Money Market Funds and the New SEC Regulation

Chen, Catherine; Cipriani, Marco; La Spada, Gabriele; Mulder, Philip; Shah, Neha

Discussion Paper

Money Market Funds and the New SEC Regulation

Abstract: On October 14, 2016, amendments to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule 2a-7, which governs money market mutual funds (MMFs), went into effect. The changes are designed to reduce MMFs? susceptibility to destabilizing runs and contain two principal requirements. First, institutional prime and muni funds?but not retail or government funds?must now compute their net asset values (NAVs) using market-based factors, thereby abandoning the fixed NAV that had been a hallmark of the MMF industry. Second, all prime and muni funds must adopt a system of gates and fees on redemptions, which can be imposed under certain stress scenarios. This post studies the effect of the amendments on the size and composition of the MMF industry and, in particular, whether MMF investors shifted their assets from prime and muni funds toward government funds in anticipation of the tighter regulatory regime.

Keywords: Regulation; Securities and Exchange Commission; Money Market Funds; MMF;

JEL Classification: G2;