New M-LEC SIV "Superconduit" Elicits Yawns From Money Market Funds. The announcement yesterday of
a new "superconduit" fund, Master-Liquidity Enhancement Conduit, or M-LEC, which will purchase only
high quality SIV (structured investment vehicle) assets has us wondering "
Why bother?" While attempts to clean up remaining problem pockets of the
asset-backed commercial paper market are appreciated, this plan appears too limited, too vague, and too slow to matter much (
to money funds at least). The high-
quality SIVs, which this fund would buy, aren'
t where the problems are, and the SIVs don'
t want to sell assets at a discount anyway. The troubled SIVs are now primarily a matter for the banks backing them, and
not too big an exposure area for the money market funds, which had been reducing their exposure. As today'
s
Wall Street Journal article, "Call to Brave for $100 Billion Rescue", says, the plan is welcome but the details need to be worked out.