Press Releases Archives: May, 2011

Investment News wrote Sunday "Regulators eyeing changes to money funds". The article says, "Money market funds are front and center in Washington again, just 16 months after regulators tightened rules on the $2.7 trillion industry.... The Securities and Exchange Commission tomorrow will gather other regulators, industry executives and academics, to discuss the pros and cons of at least half a dozen proposals aimed at making money funds more resilient to economic turmoil." It adds, "Talk of new money fund regulation takes on greater significance as razor-thin yields drive away investors. Money fund assets now stand $1.2 trillion below the January 2009 high-water mark of $3.9 trillion, according to Crane Data LLC, which compiles money fund data. Among the more controversial proposals that will be considered at this week's round table is one that would require funds to maintain a floating-rate net asset value.... Rules that require money funds to have a floating NAV 'would be an accounting nightmare' for companies, and the benefits of moving to such a system have not been shown, said Peter Crane, president of Crane Data.... The SEC may endorse rule changes based on elements of many of the proposals on the table, said Barry Barbash, a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and former director of the Division of Investment Management." He tells IN, "In the end, it may be a combination."