P&I Ranks Most Used Money Funds
Pensions & Investments released its quarterly "Money Market Mutual Funds Most Used by DC Plans" late last month. It ranks the MMFs with the most assets in defined contribution plans as of June 30, 2014. The rankings are as follows: 1. Vanguard Prime Money Market-Institutional ($15.4 billion); 2. Fidelity Retirement Money Market ($12.6 billion); 3. Fidelity Institutional MM Portfolio ($8.2 billion); 4. Vanguard Prime Money Market ($6.7 billion); 5. Fidelity Cash Reserves ($6.6 billion); 6. American Funds Money Market ($4.2 billion); 7. Wells Fargo Advantage Government ($3.7 billion); 8. Fidelity Retirement Government ($3.3 billion); 9. Wells Fargo Advantage Heritage ($2.9 billion); 10. Wells Fargo Advantage Cash Investment ($2.8 billion). In other news, the SEC adopted "Credit Risk Retention Rules", which will impact the asset-backed securities market, by a vote of 3-2 on Wednesday. Said SEC Chair Mary Jo White in her statement commented, "Today, the Commission will consider the recommendation of the staff to adopt, jointly with five other federal agencies, final rules for the asset-backed securities market that will require securitizers to keep "skin in the game." Specifically, we will consider rules to require certain securitizers to retain no less than five percent of the credit risk of the assets they securitize." In his dissenting comments, Commissioner Daniel Gallagher said, "The awfulness of today's rulemaking makes the oft-discussed issue of GSE reform all the more important.... It is time for this Commission to declare that it is no longer willing to play the frog to the prudential regulators' scorpion. We are increasingly called upon to cross the river with them on our back by going along with their ideas, only to have them sting us halfway to the opposite shore, drowning us both." (See Marketwatch's "SEC's Gallagher Calls Regulators Scorpions".)
