Follow Us

Follow us on Twitter  Follow us on LinkedIn
 

19 November 2013

Bloomberg: Money market funds face push for tougher rules by EU lawmaker


Default: Change to:


Money market funds with a fixed share price should be banned from operating in the European Union from 2020, according to an EU lawmaker seeking tougher rules than Michel Barnier.


Banning funds that don’t have a floating share price would make the industry “less susceptible to runs", according to plans prepared by Said El Khadraoui, a Belgian member of the assembly’s Socialist group. “A strict regulatory framework is needed” to make funds “more stable without putting their important short-term financing role of the real economy into danger", according to El Khadraoui’s plans, published on the assembly’s website. He is also seeking tougher pay transparency rules, and for the largest funds to be supervised at EU level.

Money market funds hold more than a fifth of short-term debt securities issued by governments and corporates in the EU and more than a third of short-term bank debt. The EU industry has about €1 trillion of assets under management, accounting for around 15 per cent of the European fund industry, according to EU data.

Barnier unveiled proposals to regulate the sector in September, including requiring funds that maintain a fixed share price, known as constant net asset value, or CNAV, funds, to build up a cash buffer equivalent to 3 per cent of their assets. Corporate treasurers use money market funds as an alternative to bank deposits for short-term investment of cash, or as way to diversify where they keep their cash holdings. CNAV funds are attractive to some investors as their fixed share price makes them more closely resemble a bank deposit than those with a floating rate.

Full article



© Business week


< Next Previous >
Key
 Hover over the blue highlighted text to view the acronym meaning
Hover over these icons for more information



Add new comment