Yesterday, mutual fund newsletter ignites featured a Q&A entitled, "Are Funds Spending Less on Money Fund Biz?" A reader asked, "Are mutual funds deemphasizing their money market fund businesses?" Crane Data's Peter Crane responded, "Most asset managers don't emphasize or spend a lot of money on sales and marketing for their money funds in the first place. But of course the zero-yield environment has made marketing money funds an even tougher sell. So marketing spending is likely down, though there are no good statistics on this. It's been almost 30 years since money funds were large and regular advertisers on TV and in national publications.... Overall, spending on money funds appears to be rising, though, driven primarily by costs related to the Securities and Exchange Commission's money market fund reforms." Crane adds, "But the sector no doubt remains under pressure due to ultra-low yields, asset outflows and regulatory uncertainty. While many have predicted a spate of exits and a rash of consolidation in the space, there still have been surprisingly few withdrawals from the money fund field." In other news, the American Securitization Forum announced the date (Feb. 6-9) and location (Orlando World Center Marriott) for its 2011 securitization conference.
