Following their near-death experience in September after The Reserve's Primary Fund "broke the buck," the $2.2 trillion Institutional money market mutual fund industry has stabilized and will be gathering in Los Angeles this week to lick its wounds at the AFP Annual Conference, produced by the Association of Financial Professionals. Money fund salespeople will be out in force at the world's largest gathering of cash investors to try and talk some of the thousands of coporate treasurers who control hundreds of billions in assets back in "off the ledge". It will be a tough and a long sell, but the "just-happy-to-still-be-here" money funds have been heartended by the market's recent response to the U.S. Government's barrage of support actions.
While actual session content on cash investments, money funds and money markets is sparse, money fund and money market exhibitors will be out in force. And the cash manager, assistant treasurer and CFO crowd will undoubtedly have money markets on their mind. Though the ranks have been thinned somewhat, there will still be over 30 companies promoting money funds and cash investment "portals" in the expansive exhibit hall at the LA Convention Center. Large sponsors of the 4-day event (which starts Sunday) include: Bank of New York Mellon, BlackRock, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity, HSBC, Northern Trust, PNC, SunTrust, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo.
Alas, there are just two sessions that involve money market mutual funds, and both are money fund "portal" talks. Monday's agenda contains a 10:30 a.m. talk by Institutional Cash Distributors' Tom Knight and Clearwater Analytics' Courtlandt Gates entitled, "Do You Know What Your Cash is Buying? A Glimpse Into Total Fund Transparency and the Future of Money Market Technology." The other is Monday afternoon at 4:00 p.m., the prematurely-titled, "Safeguarding Global Cash: Investing in the Post-Crisis Environment." Barclays Global head of cash Dave Lonergan will join Citi Online Investments' John Carter to discuss "safe harbors for investing global cash." (We hope the AFP includes some money market mutual fund managers next year!)
Crane Data President & Publisher Peter Crane will be roaming the halls reporting on the money market-related news and discussions. Please feel free to call or e-mail Pete if you have any information of interest to the broader money fund community, or if you'd like to arrange an on-site discussion. (You can also e-mail to request Pete's Powerpoint presentation from last week's Treasury Management of New York, or TMANY, lunch meeting entitled, "`Money Market Mutual Funds: What You Need to Know Today ... 'Breaking the Buck' & Aftermath.") We hope to see you in LA!
