Press Releases Archives: April, 2014
Assets in "offshore" money market mutual funds, U.S.-style funds domiciled in Dublin, Luxemburg or the Cayman Islands, marketed to multinational corporations and subsidiaries outside the U.S. and denominated in USD, Euro and GBP (sterling), rose by $33.7 billion to $712.9 billion in the first quarter of 2014. U.S. Dollar (USD) funds (142) tracked by Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence International account for over half ($385.9 billion, or 54.1%) of the total, while Euro (EUR) money funds (98) total E72.0 billion (about $99.0 in USD) and Pound Sterling (GBP) funds (95) total L136.8 ($227.9 in USD). Offshore USD MMFs yielded 0.03% on average as of March 31, 2014, while EUR MMFs yielded 0.07% and GBP MMFs yielded 0.28% (our Crane MFII 7-Day Yield Indexes). We review the latest MFI International Money Fund Portfolio Holdings below for the three major currencies, and we also give details on our second annual European Money Fund Symposium (Sept. 22-23 in London). Note: Offshore money market funds are not available for sale to U.S. investors.
The USD funds tracked by MFI International contain, on average 24.6% in Certificates of Deposit (CDs), 24.1% in Commercial Paper (CP), 16.9% in Treasury securities, 15.7% in Other securities (primarily Time Deposits), 14.5% in Repurchase Agreements (Repo), 3.7% in Government Agency securities and 0.5% in VRDNs (Variable-Rate Demand Notes). USD funds have on average 28.5% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 7.2% maturing in 2-7 Days, 18.1% maturing in 8-30 Days, 24.6% maturing in 31-90 Days, 15.9% maturing in 91-180 Days, and 5.7% maturing beyond 181 Days. USD holdings are affiliated with the following countries: US (32.6%), France (13.8%), Canada (8.7%), Japan (8.4%), Sweden (7.0%), Great Britain (6.0%), Germany (5.6%), Australia (4.8%), Netherlands (4.5%), and Switzerland (2.6%).
The 20 Largest Issuers to "offshore" USD money funds include: the US Treasury with $76.0 billion (16.6% of total portfolio assets), Credit Agricole with $21.4B (4.7%), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with $18.0B (3.9%), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd with $15.2B (3.3%), BNP Paribas with $14.7B (3.2%), Natixis with $12.8B (2.8%), Bank of Nova Scotia with $11.2B (2.4%), Barclays PLC $10.5B (2.3%), Svenska Handelsbanken with $10.4B (2.3%), Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB) with $10.0B (2.2%), `Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Co with $9.2B (2.0%), Rabobank with $8.8B (1.9%), JP Morgan with $8.5B (1.9%), Deutsche Bank AG with $8.2B (1.8%), HSBC with $7.6B (1.7%), RBC with $7.4B (1.6%), Toronto-Dominion Bank with $7.3B (1.6%), Wells Fargo with $7.2B (1.6%), Federal Home Loan Bank with $7.1B (1.5%), and Nordea Bank with $7.0B (1.5%).
The EUR funds tracked by MFI International contain, on average 38.9% in CDs, 24.4% in CP, 17.8% in Other (primarily Time Deposits), 9.8% in Repo, 5.3% in Agency securities, 3.4% in Treasury securities, and 0.3% in VRDNs. Euro funds have on average 25.2% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 6.7% maturing in 2-7 Days, 19.4% maturing in 8-30 Days, 29.5% maturing in 31-90 Days, 16.0% maturing in 91-180 Days, and 3.3% maturing beyond 181 Days. EUR MMF holdings are affiliated with the following countries: France (30.4%), Germany (15.9%), Netherlands (11.8%), Great Britain (9.2%), Japan (6.9%), Sweden (6.7%), US (5.9%), Belgium (2.3%), Finland (2.1%), and Austria (1.4%).
The 15 Largest Issuers to "offshore" EUR money funds include: BNP Paribas with E5.3B (7.4%), FMS Wertmanagement with E4.7B (6.5%), Republic of France with E3.5B (4.8%), Rabobank with E3.1B (4.3%), HSBC with E2.8B (3.9%), Societe Generale with E2.6B (3.6%), Credit Agricole with E2.4B (3.3%), Barclays PLC with E2.0B (2.8%), ING Bank with E2.0B (2.8%), Credit Mutuel with E2.0B (2.8%), Svenska Handelsbanken with E1.9B (2.7%), Nordea Bank with E1.7B (2.4%), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd with E1.6B (2.2%), Pohjola Bank PLC with E1.5B (2.1%), and JP Morgan with E1.5B (2.1%).
The GBP funds tracked by MFI International contain, on average 32.2% in CP, 29.6% in Other (Time Deposits), 25.5% in CDs, 7.2% in Repo, 2.9% in Treasury, 2.2% in Agency, and 0.4% in VRDNs. Sterling funds have on average 27.1% of their portfolios maturing Overnight, 4.3% maturing in 2-7 Days, 19.7% maturing in 8-30 Days, 31.2% maturing in 31-90 Days, 14.0% maturing in 91-180 Days, and 3.6% maturing beyond 181 Days. GBP MMF holdings are affiliated with the following countries: Great Britain (19.1%), France (16.8%), Germany (10.7%), Netherlands (9.4%), Japan (8.2%), Sweden (8.0%), US (6.2%), Switzerland (4.6%), Australia (4.0%), and Canada (3.7%).
The 15 Largest Issuers to "offshore" GBP money funds include: Lloyds TSB Bank PLC with L5.7B (5.4%), BNP Paribas with L4.8B (4.5%), FMS Wertmanagement with L4.7B (4.5%), Nordea Bank with L4.3B (4.1%), Rabobank with L4.1B (3.9%), Credit Agricole with L4.0B (3.8%), Standard Chartered Bank with L3.6B (3.4%), ING Bank with L3.4B (3.2%), UK Treasury with L3.3B (3.1%), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd with L3.3B (3.1%), HSBC with L3.3B (3.1%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Co with L3.1B (2.9%), Barclays PLC with L3.0B (2.8%), Oversea-Chinese Banking Co with L2.9B (2.7%), and JP Morgan with L2.9B (2.7%). (E-mail us at info@cranedata.com (or call 508-439-4419) to request a copy of our latest MFI International or MFII Portfolio Holdings.)
Finally, Crane Data has published the preliminary agenda and is now accepting registrations for its second annual European Money Fund Symposium, which will take place Sept. 22-23, 2014, at the London Tower Hilton in London, England. (Visit www.euromfs.com for details.) Our inaugural European event last September in Dublin attracted over 100 money fund professionals, and we expect this year's event to be even bigger and better. Sponsorships and a handful of speaking slots are still available. Contact us for the full brochure and for more details.
That giant sucking sound you heard at month-end in March was money market investments leaving everywhere else and moving to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's reverse repo program. Crane Data released its April Money Fund Portfolio Holdings yesterday afternoon, and our latest collection of taxable money market securities, with data as of March 31, 2014, shows a huge jump in Repo with the New York Fed and big declines in overall holdings, Time Deposits (the SEC's "Other" category), CDs and CP. Money market securities held by Taxable U.S. money funds overall (those tracked by Crane Data) decreased by $43.0 billion in March to $2.431 trillion. Portfolio assets decreased by $32.7 billion in February and by $258 million in January, after an increase of $55 billion in December. CDs remained the largest holding among taxable money funds, followed closely by Repo, then by Treasuries, CP, Agencies, Other, and VRDNs. Money funds' European-affiliated holdings plummeted again at quarter-end on the shift from dealer repo and time deposits into Fed repo; European holdings are now below 25% of holdings (down from 29.8% last month). Below, we review our latest portfolio holdings statistics.
Among all taxable money funds, Certificates of Deposit (CD) fell again in March, decreasing $22.9 billion to $543.1 billion, or 22.3% of holdings. Repurchase agreement (repo) holdings jumped by $55.1 billion to $534.0 billion, or 22.0% of fund assets. (Money funds' repo at the NY Fed more than doubled, surging from $91.8 billion to $203.1 billion, though non-Fed repo plunged by $56.1 billion to $330.9 billion, or 62.0% of total repo. Money funds accounted for 84% of the Fed's $242 billion in total repo assets; see our April 2 Link of the Day, "Fed Repo Sets Record at Quarter End") Treasury holdings, the third largest segment, increased by $7.5 billion to $474.1 billion (19.5% of holdings). Government Agency Debt continued its slide, falling by $10.1 billion. Agencies now total $330.5 billion (13.6% of assets). Commercial Paper (CP), the fifth largest segment, decreased by $21.4 billion to $380.8 billion (15.7% of holdings). Other holdings, which include Time Deposits, dropped sharply (down $49.0 billion) to $136.6 billion (5.6% of assets). VRDNs held by taxable funds dropped by $2.3 billion to $32.0 billion (1.3% of assets). (Crane Data's Tax Exempt fund data will be released in a separate series late Thursday and our "offshore" holdings will be released Friday.)
Among Prime money funds, CDs still represent over one-third of holdings with 35.2% (down from 36.0% of a month ago), followed by Commercial Paper (24.7%, down from 25.6%). The CP totals are primarily Financial Company CP (14.8% of holdings) with Asset-Backed CP making up 5.7% and Other CP (non-financial) making up 4.2%. Prime funds also hold 5.2% in Agencies (down from 5.7%), 6.6% in Treasury Debt (up from 6.5%), 5.2% in Other Instruments, and 5.1% in Other Notes. Prime money fund holdings tracked by Crane Data total $1.542 trillion (down from $1.573T), or 63.4% (down from 63.6%) of taxable money fund holdings' total of $2.431 trillion.
Government fund portfolio assets totaled $434.3 billion, down from $443.8 billion last month, while Treasury money fund assets totaled $454.7 billion, down slightly from $457.8 billion at the end of January. Government money fund portfolios were made up of 56.8% Agency securities, 19.5% Government Agency Repo, 8.0% Treasury debt, and 15.2% Treasury Repo. Treasury money funds were comprised of 74.2% Treasury debt and 24.5% Treasury Repo.
European-affiliated holdings declined sharply, down $137.4 billion in March to $599.9 billion (among all taxable funds and including repos); their share of holdings is now 24.7%. Eurozone-affiliated holdings also plunged (down $79.8 billion) to $347.9 billion in March; they now account for 14.3% of overall taxable money fund holdings. Asia & Pacific related holdings fell by $10.7 billion to $284.0 billion (11.7% of the total), while Americas related holdings jumped $104.4 billion to $1.545 trillion (63.6% of holdings).
The overall taxable fund Repo totals were made up of: Treasury Repurchase Agreements (up $76.1 billion to $300.8 billion, or 12.4% of assets, Government Agency Repurchase Agreements (down $21.8 billion to $148.8 billion, or 6.1% of total holdings), and Other Repurchase Agreements (up $894 million to $84.4 billion, or 3.5% of holdings). The Commercial Paper totals were comprised of Financial Company Commercial Paper (down $14.6 billion to $227.5 billion, or 9.4% of assets), Asset Backed Commercial Paper (down $3.1 billion to $88.4 billion, or 3.6%), and Other Commercial Paper (down $3.6 billion to $64.9 billion, or 2.7%).
The 20 largest Issuers to taxable money market funds as of March 31, 2014, include: the US Treasury ($474.1 billion, or 19.5%), Federal Reserve Bank of New York ($203.1B, 8.4%), Federal Home Loan Bank ($197.2B, 8.1%), BNP Paribas ($65.0B, 2.7%), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd ($62.8B, 2.6%), Bank of Nova Scotia ($61.0B, 2.5%), JP Morgan ($54.6B, 2.1%), RBC ($50.8B, 2.1%), Credit Agricole ($50.6B, 2.1%), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Co ($49.8B, 2.1%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Co ($48.1B, 2.0%), Credit Suisse ($47.6B, 2.0%), Citi ($46.8B, 1.9%), Wells Fargo ($46.0, 1.9%), Bank of America ($43.5B, 1.8%), Federal National Mortgage Association ($43.5B, 1.8%), Barclays Bank ($39.8B, 1.6%), Deutsche Bank AG ($39.2B, 1.6%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($37.3B, 1.5%), and Federal Farm Credit Bank ($37.0B, 1.5%).
In the repo space, Federal Reserve Bank of New York's RPP program issuance (held by MMFs) remained the largest program by far with 38.0% of the repo market. The 10 largest Repo issuers (dealers) (with the amount of repo outstanding and market share among the money funds we track) include: Federal Reserve Bank of New York ($203.1B, 38.0%), BNP Paribas ($36.3B, 6.8%), Bank of America ($33.6B, 6.3%), Barclays ($25.9B, 4.8%), Goldman Sachs ($22.4B, 4.2%), Citi ($20.6B, 3.9%), Credit Suisse ($19.8B, 3.7%), Wells Fargo ($19.4B, 3.6%), JP Morgan ($18.2B, 3.4%), and RBC ($17.4B, 3.3%). Crane Data shows 79 money funds buying the Fed's repos, with just 4 funds -- Federated Govt Obligations, JP Morgan Prime MM, Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Govt, and Western Asset Inst Liq Reserves -- maxing out the previous $7 billion limit.
The 10 largest CD issuers include: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd ($43.8B, 8.1%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Co ($42.0B, 7.8%), Bank of Nova Scotia ($35.6B, 6.6%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($31.1B, 5.8%), Bank of Montreal ($30.1B, 5.6%), Rabobank ($24.5B, 4.5%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd ($23.3B, 4.3%), Credit Suisse ($20.0B, 3.7%), BNP Paribas ($18.5B, 3.4%), and Wells Fargo ($18.3B, 3.4%).
The 10 largest CP issuers (we include affiliated ABCP programs) include: JP Morgan ($23.4B, 7.1%), Westpac Banking Co ($15.8B, 4.8%), Commonwealth Bank of Australia ($13.6B, 4.1%), RBC ($11.7B, 3.5%), FMS Wertmanagement ($11.4B, 3.4%), HSBC ($10.9B, 3.3%), Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB ($10.1B, 3.0%), Barclays PLC ($9.5B, 2.9%), National Australia Bank Ltd ($9.2B, 2.8%), and BNP Paribas ($9.1B, 2.8%).
The largest increases among Issuers include: the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (up $111.2B to $203.1B), the US Treasury (up $7.5B to $474.1B), Bank of Nova Scotia (up $3.8B to $61.0B), Toronto-Dominion Bank (up $2.8B to $37.3B), and Federal Home Loan Mortgage (up $2.5B to $49.8B). The largest decreases among Issuers of money market securities (including Repo) in March were shown by: Lloyd's TSB Bank PLC (down $15.9B to $10.6B), Societe Generale (down $15.6B to $29.2B), BNP Paribas (down $15.5B to $65.0B), Federal Home Loan Bank (down $14.0B to $197.2B), DnB NOR Bank ASA (down $13.0B to $15.8B), and Deutsche Bank (down $13.0B to $39.2B).
The United States remained the largest segment of country-affiliations; it now represents 54.5% of holdings, or $1.326 trillion. Canada (9.0%, $217.9B) moved into second place ahead of France (7.9%, $191.6B), and Japan (7.3%, $178.3B) remained the fourth largest country affiliated with money fund securities. The UK (3.7%, $90.3B) remained in fifth place, and Sweden (3.5%, $84.6B) remained in sixth. Australia (3.2%, $78.9B) moved up to seventh while Germany (3.1%, $74.8B) dropped to 8th. The Netherlands (3.0%, $73.4B) was ninth and Switzerland (2.5%, $61.1B) was tenth among country affiliations. (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, 2014, Taxable money funds held 22.8% of their assets in securities maturing Overnight, and another 12.1% maturing in 2-7 days (34.8% total in 1-7 days). Another 21.6% matures in 8-30 days, while 25.8% matures in the 31-90 day period. The next bucket, 91-180 days, holds 14.0% of taxable securities, and just 3.7% matures beyond 180 days.
Crane Data's Taxable MF Portfolio Holdings (and Money Fund Portfolio Laboratory) were updated yesterday, and our MFI International "offshore" Portfolio Holdings will be updated Friday (the Tax Exempt MF Holdings will be released late today). Visit our Content center to download files or visit our Portfolio Laboratory to access our "transparency" module. Contact us if you'd like to see a sample of our latest Portfolio Holdings Reports or our new Reports Issuer Module.
The April issue of Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence was sent out to subscribers on Monday morning. The latest edition of our flagship monthly newsletter features the articles: "More Talk, No Action Yet on Pending MMF Reforms," which reviews recent SEC speeches and comments on pending regulations; "Plaze Says Doing Nothing Better Than SEC Proposals," which interviews Stroock Partner and former SEC Deputy Director Bob Plaze; and, "Global MF Growth Led by China, US; EU Buffer Dies," which reviews the growth of global money fund markets. We also updated our Money Fund Wisdom database query system with March 31, 2014, performance statistics and rankings this morning, and we sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet earlier. (MFI, MFI XLS and our Crane Index products are available to subscribers at our Content center.) Our March 31 Money Fund Portfolio Holdings data are scheduled to go out on Wednesday, April 9.
The latest MFI newsletter's lead article comments, "The debate over pending money market fund regulatory reforms escalated over the past month, as the SEC, media outlets and mutual fund companies all weighed in again on the matter. SEC Chair Mary Jo White made some comments and the SEC staff released a set of studies on technical issues, while fund companies and consultants added more comment letters to the SEC's website. Plus, The Wall Street Journal appeared to tweak banking regulators by claiming that the SEC would widely broaden exemptions from the floating NAV. While nobody knows when we'll get the final rules and what form they'll take yet, recent comments indicate that they aren't yet imminent."
The article explains, "SEC Chair White's most recent comments on the topic gave little indication of when we might see pending money market fund reforms and what form they might take. White was asked about money fund reform at a Chamber of Commerce event two weeks ago. She commented, "[W]e are ... actively involved and proceeding to the adopting phase. We have taken a very in-depth look at all the impacts of the two alternative proposals that we can proceed with, or in combination. We have gotten extensive, invaluable comments on this. We are very sensitive to preserving the product as part of this process. But what we are obviously focused on is what happened during the financial crisis and the heightened redemptions in prime institutional funds."
The "profile" with Stroock's Plaze says, "This month MFI interviews Robert Plaze, a Partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, and the former Deputy Director of the Division of Investment Management at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Plaze, who left the SEC in early 2013, has been involved in regulatory issues involving money market mutual funds for three decades. He is partially responsible for writing much of the existing Rule 2a-7 regulations. Our Q&A follows."
We ask Plaze, "MFI: How long have you been involved in money fund issues? Plaze: I first got involved in the late 1980's. I was there when the first bailout requests came in to the Division. I was in the room when more senior Division Staff were trying to figure out how to deal with them, and I saw the look of concern on everyone's faces. No one knew what might happen if a fund broke the buck, and no one wanted to find out. It was the closest thing I had ever seen at the time to a crisis, because everyone was extraordinarily worried about the prospect of a fund breaking the dollar. Shortly after, I became an Assistant Director in the Division and went on to draft the 1991, 1996, and the 2010 Amendments to 2(a)-7. During that period my staff and I handled all requests for no-action by fund sponsors to bailout their money market funds. (Watch for excerpts of this interview later this month, or write us to request the full article.)
The February MFI article on Global MF Growth Led by China, US; EU Buffer Dies explains, "Last Wednesday, the ICI released its latest data on "Worldwide Mutual Fund Assets," which shows that global money market mutual fund assets grew by $67.4 billion in Q4'13 to $4.760 trillion. This follows a sharp rebound in Q3'13, when "cash" funds grew by $197.9B. (MMF assets have declined by $33.4 billion over the past year, though.) The latest quarterly growth was led by large increases in Chinese and U.S. MMFs.."
Crane Data's April MFI with March 31, 2014 data shows total assets falling by $25.9 billion (falling by $44.9 billion last month) to $2.574 trillion (1,238 funds, the same number as last month. Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield and 30-Day Yield remained at a record low 0.01% while our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) yielded 0.02% (7-day and 30-day). On a Gross Yield Basis (before expenses were taken out), funds averaged 0.13% (Crane MFA, unchanged) and 0.16% (Crane 100) on an annualized basis for both the 7-day and 30-day yield averages. (Charged Expenses averaged 0.12% and 0.14% for the two main taxable averages.) The average WAM for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 were 43 and 46 days, respectively, down 2 days and one day, respectively. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
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