and Crane Money Fund Average were 0.26% and 0.36%, respectively, as of March 31, 2026. Crane Data revises its monthly expense data and gross yield information after the SEC updates its latest Form N-MFP data the morning of the 6th business day of the new month. (They posted this info Thursday morning, so we revised our monthly MFI XLS spreadsheet and historical craneindexes.xlsx averages file to reflect the latest expenses, gross yields, portfolio composition and maturity breakout.) Visit our "Content" page for the latest files.
Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index, a simple average of the 100 largest taxable money funds, shows an average charged expense ratio of 0.26% unchanged from last month's level (also 18 bps higher than 12/31/21's 0.08%). The Crane Money Fund Average, a simple average of all taxable MMFs, showed a charged expense ratio of 0.36% as of March 31, 2026, down 1 bp from the month prior and slightly below the 0.40% at year-end 2019.
Crane Data's latest monthly Money Fund Market Share rankings show assets down among the largest U.S. money fund complexes in March, after being up in February and mixed in January. Assets have increased in 19 of the past 21 months (only April 2025 and March 2026 saw declines). Money market fund assets fell by $56.6 billion, or -0.7%, last month to $8.193 trillion. Total MMF assets have increased by $76.2 billion, or 0.9%, over the past 3 months, and they've increased by $861.1 billion, or 11.7%, over the past 12 months. The largest increases among the 25 largest managers last month were seen by Fidelity, First American, BlackRock, Schwab and Allspring, which grew assets by $9.3 billion, $9.3B, $6.5B, $5.9B and $5.1B, respectively. Declines in March were seen by SSIM, Vanguard, Goldman Sachs, Federated Hermes and BNY Dreyfus, which decreased by $16.2 billion, $13.9B, $13.1B, $10.3B and $9.1B, respectively. Our domestic U.S. "Family" rankings are available in our MFI XLS product, our global rankings are available in our MFI International product. The combined "Family & Global Rankings" are available to Money Fund Wisdom subscribers. We review the latest market share totals, and look at money fund yields, which were lower in March.
Over the past year through Mar. 31, 2026, Fidelity (up $166.8B, or 10.9%), JPMorgan (up $134.0B, or 17.3%), BlackRock (up $102.7B, or 16.8%), Vanguard (up $68.8B, or 10.2%) and Schwab (up $60.0B, or 9.3%) were the largest gainers. American Funds, First American, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley and Vanguard had the largest asset increases over the past 3 months, rising by $26.6B, $18.6B, $14.8B, $12.1B and $12.0B, respectively. The largest decline over 12 months was seen by: DWS (down $2.9B), Invesco (down $1.4B) and Wilmington Trust (down $19M). The largest declines over 3 months included: BNY Dreyfus (down $11.3B), Goldman Sachs (down $8.7B), Federated Hermes (down $5.9B), SSIM (down $5.9B) and DWS (down $4.4B).
Our latest domestic U.S. Money Fund Family Rankings show that Fidelity Investments remains the largest money fund manager with $1.694 trillion, or 20.7% of all assets. Fidelity was up $9.3B in March, up $14.8B over 3 mos., and up $166.8B over 12 months. JPMorgan ranked second with $908.9 billion, or 11.1% market share (down $2.4B, up $8.4B and up $134.0B for the past 1-month, 3-mos. and 12-mos., respectively). Vanguard ranked in third place with $744.7 billion, or 9.1% of assets (down $13.9B, up $12.0B and up $68.8B). BlackRock ranked fourth with $712.8 billion, or 8.7% market share (up $6.5B, down $3.1B and up $102.7B), while Schwab was the fifth largest MMF manager with $701.5 billion, or 8.6% of assets (up $5.9B, up $7.2B and up $60.0B for the past 1-month, 3-mos. and 12-mos.).
Federated Hermes was in sixth place with $519.6 billion, or 6.3% (down $10.3B, down $5.9B and up $35.9B), while Goldman Sachs was in seventh place with $469.5 billion, or 5.7% of assets (down $13.1B, down $8.7B and up $23.5B). Morgan Stanley ($336.7B, or 4.1%) was in eighth place (down $1.9B, up $12.1B and up $42.7B), followed by BNY Dreyfus ($330.6B, or 4.0%; down $9.1B, down $11.3B and up $42.2B). SSIM was in 10th place ($297.7B, or 3.6%; down $16.2B, down $5.9B and up $56.8B).
The 11th through 20th-largest U.S. money fund managers (in order) include: Allspring ($233.5B, or 2.9%), First American ($205.5B, or 2.5%), Northern ($198.4B, or 2.4%), Invesco ($166.3B, or 2.0%), American Funds ($161.7B, or 2.0%), UBS ($121.6B, or 1.5%), T Rowe Price ($53.4B, or 0.7%), HSBC ($52.9B, or 0.6%), Franklin Templeton ($49.6B, or 0.6%) and DWS ($35.2B, or 0.4%). Crane Data currently tracks 58 U.S. MMF managers, unchanged from last month.
When European and "offshore" money fund assets -- those domiciled in places like Ireland, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands -- are included, the top 10 managers are the same as the domestic list, except: BlackRock moves up to the No. 3 spot and Vanguard moves down to the No. 4 spot. Goldman Sachs moves up to the No. 6 spot, while Federated Hermes moves down to the No. 7 spot. Global Money Fund Manager Rankings include the combined market share assets of our MFI XLS (domestic U.S.) and our MFI International ("offshore") products.
The largest Global money market fund families include: Fidelity ($1.719 trillion), JP Morgan ($1.200 trillion), BlackRock ($1.073 trillion), Vanguard ($744.7B) and Schwab ($701.5B). Goldman Sachs ($644.9B) was in sixth, Federated Hermes ($532.8B) was seventh, followed by Morgan Stanley ($448.3B), Dreyfus/BNY ($397.2B) and SSIM ($352.1B), which round out the top 10. These totals include "offshore" U.S. Dollar money funds, as well as Euro and Pound Sterling (GBP) funds converted into U.S. dollar totals.
The April issue of our Money Fund Intelligence and MFI XLS, with data as of 3/31/26, shows that yields were down in March across most of the Crane Money Fund Indexes. The Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds covered by Crane Data (currently 728), was 3.37% (down 1 bp) for the 7-Day Yield (annualized, net) Average, the 30-Day Yield was down 2 bps to 3.37%. The MFA's Gross 7-Day Yield was at 3.74% (down 1 bp), and the Gross 30-Day Yield was down 2 bps at 3.74%. (Gross yields will be revised once we download the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 3/31/26 on Thursday.)
Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index shows an average 7-Day (Net) Yield of 3.48% (down 1 bp) and an average 30-Day Yield at 3.48% (down 2 bps). The Crane 100 shows a Gross 7-Day Yield of 3.74% (down 1 bp), and a Gross 30-Day Yield of 3.74% (down 2 bps). Our Prime Institutional MF Index (7-day) yielded 3.59% (down 1 bp) as of March 31. The Crane Govt Inst Index was at 3.47% (down 2 bps) and the Treasury Inst Index was at 3.45% (up 1 bp). Thus, the spread between Prime funds and Treasury funds is 14 basis points, and the spread between Prime funds and Govt funds is 12 basis points. The Crane Prime Retail Index yielded 3.35% (down 2 bps), while the Govt Retail Index was 3.19% (down 1 bp), the Treasury Retail Index was 3.21% (down 1 bp from the month prior). The Crane Tax Exempt MF Index yielded 2.12% (up 35 bps) at the end of March.
Gross 7-Day Yields for these indexes to end March were: Prime Inst 3.83% (down 1 bp), Govt Inst 3.71% (down 2 bps), Treasury Inst 3.72% (down 1 bp), Prime Retail 3.83% (down 2 bps), Govt Retail 3.72% (down 1 bp) and Treasury Retail 3.73% (down 1 bp). The Crane Tax Exempt Index rose to 2.51% (up 35 bps). The Crane 100 MF Index returned on average 0.29% over 1-month, 0.87% over 3-months, 0.87% YTD, 3.96% over the past 1-year, 4.64% over 3-years annualized), 3.24% over 5-years, and 2.10% over 10-years.
The total number of funds, including taxable and tax-exempt, was down 1 in March at 839. There are currently 728 taxable funds, down 1 from the previous month, and 111 tax-exempt money funds (unchanged from last month). (Contact us if you'd like to see our latest MFI XLS, Crane Indexes or Market Share report.)
The April issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Wednesday morning, features the articles: "JPM: Corporates Driving MMF Asset Gains; A Look at Fed Z.1," which reviews corporate cash balances and their impact on money fund growth; "Bond Fund Symposium in Boston: Ho & Schneider," which quotes from our recent ultra-short bond fund conference; and "Fidelity Reserves Digital, 5th Stablecoin Reserve Fund," which discusses the latest Stablecoin Reserves money market funds. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Wednesday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 3/31/26 data. Our April Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Friday, April 10, and our April Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Wednesday, April 15.
MFI's "Corporates" story says, "A recent 'Short-Term Fixed Income' from J.P. Morgan Securities' featured a section titled, 'Corporates maintain large liquidity portfolios, and even larger cash balances.' It states, 'As expected, corporations continue to maintain large liquidity portfolios. Based on balance sheet data for S&P 500 non-financial companies, we estimate liquidity portfolio balances as of 4Q25 registered $2.6tn, an increase of $119bn QoQ and $257bn YoY. At these levels, they surpass even the prior peak of $2.5tn in the months after Covid in 2020.'"
The story states, "The brief continues, 'Notably, cash and cash equivalents rose materially, even as investment securities drove most of the increase in liquidity portfolios. We estimate aggregate cash and cash equivalents rose by nearly $117bn last year, reaching $1.38tn by 4Q25.... This marks one of the larger annual increases in cash and cash equivalents, though still behind what we saw in 2020 and 2023. [A]s far as cash levels go, ... this will be the highest amount of cash and cash equivalents corporations have held in at least a decade.'"
We write in the "Bond Fund Symposium Boston," story, "We recently hosted our latest Crane's Bond Fund Symposium in Boston, which brings together ultra-short bond fund managers and securities issuers. The keynote talk, 'Ultra‐Short Bond Funds: Spring Break,' featured J.P. Morgan Securities' Teresa Ho and PIMCO's Jerome Schneider. The latter comments, 'First of all, thanks for being here. Once again, it's obviously a great forum to see friends. And it's important, not just because of where we are today, and we can talk about the factors of where the economy is going, and waking up every moment to see where rates are going, things like that. But ... what we do here is probably described as calm amongst a storm of uncertainty ... [within] the broader landscape.'"
It continues, "He tells us, 'So, my [role at] PIMCO is running short-term low duration strategies in addition to some of our portable alpha strategies.... From that vantage point, I think about the best way to optimize cash and ... shorter duration type of fixed income allocations.' (Note: Thanks again to those who supported Bond Fund Symposium! Attendees and Crane Data subscribers may access the conference binder, Powerpoints and recordings via our 'Bond Fund Symposium 2026 Download Center.')"
Our "Fidelity Reserves" article says, "Fidelity Investments is the 5th money fund manager to launch a Stablecoin Reserves money market fund, following BlackRock's Circle Treasury Reserves, and Stablecoin Reserves offerings from State Street, Goldman Sachs and BNY. A Registration Statement tells us, 'Fidelity Reserves Digital Fund seeks to obtain as high a level of current in come as is consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity.' (See our March 30 News, 'Arca Capital Management Files for US Treasury Money Mkt Digital Fund,' which says, 'Arca Capital Management filed a Form N-1A registration statement for Arca U.S. Treasury Money Market Digital Fund.')"
It continues, "Fidelity Reserves Digital's Principal Investment Strategies include: 'Investing only in U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds with a remaining maturity of, or issued with a maturity of, 93 days or less, cash, and overnight repurchase agreements fully collateralized by U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds, and other registered government money market funds; Investing only in eligible reserve assets that payment stablecoin issuers are permitted to maintain under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act ('GENIUS Act') and any regulations adopted thereunder; and, Investing in compliance with industry-standard regulatory requirements for money market funds for the quality, maturity, liquidity, and diversification of investments."
MFI also includes the News brief, "MMFs Hit Record $8.279 Tril., Then Dip in Late March. Money market mutual fund assets jumped to a record high of $8.279 trillion on 3/18, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. But assets then fell. They declined by $56.6 billion in March to $8.201 trillion."
Another News brief, "Fed Holds Rates at 3.5-3.75%." It says, "The Federal Reserve's latest FOMC Statement says, 'The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5 to 3.75%.' Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index inched lower to 3.48% in March."
A third News brief, "Reuters: War and Record MMF Assets," says, "Reuters writes 'Investors drive US money market fund assets to records as war-related risk fears multiply.' The piece says, 'As the Iran conflict intensifies, the spike in oil prices and rising inflation fears are spurring investors to ditch stocks as too risky and shun traditional safe havens such as gold in favor of money market funds. The result: assets in those ultra-short-term and ultra-safe Treasury funds are now hovering around $8 trillion, according to calculations from providers such as the Investment Company Institute, JPMorgan Chase and Crane Data.'"
A sidebar, "Donahue Talks Tokenized," says, "Federated Hermes' Chris Donahue spoke recently at the '2026 RBC Capital Markets Global Financial Institutions Conference,' and made a number of comments on tokenization. He says, 'The BNY, Goldman deal is where we have our regular fund. BNY makes a token. The token invests, in effect, money in the fund, so the money fund's the same as it was five minutes ago, and it participates in Goldman's platform. That's another whole deal. Archax is one we're doing in Europe.... We have the structures inside to actually tokenize a money fund.'"
Our April MFI XLS, with March 31 data, shows total assets fell $56.6 billion to $8.201 trillion, after increasing $94.0 billion in February, $38.5 billion in January, $123.5 billion in December, $129.3 billion in November, $141.5 billion in October, $100.4 billion in September, $129.9 billion in August, $69.0 billion in July, $10.1 billion in June and jumping $90.3 billion in May. MMFs decreased $26.6 billion last April.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 1 bp at 3.37%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 1 bp at 3.48% in March. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.74% and 3.74%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.36% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 3/31/26 on Thursday, 4/9.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 41 days (up 1 day) and the Crane 100 WAM was up 1 day from the previous month at 43 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
Money fund yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) were unchanged at 3.47% on average during the week ended Thursday, April 2 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after remaining unchanged the week prior. Fund yields haven't been below 3.5% since November 2022, and they are down from a recent high of 5.20% in November 2023. They should remain flat in coming days (and weeks) since the Fed left short-term rates unchanged three weeks ago. Yields were 3.58% on 12/31/25, 3.78% on 11/30, 3.90% on 10/31, 3.94% on 9/30, 4.11% on 8/31, 4.12% on 7/31, 4.13% on 6/30, 4.14% on 3/31/25 and 4.28% on average on 12/31/24. MMFs averaged 4.75% on 9/30/24, 5.10% on 6/28/24, 5.14% on 3/31/24 and 5.20% on 12/31/23.
The broader Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 682), shows a 7-day yield of 3.37%, unchanged in the week through Thursday. Prime Inst money fund yields were unchanged at 3.59% in the latest week. Government Inst MFs were up 1 bp at 3.47%. Treasury Inst MFs were unchanged at 3.43%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 3.20%, Government Retail MFs yield 3.19% and Prime Retail MFs yield 3.37%, Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were down 6 bps to 2.04%.
Money market mutual fund assets have paused since hitting a record high of $8.280 trillion on March 18, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Assets have fallen $65.5 billion in the week through Thursday, and they've decreased by $11.5 billion in April month-to-date (through 4/2). MMF assets decreased by $49.3 billion in March, increased by $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose by $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May. But MMFs decreased $24.4 billion last April. Weighted average maturities were at 42 days for the Crane MFA and 44 days the Crane 100 Money Fund Index.
According to Monday's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, with data as of Thursday (4/2), just 163 money funds (out of 792 total) yield under 3.0% with $192.2 billion in assets, or 2.3%, while the vast majority (629) of funds yield between 3.00% and 3.99% ($7.988 trillion, or 97.7%). No funds yield over 4.0%. Our Brokerage Sweep Intelligence Index, an average of FDIC-insured cash options from major brokerages, was unchanged at 0.30%, after falling 1 basis point fifteen weeks prior. The latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, with data as of April 2, shows no changes over the past week. Four of the 10 major brokerages tracked by our BSI offer rates of 0.01% for balances of $100K (and lower tiers). These include: E*Trade, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Schwab.
In other news, Federated Hermes' Deborah Cunningham writes, "Make yourself at home," in her latest monthly commentary. She tells us, "In the liquidity space, the first quarter of the year typically sees outflows due largely to a reversal of year-end window-dressing, the corporate tax date on March 15 and preparation for individual tax payments in April. Not so this year.... Substantial assets poured into liquidity products in January and February, pushing industry money market assets to all-time highs in the week just before the [Iran] attacks."
Cunningham explains, "Thankfully, the reason for this was positive -- the attractive yields stemming from the elevated fed funds rate. For an asset class designed to seek stability of principal and ease of redemption, yields are still a main variable. The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate so aggressively in 2022 to counter spiking inflation, that even two years after it pivoted to easing, the target range is still attractive. In other words, cash is an asset class -- gaining favor on its own merits, rather than a counter to geopolitical upheaval or anxiety over stocks."
She asks "So the question is what happens when investors think the geopolitical environment has improved enough to rotate back to riskier assets like the stock market? Tradition says they will do just that, either looking to buy low or participate in the economic growth many analysts think will follow the conclusion of the Iran conflict. Some surely will. But we think some of the investors will be warmed by the current yields of money funds, take off their coats and stay awhile."
The Federated piece adds, "Time will tell, but the twist is that the war is likely to keep Fed policymakers on the sidelines longer. The December dot plot only projected one additional quarter-point cut this year, and that didn't halt the inflows. If the spike in oil prices causes inflation to do an about face, it's unlikely the Fed will move at all this year. If that keeps market-based money market yields close to where they are now, appetite should remain." (See also, Morningstar's "Short-Term Rates Remaining Higher for Longer Will Benefit Federated Hermes' Money Market Operations."
Finally, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Liberty Street Economics blog published, "The Fed Has Two Tools to Influence Money Market Conditions." It states, "The Federal Reserve's 2022-23 tightening cycle involved the use of two monetary policy tools: changes in administrative rates and changes in the size of its balance sheet. This post highlights the results of a recent Staff Report that explores how these tools affect money market conditions. Using confidential trade-level data, we find that both tools have significant effects on the pricing of funds sourced through repo. These results suggest that the Fed can manage how financing conditions are affected even as it influences economic conditions. For example, the Fed can lower its administrative rates to loosen economic conditions, while shrinking its balance sheet to maintain financing conditions in the money markets."
The blog tells us, "Our analysis focuses on Treasury repurchase agreements (repo), a critical financial market used to secure funding and provide liquidity, with an estimated size of over $5 trillion outstanding in the first half of 2024 (see the appendix of this white paper). Secured funding trades in the U.S. are often documented as repos, and within repo, trades involving Treasury securities are the dominant type. Using data on Treasury repo, then, provides a representative look at secured funding conditions in the U.S."
It comments, "The U.S. Treasury's Office of Financial Research's (OFR) centrally cleared repo collection provides such data. This collection captures most interdealer trading. Furthermore, a portion of dealer-to-client repo transactions are gathered through the central counterparty's Sponsored Service program, providing a window on pricing of trades between dealers and their mutual fund and hedge fund clients."
The post adds, "Dealers are the main intermediaries in secured funding markets, borrowing from cash-rich investors such as money market mutual funds and lending to levered clients such as hedge funds (see this comprehensive report on dealers' intermediary activities). The OFR data allow for the construction of the spreads charged by dealers to intermediate funds, as we observe the repo rate dealers' charge to lend funds to levered clients as well as the rates paid to borrow funds from mutual funds."
The Investment Company Institute published its weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report Thursday, which shows money fund assets increasing by $7.6 billion to $7.811 trillion, after decreasing by $53.0 billion the previous week and rising by $38.7 billion to a record high $7.856 trillion two weeks prior. Assets have risen in 22 of the last 28 weeks and 30 of the past 37 weeks. MMF assets are up by $779 billion, or 11.1%, over the past 52 weeks (through 4/1/26), with Institutional MMFs up $547 billion, or 13.2% and Retail MMFs up $232 billion, or 8.1%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are up by $78 billion, or 1.0%, with Institutional MMFs up $38 billion, or 0.8% and Retail MMFs up $39 billion, or 1.3%.
ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $7.58 billion to $7.81 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, April 1, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $7.38 billion and prime funds decreased by $1.80 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $2.00 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs increasing $0.3 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $7.3 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.418 trillion (82.2% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.246 trillion (16.0%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $146.1 billion (1.9%).
It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $7.27 billion to $3.12 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $3.64 billion to $1.98 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.37 billion to $1.01 trillion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.26 billion to $132.23 billion." Retail assets account for 39.9% of the total, and Government Retail assets make up 63.4% of all Retail MMFs.
They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $312 million to $4.69 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $3.74 billion to $4.44 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $4.17 billion to $237.50 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $736 million to $13.87 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 60.1% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.6% of all institutional MMF totals.
According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have increased by $44 billion to $8.236 trillion month-to-date in April (as of 4/1), assets hit a record high on March 18 of $8.280 trillion. (Our asset series previous record high, $8.276 trillion, was set on 3/17/26.) Assets decreased by $49.3 billion in March, increased $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May, but fell by $24.4 billion last April. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.
In other news, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Financial Research (OFR) posted a blog that asks, "Who Participates in Repo?" They explain, "The U.S. repurchase agreement (repo) market links cash lenders to cash borrowers through short-term collateralized loans. This brief summarizes some facts about lenders and borrowers in the U.S. repo market using the new non-centrally cleared bilateral repo (NCCBR) data collection from the Office of Financial Research (OFR) combined with existing OFR transaction-level data. We quantify outstanding repo positions of financial institutions by type and identify which are net lenders versus net borrowers, within and across market segments."
The piece continues, "In H2 2025, total daily outstanding positions of both lenders and borrowers across all segments in the U.S. repo market averaged $12.5 trillion. Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), money funds, and other investment funds lent nearly $3.5 trillion on net. On the opposite side, hedge funds borrowed more than $1.8 trillion on net. Broker-dealers and banks account for the majority of gross activity but hold small net positions except in the tri-party segment where they are large net borrowers."
It tells us, "Large financial institutions rely on the U.S. repurchase agreement (repo) market as a primary source of short-term funding, and repo rates provide a basis for financial market reference rates used to price consumer and business loans. The repo market has played a role during periods of market instability by serving as a source of liquidity and a channel for contagion during the 2007-08 financial crisis and the September 2019 market dislocation. Even so, market participants and regulators have had limited insight into repo market flows and positions, which has impeded their ability to measure and manage risk. This brief presents an entity-based view of repo market flows and positions in H2 2025 using transaction-level data that covers the entire market."
The OFR writes, "The underlying data is from three sources: tri-party repo settlement data collected by Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) (available from 2013), the Office of Financial Research (OFR) centrally cleared repo collection (available from 2018), and the OFR non-centrally cleared bilateral repo (NCCBR) data collection. The OFR began collecting NCCBR data from certain market participants in December 2024 and expanded the collection to a wider range of financial institutions in July 2025. The statistics presented in this brief are a snapshot of H2 2025, covering the first two quarters that data on the complete market are available. The tri-party, cleared, and NCCBR data contain the names of the financial companies or funds that were repo counterparties. These entity names were grouped into 11 types that represent common financial company and fund types."
They state, "Gross and net repo outstanding across all segments varies by entity type.... Financial companies that manage short-term investments like money funds tend to lend and use the repo market as a safe, short-term investment, whereas financial companies like hedge funds that pursue leveraged strategies are more likely to be net borrowers. Others participate on both sides of the market by serving as intermediaries between net lenders and net borrowers and/or by using the repo market to manage cash and borrow securities."
The piece adds, "Money funds are exclusively lenders and account for more than two-thirds or more than $2.9 trillion of net lending. Investment funds, such as mutual funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, exchange traded funds, and other closed-end funds, are also typically net lenders in the data, as are repo accounts associated with nonbank asset managers but not identifiable as specific funds. Unlike money funds, however, these institutions sometimes borrow and likely use the repo market as a safe, short-term investment and to fund their own investments. GSEs which include Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and regional Federal Home Loan Banks nearly exclusively lend, with 97% of their gross repo outstanding being cash lending."
The article says, "Primary dealers and the banking arms of global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) account for the majority of this activity and appear to take positions similar to those of non-primary dealers and non-G-SIB banks. For more information, previous OFR research has described the strategies that dealers use in this market. The results in this brief complement and expand on these previous findings and show that banks are performing some of the same intermediary functions as dealers. Principal trading firms are active participants mostly in the NCCBR segment. They run nearly matched books and, similar to banks and broker-dealers, are slight net borrowers; 54% of their gross repo outstanding is borrowing."
Finally, it states, "Repo activity in the tri-party segment is dominated by money funds, broker-dealers, and banks. Cash flows mostly one-way from cash lenders to broker dealers and banks. Money funds lend about twice as much to broker-dealers than to banks. Other entities, mainly asset managers, mutual funds, pensions funds, other funds, and governments, also lend a substantial amount primarily to broker-dealers. Hedge funds are not material participants on either side of the tri-party market segment."
The Bank of England published a paper titled, "A simulation framework for sterling money market funds: estimating redemption capacity and evaluating liquidity requirements." The staff paper's summary says, "Money market funds (MMFs) aim to provide near-on-demand liquidity yet often hold assets that become hard to sell under stress, leaving them vulnerable to run-like redemptions. I build a simulation framework for sterling MMFs to estimate redemption capacity and failure probability across alternative redemption profiles and market-liquidity scenarios. Resilience of funds depends on both the timing of outflows and the effective liquidity of weekly liquid assets (WLA): front-loaded redemptions are most destabilising, and the benefit of asset sales shrinks as market depth thins. Removing the 30% WLA threshold effect – under which managers must consider measures to deter further redemptions – yields sizeable resilience gains by reducing cliff-edge behaviour. Under historically extreme shocks and without threshold effects, most resilience improvements come from holding WLA above the 30% regulatory minimum; in my simulations, gains concentrate around 40% WLA, with diminishing returns beyond."
Author Rishabh Kumar writes, "Money market funds (MMFs) aim to provide investors on-demand liquidity, often with same day or next-day access, while investing in instruments that can be difficult to liquidate quickly at par. That mismatch is a feature rather than a flaw: it is precisely what allows MMFs to earn a competitive yield. But it also makes them vulnerable to run dynamics especially during stress periods where investors might prefer cash. When redemptions rise abruptly, funds may be forced to generate cash by selling assets into stressed markets, potentially reinforcing price moves and tightening funding conditions. Because MMFs sit at the junction of short-term funding markets and cash management for non-financial corporations and financial institutions, disruptions can propagate beyond the sector and become a financial stability concern."
He continues, "Past episodes have illustrated these vulnerabilities in practice. During the March 2020 'dash for cash' (DFC) episode, funds with larger exposures to non-government assets, including U.S. Prime MMFs and EU Low Volatility Net Asset Value (LVNAV) funds, experienced substantial outflows. In the UK, the DFC episode triggered redemptions of roughly £25 billion (around 11% of sterling MMF assets), concentrated in EU-domiciled LVNAV funds (Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), 2023). Investors in need of liquidity made large MMF redemptions to raise cash quickly (Czech et al., 2021). The pattern echoes earlier stress episodes, including the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), when the Reserve Primary Fund 'broke the buck' after Lehman Brothers' default and the sector required extraordinary public backstops (McCabe, 2010; Bouveret, Martin, and McCabe, 2022)."
The paper tells us, "Regulatory reforms have tried to address these fragilities. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) 2010 MMF reforms and the European Union's (EU) 2017 Money Market Fund Regulation (MMFR) introduced liquidity management tools, minimum liquid-asset requirements, and constraints on portfolio composition (Bouveret, Martin, and McCabe, 2022). Yet recurring stress events suggest that liquidity mismatches remain a source of vulnerability for the sector. Moreover, the increase in interest rates from the 2020 pandemic-era lows introduced a separate tension: higher rates can reduce the market value of fixed-income holdings and interact with liquidity needs in stress. The Bank of England's Financial Stability in Focus highlights the potential for rate-driven valuation changes to intensify liquidity risks across non-bank financial institutions, including MMFs (Bank of England, 2023)."
It states, "A growing empirical literature documents MMF outflows and transmission channels during stress events. However, empirical work is necessarily backward-looking: it reflects realized outcomes under the institutional and policy conditions of a particular episode. In practice, those conditions may include use of emergency lending facilities and other central bank intervention that alter both investor behaviour and the liquidity of assets. This limits what can be inferred about MMF resilience under alternative market environments, different redemption paths, or counterfactual policy designs."
The piece explains, "This paper takes a complementary approach. I develop a forward-looking simulation framework for sterling-denominated MMFs that allows me to trace fund-level liquidity dynamics under a wide range of redemption shocks and market-liquidity assumptions. The framework delivers two outcomes that are directly relevant for policy. The first is redemption capacity: the maximum cumulative redemptions as a share of assets that a fund can meet over a specified horizon without breaching a requirement to hold a certain share of its assets in financial instruments that can be liquidated within one day. The second is failure probability: the share of simulated paths in which this daily liquidity constraint is breached under a given shock, redemption profile and time horizon. Using these metrics, I can compare in a unified way the resilience of MMFs to redemption stresses over different time horizons and profiles, depending on their initial share of WLA and a specified failure level of 10% of assets under management (AUM)."
It comments, "The model draws on behavioural mechanisms proposed in the recent literature (Bouveret, Martin, and McCabe, 2022; Dunne and Giuliana, 2022; Baes, Bouveret, and Schaanning, 2023) and explicitly varies the market environment. Specifically, I consider three liquidity settings: (i) a conservative benchmark in which secondary markets are effectively frozen and funds rely only on cash and maturing assets; (ii) a setting in which government securities can be sold to help meet redemptions; and (iii) an extension in which certificates of deposit (CDs) can also be monetised prior to maturity, under explicit limits intended to capture market depth. These market counterfactuals are chosen to reflect the different conditions seen in the past."
Kumar summarizes, "I have three main findings. First, in the frozen-market benchmark, redemption capacity rises monotonically with initial WLA and with the length of the stress horizon over which redemptions are spread, and it is strongly shaped by the timing of redemptions: front-loaded (left-skewed) paths are substantially more destabilising than historically observed unimodal paths. Second, allowing asset sales shifts the redemption-capacity frontier favourably, but the size of this improvement is highly sensitive to market depth. When secondary-market liquidity deteriorates, funds cannot reliably liquidate the assets counted as WLA at scale, so the effective buffer is smaller than the headline WLA measure and resilience is correspondingly weaker."
He adds, "Third, failure probabilities imply a non-linear trade-off in the design of liquidity buffers. Under historically extreme shocks, the largest reduction in failure risk is generated by increasing the current regulatory minimum to a higher buffer that lifts funds away from the region in which constraints tend to bind; in my simulations, that improvement is concentrated around a move to approximately 40% WLA. Beyond 40%, the marginal reduction in failure risk tends to diminish, especially under unimodal (historically observed) redemption paths. This pattern suggests that raising the minimum WLA above the current floor can materially improve resilience (especially for historically observed outflows), while also indicating where additional increases yield smaller incremental benefits."
Finally, the paper states, "These findings speak directly to ongoing policy debates, including the FCA review of sterling MMFs (FCA, 2023) and the SEC's 2023 reforms (SEC, 2023). The central issue is calibration: buffers must be large enough to reduce the likelihood of destabilising liquidity spirals, yet not so high that they materially impair intermediation. Crucially, the required buffer must also be credible in periods of stress."
The Investment Company Institute published, "Worldwide Regulated Open-Fund Assets and Flows, Fourth Quarter 2025," which shows that money fund assets globally rose by $534.7 billion, or 4.2%, in Q4'25 to a record $13.280 trillion. (The totals would have been $13.552 trillion if Australia and New Zealand had been included.) Increases were led by a sharp jump in money funds in the U.S. and China, while Ireland and Luxembourg also showed strong gains. Meanwhile, money funds in France were sharply lower. MMF assets worldwide increased by $1.681 trillion, or 14.5%, in the 12 months through 12/31/25, and money funds in the U.S. now represent 58.3% of worldwide assets. In Q1, European money fund asset totals surpassed Asian money fund totals for the first time since Q4'2017. The new Q4 data shows Asian money fund totals moving back above European money fund totals. We review the latest Worldwide MMF assets, below.
ICI's release says, "Worldwide regulated open-end fund assets, excluding funds of funds, increased 3.6 percent to $87.96 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025. Worldwide net cash inflow to all funds was $1.4 trillion in the fourth quarter, compared with $822 billion of net inflows in the third quarter of 2025. The Investment Company Institute compiles worldwide regulated open-end fund statistics on behalf of the International Investment Funds Association (IIFA), the organization of national fund associations. The collection for the fourth quarter of 2025 contains statistics from 43 jurisdictions."
It explains, "The growth rate of total regulated open-end fund assets, as reported in US dollars, increased due to US dollar depreciation over the fourth quarter of 2025. For example, on a US dollar-denominated basis, fund assets in Europe increased by 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with an increase of 2.8 percent on a euro-denominated basis."
ICI's quarterly continues, "On a US dollar-denominated basis, equity fund assets increased by 2.8 percent to $42.56 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025. Bond fund assets increased by 5.7 percent to $16.66 trillion in the fourth quarter. Balanced/mixed fund assets increased by 1.4 percent to $8.51 trillion in the fourth quarter, while money market fund assets increased by 4.2 percent globally to $13.28 trillion."
The release also tells us, "At the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, 48% of worldwide regulated open-end fund assets were held in equity funds. The asset share of bond funds was 19% and the asset share of balanced/mixed funds was 10%. Money market fund assets represented 15% of the worldwide total. By region, 56% of worldwide assets were in the Americas in the fourth quarter of 2025, 32% were in Europe, and 12% were in Africa and the Asia-Pacific regions."
ICI adds, "Net sales of regulated open-end funds worldwide were $1.4 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025.... Globally, bond funds posted an inflow of $385 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, after recording an inflow of $422 billion in the third quarter.... Money market funds worldwide experienced an inflow of $467 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025 after registering an inflow of $410 billion in the third quarter of 2025."
According to Crane Data's analysis of ICI's "Worldwide" fund data, the U.S. sustained its position as the largest money fund market in Q4'25 with $7.746 trillion, or 58.3% of all global MMF assets. U.S. MMF assets increased by $425.7 billion (5.8%) in Q4'25 and have increased by $893.9 billion (13.0%) in the 12 months through Dec. 31, 2025. China remained in second place among countries overall. China saw assets increase $89.6 billion (4.3%) in Q4 to $2.150 trillion (16.2% of worldwide assets). Over the 12 months through Dec. 31, 2025, Chinese MMF assets have increased by $285.3 billion, or 15.3%.
Ireland remained third among country rankings, ending Q4 with $1.064 trillion (8.0% of worldwide assets). Irish MMFs were up $17.9B for the quarter, or 1.7%, and up $150.1B, or 16.4%, over the last 12 months. Luxembourg remained in fourth place with $774.7 billion (5.8% of worldwide assets). Assets there increased $24.9 billion, or 3.3%, in Q4, and were up $134.4 billion, or 21.0%, over one year. France was in fifth place with $501.8B, or 3.8% of the total, down $22.9 billion in Q4 (-4.4%) and up $51.1B (11.3%) over 12 months.
Australia was listed (by us) in sixth place with $268.7 billion, or 2.0% of worldwide assets. Its MMF data was unavailable for 2024 and 2025, so we kept the 2023 Q4 numbers. Mexico was in 7th place with $161.8 billion (1.2%); assets there increased $5.1 billion (3.2%) in Q4 and increased by $36.2 billion (28.8%) over 12 months. Brazil was the 8th ranked country and saw MMF assets decrease $5.6 billion, or -3.8%, in Q4'25 to $141.1 billion (1.1% of the total); they've increased $33.1 billion (30.6%) for the year. Korea was in 9th place, as assets decreased $6.9 billion, or -4.8%, to $135.8 billion (1.0% of total assets) in Q4. They've increased $21.2 billion (18.5%) over the previous 12 months. ICI's statistics show Japan was listed in 10th place with $105.2B, or 0.8% of total assets, down $3.1 billion (-2.8%) for the quarter.
India was in 11th place, increasing $2.3 billion, or 2.5%, to $91.4 billion (0.7% of total assets) in Q4 and increasing $10.2 billion (12.6%) over the previous 12 months. Canada ($74.3B, up $4.5 billion and up $14.8B over the quarter and year, respectively) ranked 12th ahead of Switzerland. ($41.9B, down $3.8B and down $104M). United Kingdom ($40.8B, up $3.5B in Q4 and up $11.8B) and Chinese Taipei ($39.5B, up $1.4B and up $12.6B), rank 14th and 15th, respectively. Turkey, Chile, Argentina, Spain and South Africa round out the 20 largest countries with money market mutual funds.
ICI's quarterly series shows money fund assets in the Americas total $8.193 trillion, up $429.3 billion in Q4. Asian MMFs increased by $84.0 billion to $2.533 trillion, and Europe saw its money funds rise $21.3 billion in Q4'25 to $2.527 trillion. Africa saw its money funds increased $31 million to $26.0 billion.
Note that Ireland and Luxembourg's totals are primarily "offshore" money funds marketed to global multinationals, while most of the other countries in the survey have mainly domestic money fund offerings. Contact us if you'd like our latest "Largest Money Market Funds Markets Worldwide" spreadsheet, based on ICI's data. (Let us know too if you'd like to see our latest Money Fund Intelligence International product, which tracks "offshore" money market funds domiciled in Europe and outside the U.S.)
