Link of The Day
Tradeweb's ICD Portal Client Survey
A press release titled, "Geopolitical Risk Concerns Surge for Corporate Treasurers, According to 2026 Tradeweb ICD Portal Client Survey," tells us, "Tradeweb Markets (TW), a global leader in electronic trading across asset classes, ... announced the results of its 2026 ICD Portal Client Survey, which found that corporate treasurers' geopolitical concerns have surged, alongside increased allocations to money market funds (MMFs) and growing adoption of new technologies. The annual survey, now in its ninth year, was conducted in January 2026 and found that nearly nine in ten respondents (88%) reported moderate-to-high concern around the current geopolitical environment, with almost half (48%) citing 'high concern' -- an 11-percentage point increase from last year's survey." It continues, "Against this backdrop, treasurers are adopting a more defensive investment strategy. In 2026, 27% of firms plan to increase their MMF allocations, compared with just 9% planning to decrease them, reinforcing a broader 'flight to safety' amid macro uncertainty. Cash balance expectations have become more balanced year-over-year -- with 29% of respondents expecting increases and 23% expecting decreases, versus 31% and 18%, respectively, in 2025 -- suggesting corporate treasurers are reallocating liquidity rather than building cash positions." Tom Britton, Head of International Corporate and Global Corporate Product at Tradeweb, comments, "We're seeing a distinct change in how treasurers are managing liquidity amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty. Rather than simply building cash positions, firms are becoming more deliberate in how they allocate it, with a growing focus on instruments that offer stability, transparency and immediate access. In this environment, electronic trading is playing an increasingly important role in helping firms access and manage liquidity more efficiently in real time." The release also says, "At the same time, corporate treasurers are increasingly turning to technology to navigate a more complex trading environment. While fewer than 5% of treasury groups reported investing in crypto or digital assets in 2025, interest in tokenization is clearly on the rise. Tradeweb's 2026 survey found that 25% of respondents are moderately to very interested in tokenized MMFs and 19% in stablecoins, signaling growing appetite for digital asset innovation." Tradeweb's Daniel Staniford adds, "These findings highlight a clear shift in how treasurers are approaching liquidity in an increasingly uncertain world. As geopolitical risk intensifies, treasury teams are prioritizing flexibility, speed and access to liquidity, driving growing interest in innovations such as tokenized money market funds and 24/7 markets. While adoption remains early, this marks a meaningful step toward a more digital, always-on liquidity ecosystem."
MMFs Plunge $175B; Biggest Drop Ever
The Investment Company Institute published its weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report Thursday, which shows money fund assets plunging by $175.8 billion on huge April 15 tax day outflows to $7.643 trillion, the biggest weekly drop in history, after increasing by $8.0 billion the previous week. (The second largest drop ever was $125.4 billion during the week ended April 16, 2025; the third largest was $121.3 billion the week of Sept. 17, 2008; and the fourth largest was $112.0 billion the week ended April 17, 2024.) Assets hit a record high $7.856 trillion four weeks ago. MMFs have risen in 23 of the last 30 weeks and 31 of the past 39 weeks. MMF assets are up by $762 billion, or 11.1%, over the past 52 weeks (through 4/15/26), with Institutional MMFs up $536 billion, or 13.3% and Retail MMFs up $226 billion, or 7.9%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are down by $90 billion, or -1.2%, with Institutional MMFs down $86 billion, or -1.9% and Retail MMFs down $4 billion, or -0.1%. ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $175.81 billion to $7.64 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, April 15, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $154.88 billion and prime funds decreased by $16.70 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $4.24 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs decreasing $137.7 billion and Retail MMFs decreasing $38.1 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.273 trillion (82.1% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.229 trillion (16.1%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $141.1 billion (1.8%). It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $38.08 billion to $3.07 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $18.21 billion to $1.96 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $16.80 billion to $989.26 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $3.07 billion to $129.03 billion." Retail assets account for 40.2% of the total, and Government Retail assets make up 63.6% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $137.73 billion to $4.57 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $136.68 billion to $4.32 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $106 million to $239.44 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $1.16 billion to $12.06 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 59.8% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.5% of all institutional MMF totals. According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have decreased by $105.6 billion to $8.086 trillion month-to-date in April (as of 4/15), 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.
Morgan Stanley Q1 Call: AI & Sweeps
Morgan Stanley released its Q1'26 earnings yesterday, and the earnings call contained several questions on cash optimization, or how AI would impact the movement of cash. CFO Sharon Yeshaya comments, "The Wealth Management team ... have always been there sort of thinking about ways to disrupt and continue to think about disrupting ourselves and what tools will be available in the new frontier. As you know, for us, and as you think about the current client sweeps balances, those sweeps we've largely said have behaved. There are certain places that are similar where they're looking for yield-seeking behavior. But then there's also a transactional nature to that cash itself. And that's what you've seen bottom out. So that's right now in the near term. Over the long term, we're moving towards thinking about ways that in this new world, you actually have value of advice. So if ... you work through a tokenized world, how do you think of an on-chain world where you can move assets quickly, the same way you'd be able to move those liabilities quickly. We would be there to offer different types of products on the asset side.... So I think that as things move on, there's a lot of creative space in terms of the advice-driven model. And we do, as you know, currently also offer ways to move around cash that's currently yield-seeking in nature." Asked about tax outflows, Yeshaya responds, "So going first just to cash, we continue to offer our clients different ways to access cash, talk about cash, talk about the cash management. And as we've talked about before, there are a lot of different places for people to think through. And we have been talking to our clients around various cash management over time, just given what's gone on over the course of the last 5 years. But we're obviously, as you know, always looking at ways to continue to enhance conversations that we have with various clients. As it relates just to Tax Day and what we've seen so far this quarter, so far, right now, taxes are as we would have expected." Finally, responding to another question on AI impacting sweep cash, CEO Ted Pick says, "AI is our friend, okay? It is just the latest generation of technology that is going to be part of the ecosystem. And we're at an important moment.... What is new is that we are beginning to evolve from pure efficiency exercises where you could have effectively replacements of what might have been a call center or what might have been an operational function to automate routine tasks like moving money to something that over time becomes a productivity phenomenon. And that efficiency and effectiveness transom is super compelling."
ICI Monthly Portfolio Composition
ICI recently released its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Holdings" summary, which reviews the aggregate daily and weekly liquid assets, regional exposure, and maturities (WAM and WAL) for Prime and Government money market funds. It tells us, "The Investment Company Institute (ICI) reports that, as of the final Friday in March, prime money market funds held 46.7 percent of their portfolios in daily liquid assets and 62.3 percent in weekly liquid assets, while government money market funds held 74.7 percent of their portfolios in daily liquid assets and 86.3 percent in weekly liquid assets." Prime DLA was up from 44.3% in February, and Prime WLA was up from 60.1%. Govt MMFs' DLA fell from 75.2% and Govt WLA was down from 86.8% for the previous month. ICI explains, "At the end of March, prime funds had a weighted average maturity (WAM) of 34 days and a weighted average life (WAL) of 56 days. Average WAMs and WALs are asset-weighted. Government money market funds had a WAM of 44 days and a WAL of 98 days." Prime WAMs and WALs were unchanged from the previous month. Govt WAMs and WALs were both up from the previous month, WAMs were 1 day longer and WALs were 2 days longer. Regarding Holdings by Region of Issuer, the release tells us, "Prime money market funds’ holdings attributable to the Americas rose from $783.80 billion in February to $813.99 billion in March. Government money market funds’ holdings attributable to the Americas rose from $5,918.15 billion in February to $5,935.68 billion in March." The Prime Money Market Funds by Region of Issuer table shows Americas-related holdings at $814.0 billion, or 66.2%; Asia and Pacific at $156.4 billion, or 12.7%; Europe at $245.4 billion, or 19.9%; and, Other (including Supranational) at $14.6 billion, or 1.2%. The Government Money Market Funds by Region of Issuer table shows Americas at $5.936 trillion, or 93.2%; Asia and Pacific at $101.7 or 1.6%; Europe at $302.2 billion, 4.7%, and Other (Including Supranational) at $28.6 billion, or 0.4%.
Capitolis to Acquire 20 Gates' Platform
A press release titled, "Capitolis to Acquire 20 Gates Management’s U.S. Secured Financing Platform to Expand its Capital Marketplace," tells us, "Capitolis, the financial technology company, ... announced it has signed an agreement to acquire 20 Gates Management's U.S. Secured Financing Platform. The acquisition, which is expected to close in the coming weeks, enables Capitolis to add U.S. secured financing to its Capital Marketplace, broaden its client base, and add veteran industry talent to its growing team. 20 Gates Management's U.S. Secured Financing Platform has operated for more than 15 years and is supported by a broad base of prominent investors and banks. The acquisition brings an established roster of major financial institutions into the Capitolis Capital Marketplace network and adds seasoned team members from 20 Gates Management." Gil Mandelzis, CEO & Founder of Capitolis, comments, "We have known 20 Gates Management for many years, have partnered with them, and are excited to bring their U.S. secured financing capabilities and veteran team members on board. Our Capital Marketplace already offers secured financing solutions in Europe, and this acquisition extends those offerings to the U.S. market, where they are critical to our clients. In addition to that, we're gaining exceptional talent and established client relationships that will accelerate our growth and enhance our ability to serve the market with innovative solutions." 20 Gates Management's Hans Bald adds, "We've worked with and have known Capitolis for a long time and have great respect for their expertise and market leadership. We're excited to see them expand into U.S. secured financing by bringing our offering into their marketplace. 20 Gates remains focused on its core Asset Management business, investing in private and revolving ABS for its clients."
Money Fund Symposium, June 24-26
With under 2 1/2 months to go, Crane Data is ramping up preparations for its big show, Crane's Money Fund Symposium, which will take place June 24-26, 2026 at The Hyatt Regency Jersey City, in Jersey City, NJ. The latest agenda for the largest gathering of money market fund managers and cash investors in the world is available and registrations are still being taken. Money Fund Symposium attracts money fund managers, marketers and servicers, cash investors, money market securities dealers, issuers, and regulators. (We had over 680 attendees last year and expect a similarly robust crowd this year.) We review the details on MFS, as well as Crane Data's other 2026 conferences, below. Visit the Money Fund Symposium website at www.cranesmfsymposium.com for more information. Registration is $1,000, though our hotel block is no sold out. (Rooms are still available nearby or in downtown Manhattan, but you're on your own!) We hope you'll join us in Jersey City in June! E-mail us at info@cranedata.com to request the full brochure. Also, if you're interested in offshore or European money markets, join us for our next European Money Fund Symposium, which is scheduled for Sept. 24-25, 2026, in Paris, France. European Money Fund Symposium offers "offshore" money fund portfolio managers, and money market investors, issuers, dealers and service providers a concentrated and affordable educational experience, as well as an excellent and informal networking venue. Our mission is to deliver the best possible conference content and experience at an affordable price. Attendee registrations for our 2026 European Money Fund Symposium are $1,000 (USD). Finally, mark your calendars for our next Crane's Money Fund University, which is scheduled for Dec. 17-18 in Greenwich, Conn., and for our next Bond Fund Symposium, which is tentatively scheduled for March 18-19, 2027 in Philadelphia, Pa. Let us know if you'd like more details on any of our events, and we hope to see you in Jersey City in June, in Paris in September or in Greenwich in December 2026. Thanks again for your patience and support and we hope to see you soon!
ICI: MMF Assets Inch Higher in Week
The Investment Company Institute published its weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report Thursday, which shows money fund assets increasing by $8.0 billion to $7.819 trillion, after increasing by $7.6 billion the previous week and rising by $38.7 billion to a record high $7.856 trillion three weeks prior. Assets have risen in 23 of the last 29 weeks and 31 of the past 38 weeks. MMF assets are up by $813 billion, or 11.6%, over the past 52 weeks (through 4/8/26), with Institutional MMFs up $578 billion, or 14.0% and Retail MMFs up $235 billion, or 8.2%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are up by $86 billion, or 1.1%, with Institutional MMFs up $51 billion, or 1.1% and Retail MMFs up $34 billion, or 1.1%. ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $7.96 billion to $7.82 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, April 8, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $9.68 billion and prime funds decreased by $939 million. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $777 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs increasing $13.3 billion and Retail MMFs decreasing $5.3 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.428 trillion (82.2% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.245 trillion (15.9%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $145.3 billion (1.9%). It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $5.29 billion to $3.11 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $2.39 billion to $1.97 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $2.77 billion to $1.01 trillion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $129 million to $132.10 billion." Retail assets account for 39.8% 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 $13.25 billion to $4.71 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $12.07 billion to $4.45 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $1.83 billion to $239.33 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $648 million to $13.22 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 60.2% 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 $71.4 billion to $8.263 trillion month-to-date in April (as of 4/8), 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.
Atlanta Fed Posts Paper on Stablecoins
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta recently published a paper on "Fiat-Backed Stablecoins and Narrow Banking." Its summary says, "Devastated by the misery of millions of people during the Great Depression caused by the collapse of the entire US financial system, a group of economists at the University of Chicago sought to reform the banking sector. The 'Chicago plan' suggested a replacement of 'fractional-reserve banks' with 'full-reserve banks' (also called 'narrow banks' and 'limited-purpose banks'). Most economists dismiss this idea. However, the rising popularity of stablecoins and the 2025 GENIUS Act in the US introduce this form of banking to the general public. The goal of this note is to analyze the similarities and differences between the narrow banking proposal and the fast-growing fiat-backed stablecoins." The paper explains, "[T]he general idea is to reduce or eliminate the possibility of bank failures, bank runs, and the resulting government bailouts by securing depositors' money even during a run on the bank. Why would anyone want to write an essay in 2026 on a 1933 proposal for a banking reform? The answer is that the new form of banking called 'fiat-backed stablecoins' resembles the idea of narrow banking that originated more than 80 years ago. This short essay does not attempt to provide a comprehensive survey of the literature on the wide variety of stablecoins. My only intention is to draw attention to some similarities between fiat-backed stablecoins and narrow banking." The piece says, "`It is too early to predict whether stablecoins will eventually grow to the level of trillions of dollars -- closer to the levels that are held in traditional bank deposits. So far, the major use of stablecoins involves buying and selling other crypto assets rather than making daily payments. There is some potential for stablecoins to reduce the high costs of cross-border payments by bypassing the legacy high-cost cross-border payment rails that currently use traditional banks." It adds, "Fiat-backed stablecoins and narrow banks share very similar characteristics with respect to their reserve requirements and the services that they provide (and do not provide). In that sense, they bear similar risks. However, stablecoins rely on additional 'moving parts' that narrow banks do not have, which make them riskier. The additional 'moving parts' involved in each payment made with stablecoins include: (i) the conversion of national currencies, such as the USD, to newly minted issuer-specific stablecoins; (ii) the reverse process of converting stablecoins back to a national currency; (iii) the use of one or multiple digital wallets and exchanges to store and transact with other parties via a blockchain (distributed ledger); and (iv) observed price deviations from the 1:1 pegged currency. In addition to these four risks, because issuers of stablecoins store their cash reserves in traditional fractional-reserve banks, they also face exposure to runs on these banks."
Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings
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 3) includes Holdings information from 50 money funds (down 12 from a week ago), or $3.364 trillion (down from $4.219 trillion) of the $8.180 trillion in total money fund assets (or 41.1%) 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 March 11 News, "March MF Portfolio Holdings: Assets, Treasuries, Repo & Agencies All Up.") Our latest Weekly MFPH Composition summary shows Government assets dominating the holdings list with Treasuries totaling $1.627 trillion (down from $1.977 trillion a week ago), or 48.4%; Repurchase Agreements (Repo) totaling $1.161 trillion (down from $1.516 trillion a week ago), or 34.5%, and Government Agency securities totaling $318.0 billion (down from $410.5 billion a week ago), or 9.5%. Commercial Paper (CP) totaled $112.9 billion (down from $137.9 billion a week ago), or 3.4%. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) totaled $66.0 billion (down from $76.8 billion a week ago), or 2.0%. The Other category accounted for $48.4 billion or 1.4%, while VRDNs accounted for $30.9 billion or 0.9%. The Ten Largest Issuers in our Weekly Holdings product include: the US Treasury with $1.627 trillion, Fixed Income Clearing Corp with $372.6B, the Federal Home Loan Bank with $182.8B, JP Morgan with $133.0B, Citi with $96.8B, RBC with $79.0B, BNP Paribas with $73.2B, Federal Farm Credit Bank with $70.8B, Wells Fargo with $67.6B and Bank of America with $47.3B. The Ten Largest Funds tracked in our latest Weekly include: JPMorgan US Govt MM ($315.6B), JPMorgan 100% US Trs MM ($314.0B), Goldman Sachs FS Govt ($276.4B), State Street Inst US Govt ($212.7B), Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Govt ($206.4B), BlackRock Lq FedFund ($192.5B), BlackRock Lq Treas Tr ($181.1B), Dreyfus Govt Cash Mgmt ($158.0B), Allspring Govt MM ($131.4B) and First American Govt Oblg ($130.4B). (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest domestic U.S. and/or "offshore" Weekly Portfolio Holdings collection and summary.)
Vanguard: Use MMFs for Withdrawals
Vanguard published a brief on, "How to set up your withdrawals," which discusses setting up a money market account. They write, "You'll still have bills to pay in retirement, but you probably don't want to move money directly from your investments to your bank account every time you need to pay one. For one thing, frequent transactions mean market swings could have a bigger impact on you -- if you're forced to sell shares whenever you need cash, even if the value of your investments has dropped. Instead, think about opening an account in a money market fund. You can move a year's worth of withdrawals to your money market account at one time, to lessen the impact of market swings. You can also direct any other income streams (like Social Security) into your money market fund. Then transfer one month's worth of expenses at a time to your bank account, and pay your bills from there." It continues, "As you were building your savings, you probably used your earnings to buy more shares of your investments -- that's how you benefit from compounding. But now that you're spending money from your accounts, consider having your earnings sent to your money market fund rather than reinvested, at least in your taxable accounts. Here's why: You'll incur taxes on these gains when they're paid out. If you reinvest them and then turn around and withdraw them in a few months, you'll likely have to pay taxes on them again." Finally, Vanguard states "If your taxable distributions and RMDs (if any) aren't enough to cover your spending, withdraw additional money from your savings in a way that will allow you to pay the majority of your taxes while you're in a lower tax bracket. That's sometimes easier said than done, but for many people, the order below will make the most sense. Withdraw from your taxable accounts first. This will allow your accounts with tax benefits to keep growing as long as possible. Remember that as you sell assets in these accounts, offsetting your capital gains with losses will help keep your taxes down. When you've spent all the money in your taxable accounts, begin withdrawing from your tax-deferred accounts, like traditional 401(k)s and IRAs. Finally, withdraw from your tax-free accounts like Roth 401(k)s and Roth IRAs. If you don't use all your Roth money, you can include it in your estate plan, since Roth accounts keep many of their tax advantages even after being passed down."
Plume Launches Payroll with WTGXX
A press release titled, "Plume Launches First RWA Payroll Pilot With Toku Using WisdomTree's Tokenized Money Market Fund (WTGXX), Enabling Employees to Turn Salaries Into Yield-Bearing Assets," tells us, "Plume, the leading RWA blockchain powering real-world yield and onchain asset management, ... announced a first-of-its-kind payroll pilot developed in collaboration with stablecoin payroll provider, Toku, using shares of the tokenized money market fund, WTGXX, from global financial innovator, WisdomTree. The pilot demonstrates how tokenized real world assets can interact with existing payroll workflows, giving employees the option to receive a portion of their pay in shares of a regulated money-market fund rather than receiving all compensation in cash." The post says, "Through the program, Plume employees can elect to receive a portion of their salary in shares of WisdomTree's tokenized money market fund, WTGXX. The process removes the need for employees to purchase crypto, interact with exchanges, or manually move funds onchain, allowing compensation received in fund shares to begin earning yield from the day it is paid. Plume purchases the corresponding fund shares via WisdomTree Connect and delivers those shares to participating employees, who will hold the shares in verified wallets linked to their WisdomTree Prime account. Employee participation is voluntary and subject to meeting WisdomTree Prime eligibility requirements (including wallet verification), but does not alter how salaries are calculated or paid." James Huang, Head of Operations at Plume, comments, "Payroll is one of the most widely used financial rails in the world, yet it has barely evolved. By allowing employees to receive part of their salary directly into regulated, yield-bearing money-market funds, we're showing how real world assets can move beyond investment products and become everyday financial infrastructure. This pilot demonstrates how tokenization can make income productive from the moment it's paid, without changing how people work or get paid."
Bloomberg Says Firms Build Buffers
Bloomberg recently published two news pieces involving money market funds. The first, "Funding Markets Show Dash for Cash as Firms Build Buffers," tells us, "Recent activity in funding markets shows a quiet push by financial institutions to build up buffers that would help protect against any credit meltdowns or market distress, a sign they perceive rising risks even as overall conditions remain stable for now. A cluster of indicators -- from increases Federal Home Loan Bank lending to shifts in money‑market fund allocations -- all suggest that institutions, at the margins, are positioning themselves more defensively and are in some cases paying up to do so.... These shifts aren't about any current strains: There's no stress evident in headline indicators such as rates on overnight repurchase agreements, and the Federal Reserve has been regularly buying Treasury bills to make sure reserves in the banking system are ample. It's more about individual institutions ensuring they have enough cash if conditions worsen, against a backdrop of mounting worries around private credit and broader economic unease." The other article, "Freed From US Punishment, Wells Fargo Bolsters the Repo Market," states, "When Wells Fargo & Co. was finally freed last year from a US‑imposed cap on its assets, the bank went looking for places to deploy its pent‑up financial power. Much of it flowed into overnight repurchase agreements -- the repo market -- just as the broader financial system was looking for another deep‑pocketed player. Since the cap came off, Wells Fargo has pushed more than $200 billion into this key piece of the financial system's plumbing, which links money‑market funds, dealers and Treasuries. Regulators have been warning about strains in this market, and in June -- the same month Wells Fargo was freed -- the Federal Reserve floated rule changes to make it easier for big banks to step in." The former article also says, "Money‑market funds shifted out of Treasuries and cash in February and moved into agency debt and repo, a rotation that aligns with the pickup in agency issuance driven by demand for FHLB advances and mortgage purchases, according to Bank of America Corp. strategists. Holdings of Treasury bills fell by $204 billion last month, even as the Treasury was ramping up supply to prefund tax refunds. That drop far exceeded the roughly $55 billion of bills the Fed purchased over the same period." Meanwhile, the second article adds, "At the beginning of 2023, direct exposure between money funds and Wells Fargo as primary dealer was minimal, according to JPMorgan's Ho. In May 2025, before the cap was removed, it was about $90 billion, Crane Data show. That ballooned to around $165 billion by the final quarter. The surge underscored how much demand there was for another player with balance-sheet capacity -- and how quickly the market absorbed it."
Archives »