The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets inching higher by $7.5 billion to a record $7.673 trillion after increasing by $10.7 billion the previous week. Assets have risen in 12 of the last 14 weeks and 20 of the past 23 weeks. MMF assets are up by $868 billion, or 12.7%, over the past 52 weeks (through 12/23/25), with Institutional MMFs up $513 billion, or 12.5% and Retail MMFs up $355 billion, or 13.1%. Year-to-date, MMF assets are up by $823 billion, or 12.0%, with Institutional MMFs up $490 billion, or 11.9% and Retail MMFs up $333 billion, or 12.2%. (Note: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Crane Data! Thanks again to those who attended our Money Fund University in Pittsburgh last week. Attendees and subscribers may access the conference materials via our "Money Fund University 2025 Download Center.")
ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $7.49 billion to $7.67 trillion for the six-day period ended Tuesday, December 23, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $374 million and prime funds increased by $5.84 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $2.02 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs decreasing $10.2 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $17.6 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.301 trillion (82.2% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.224 trillion (15.9%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $148.5 billion (1.9%).
It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $17.63 billion to $3.07 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $15.19 billion to $1.94 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $553 million to $995.68 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.89 billion to $136.24 billion." Retail assets account for 39.8% of the total, and Government Retail assets make up 63.0% of all Retail MMFs.
They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $10.15 billion to $4.60 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $15.57 billion to $4.36 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $5.28 billion to $228.03 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $136 million to $12.25 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 60.2% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.9% of all institutional MMF totals.
According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have increased by $54.9 billion to $8.037 trillion month-to-date in December (as of 12/23), this data series hit its record high of $8.066 trillion on 12/11. Assets increased by $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. MMFs fell by $24.4 billion in April, but rose $2.8 trillion in March, $94.2 billion in February and $52.8 billion in January. They jumped $110.9 billion last December. 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.
In other news, State Street recently posted, "The cost of clearing: Evidence from an analysis of cleared and uncleared repo." It says, "The forthcoming United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandate requiring central clearing for US Treasury (UST) repo transactions by 2027 will fundamentally reshape market structure, especially for buy-side participants like money market funds (MMFs) that dominate cash lending in the cleared repo space. Using a month-end panel of MMF holdings from 2020 to 2025, we estimate the 'cost of clearing,' defined as the spread between uncleared and cleared repo rates and analyze its drivers through a regression framework."
They explain, "Our results suggest higher Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) Sponsored volumes reduce the cost of clearing, indicating that netting efficiencies and economies of scale improve as the cleared market grows. Conversely, larger MMF assets tend to widen the spread, while increased MMF repo volumes partially offset this effect. Collateral and macro liquidity conditions -- such as System Open Market Account coupon holdings, net UST coupon issuance and dealer balance-sheet stress -- also influence the cost of clearing in asymmetric ways."
State Street adds, "These findings demonstrate that the cost of clearing is not a fixed wedge but a macro-sensitive spread, and as volumes migrate to central clearing under the mandate, economies of scale and new clearing models are likely to structurally compress clearing costs for MMFs. This has implications on pricing, venue selection and liquidity planning for buy-side lenders and their clearing providers."
In related news, a press release titled, "SIFMA Publishes US Treasury and Repo Done-Away Model Design Considerations," tells us, "SIFMA published a report with Ernst & Young LLP (EY US), 'U.S. Treasury and Repo Clearing Done-Away Model Design Considerations.' The report provides a guideline and framework for baseline U.S. Treasury done-away clearing requirements under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) upcoming Treasury Clearing Rule. This report is a follow-on to the 'U.S. Treasury Central Clearing Industry Considerations Report' published in November 2024. Done-away Treasury clearing refers to the process in which trades executed by an external broker are centrally cleared through a firm's designated clearing provider rather than the executing broker."
They write, "The document has four objectives: Outline the desired done-away flows for different execution paths as defined by market participants; Describe roles and responsibilities of market participants, covered clearing agencies (CCAs), trading venues, and other technology platforms across the trade lifecycle; Identify the core capabilities and data requirements need to be established to enable the desired done-away flows; and Indicate proposed owners for developing and implementing the defined core capabilities."
Joe Seidel, SIFMA Chief Operating Officer, comments, "As we approach the effective date for central clearing of U.S. Treasury securities, SIFMA is working to support the industry with the transition to ensure there is as little disruption as possible to this important market. This report, in conjunction with our other efforts, is designed to help firms with their steps to preparedness. Treasuries play a key role in both the U.S. and world economies and SIFMA is supportive of efforts to make the market more resilient, while at the same time we recognize the need to ensure liquidity is not negatively impacted."
SIFMA says, "Clearing transactions involves a clearing agency stepping in between a buyer and seller to handle certain elements of transaction processing, manage risk and pay down obligations. In December 2023, the SEC approved a final rule which mandates the clearing of certain eligible secondary market transactions in U.S. Treasury securities. It triggered a significant structural change to the U.S. Treasury market and will have significant impacts on broker-dealers, institutional investors, asset managers, hedge funds, interdealer brokers, principal trading firms, banks, and covered clearing agencies (CCAs). The first compliance date is December 31, 2026, for eligible cash market transactions, and June 30, 2027, for eligible repo market transactions."
Neal Ullman, Managing Director, Financial Services Consulting, EY, adds, "As the effective date for central clearing of U.S. Treasury securities approaches, the industry faces a critical transition that must be managed carefully to avoid disruption. This report provides key design considerations for implementing a done-away model to help prepare for compliance, while reinforcing the importance of maintaining market stability and liquidity."
The press release concludes, "The report is designed to capture and organize the proposed done-away flows and core requirements based on input and subject-matter analysis from market participants on both the buy side and sell side. Through input collected for the November 2024 Considerations Report, eight total industry challenges were highlighted related to open concerns and specific elements to design a controlled and resilient U.S. Treasury Clearing done-away model. SIFMA organized a done-away steering committee comprised of both buy and sell side representation to help discuss, prioritize, ideate, and document a proposed done-away model that includes operational flows, core capabilities required, and roles and responsibilities of each party involved. The following challenges were prioritized for this effort: Supporting data capabilities; Pre-trade limit checks for various execution paths (e.g., Central Limit Order Book 'CLOB', Request for Quote 'RFQ', Voice); Operational flows and submission to CCAs; Bunched orders/allocations."
