Money Market News
Law firm Dechert published an article titled "CFTC Helps Seeded Funds and Qualifies More Money Market Funds as Margin." They tell us, "Effective August 17, 2026, the CFTC adopted a Final Rule amending its margin requirements for uncleared swaps applicable to swap dealers and major swap participants that are not subject to prudential regulator margin rules. The Final Rule implements three major changes: A three-year initial margin exception for certain 'seeded funds' that will treat such funds as having no margin affiliates for purposes of calculating initial margin thresholds. Elimination of the 'asset transfer restriction' that had previously disqualified securities issued by most otherwise eligible money market funds ('MMFs') and similar funds that may engage in repurchase and similar transactions from serving as eligible initial margin ('IM') and variation margin ('VM') collateral. [And] Adoption of specific tiered haircuts for eligible MMF and similar fund shares used as initial margin or variation margin."
Late last month, Crane Data hosted its big Money Fund Symposium conference in Jersey City, where over 740 money market professionals discussed rates, tokenization, record asset levels and a number of other hot topics in cash. Below, we quote from the session, "Money Market & Ultra-Short ETFs," which featured Bob Cousart of BlackRock, Jon-Luc Dupuy of K&L Gates and Jerome Schneider of PIMCO. Cousart starts off, stating, "So, unlike short-duration ETFs, money market ETFs adhere to the strict regulatory guidelines of 2a-7, capital preservation and liquidity. So having that little '2a-7' stamp, that does mean something for certain investors who want to have that sense of safety.... Money market ETFs really round out that broad spectrum of fixed income ETFs, serving as a kind of a bookend for the whole broad spectrum." (Note: This article is reprinted from the July issue of Bond Fund Intelligence, which was published on July 15. Contact us at info@cranedata.com to request the full issue or to subscribe.)
Last quarter, brokerage earnings calls were filled with questions and comments on the impact of AI cash optimization tools, but the latest quarter had virtually nothing on the topic. Both Raymond James and Ameriprise Financial released earnings and hosted calls last week, and the calls were unusually thin on cash and sweep comments. Raymond James CEO Paul Shoukry says, "Clients' domestic cash sweep and Enhanced Savings Program balances ended the quarter at $58.8 billion, up 2% from the preceding quarter and 7% over the prior year level, representing 3.4% of domestic PCG client assets at quarter end. Cash sweep balances grew 4% year-over-year and reflect the impact of organic and recruited growth over the period. We continue to diversify funding during the quarter, with strong growth in Enhanced Savings Program balances up $2.4 billion, or 19%, over the prior quarter level. This on-balance sheet increase in bank deposits enabled us to shift a portion of our cash sweep program balances from our banks to third-party banks." (See the RJ earnings call transcript here.)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Statistics" summary, which shows that total money fund assets increased by $54.1 billion in June 2026 to a record $8.442 trillion, after increasing to $8.388 trillion the month prior. The SEC shows Prime MMFs increased $21.5 billion in June to $1.394 trillion, Govt & Treasury funds increased $31.1 billion to $6.894 trillion and Tax Exempt funds increased $1.4 billion to $154.2 billion. Taxable and Tax Exempt MMF yields were higher in June. The SEC's Division of Investment Management summarizes monthly Form N-MFP data and includes asset totals and averages for yields, liquidity levels, WAMs, WALs, holdings, and other money market fund trends. We review their latest numbers below. (Our MFI XLS monthly shows money fund assets increasing $53.8 billion in June 2026 to $8.355 trillion. In July month-to-date through 7/22, total money fund assets have decreased by $59.9 billion to $8.290 trillion, according to Crane Data's separate, and slightly smaller, MFI Daily series.) (Note: Thanks to those who attended our Money Fund Symposium last month in Jersey City! Attendees and Crane Data Subscribers may access the MFS Conference Materials here.)
We're almost approaching midway in the latest quarterly earnings season, and mentions of money market funds and "cash" are few and far between. Charles Schwab, which reported its Q2'26 earnings earlier this week, is normally a wealth of comments on sweeps and cash sorting. But not this quarter. On their Summer Business Update, President & CEO Rick Wurster says, "Our bank is an important differentiator for us. Our ability to offer checking, payments, and lending makes it easy for clients to consolidate their financial lives with us. For our ... clients, this represents an opportunity to help the RIAs on our platform meet more of their clients' financial needs in one place." (For more on Q2 earnings calls, see our July 20 Crane Data News: "State Street Q2'26 Earnings Call on Tokenized MMFs, Stablecoin Reserves and our July 16 Link of the Day, "BlackRock Talks Tokenization on Call.")
With just 2 months to go, we're ramping up preparations for our 12th Annual European Money Fund Symposium, which will take place Sept. 24-25 at the Pullman Hotel in Paris, France. The latest agenda is available and registrations are still being taken for our European money market mutual fund event. We provide more details on the show below. Our 2025 European Symposium event in Dublin attracted almost 200 money fund professionals, sponsors and speakers. Given the continued growth in money fund assets, trends like tokenization and expectations for another round of regulatory changes in Europe, we expect our show in Paris to once again be the largest gathering of money market professionals outside the U.S.
Bloomberg writes that, "Money Funds Keep Cash Closer as Fed Leaves Markets Guessing." The article, written by Alex Harris, tells us, "Money market funds are shifting toward ultra short-term holdings and away from assets with even modest interest-rate risk as uncertainty grows over the Federal Reserve's policy path and the near-term outlook for rates. The weighted average maturity of fund holdings has fallen to 40 days from 45 days in mid-May, according to Crane Data LLC. Managers have directed more cash into overnight repurchase agreements and short-dated securities, while increasing allocations to floating-rate agency and Treasury debt. Exposure to T-bills has edged lower even as the government ramps up issuance."
State Street reported its Q2'26 earnings late last week, and the earnings call contained some discussions of tokenization of money funds, cash and stablecoin reserves. CEO Ronald O'Hanley says, "Record NII [drove] total quarterly revenue up 17% year over year to an all-time high.... Our digital asset platform is always on financial infrastructure that will enable clients to rapidly bridge from traditional to digital finance and we continue to make strong progress in advancing this strategy. In 2Q, we announced our intention to deliver a tokenized fund servicing capability by year end, subject to regulatory approval. Following a competitive process, a leading European asset manager selected State Street to serve as tokenized money market funds expected to launch later this year."
After almost breaking the $8.0 trillion barrier last week, the Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets plunging $59.9 billion to $7.893 trillion. Assets increased $5.2 billion to a record $7.953 trillion the previous week (and increased $47.7 billion the week before this). MMF assets are up by $828 billion, or 11.7%, over the past 52 weeks (through 7/15/26), with Institutional MMFs up $659 billion, or 15.9% and Retail MMFs up $169 billion, or 5.8%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are up by $160 billion, or 2.1%, with Institutional MMFs up $153 billion, or 3.3% and Retail MMFs up $7 billion, or 0.2%.
Crane Data's latest Money Fund Intelligence International shows that assets in European or "offshore" money market mutual funds increased over the past 30 days to a new record high of $1.706 trillion, the previous record of $1.697 trillion was seen the month prior. Yields were mixed, while assets for USD and GBP MMFs rose and EUR MMFs declined over the past month. Like U.S. money fund assets, European MMFs have repeatedly hit record highs in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. These U.S.-style money funds, domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg and denominated in US Dollars, Pound Sterling and Euros, increased by $16.9 billion over the 30 days through 7/14. The totals are up $121.7 billion (7.7%) year-to-date for 2026. They were up $151.9 billion (10.6%) for 2025, up $235.3 billion (19.7%) for 2024 and up $166.9 billion (16.2%) for the year 2023. (Note that currency moves in the U.S. Dollar cause Euro and Sterling totals to shift when they're translated back into totals in USD. See our latest MFI International for more on the "offshore" money fund marketplace. These funds are only available to qualified, non-U.S. investors and are almost entirely institutional.) (Note too: Please join us for our upcoming European Money Fund Symposium, which will be held Sept. 24-25 in Paris, France.)
The July issue of our Bond Fund Intelligence, which was sent to subscribers Wednesday a.m., features the articles, "Worldwide BF Assets Jump to $16.9 Tril., Led by US & Brazil," which reviews the latest global bond fund statistics from ICI; and "PIMCO's Schneider on Ultra-Shorts, ETFs at Symposium," which highlights a panel from our recent Money Fund Symposium conference in Jersey City. BFI also recaps the latest Bond Fund News and includes our Crane BFI Indexes, which show that bond fund returns inched higher in June while yields were flat. We excerpt from the new issue below. (Contact us if you'd like to see our latest Bond Fund Intelligence and BFI XLS spreadsheet, or our Bond Fund Portfolio Holdings data.)
As we've been writing, late last month, Crane Data hosted its big Money Fund Symposium conference in Jersey City. (See our July 2 News, "JP Morgan AM's Tufts Says Embrace Innovation in MF Symposium Keynote," and our July 6 News, "Cunningham, Gutierrez, Sabatino Discuss Major Issues at MF Symposium.") Today, we highlight another discussion and quote from the "Senior Portfolio Manager Perspectives" session, which was moderated by Moody's Robert Callagy and which featured State Street Investment Management's Todd Bean, J.P. Morgan Asset Management's Doris Grillo and Vanguard's Nafis Smith. Asked to comment on the "Stablecoins Reserves and Tokenized Money Funds" session, Bean comments, "So when you came to the Symposium last year, you saw our CEO give the keynote address, and she was the very bullish about the technology and the opportunity set that was coming out of that. And we remain so. I think listening to a couple of the panels yesterday, and for this idea of kind of launch it and leave it, build it and they will come, we've partnered with Galaxy Digital on a couple of different products in the space and dealing with people that are living in the crypto financial world and return prospects in the space." (See our July 28, 2025 News, "July MFI Profile: State Street I.M.'s Yie-Hsin Hung on the Future of Cash.") (Note: Conference materials are available in our "Money Fund Symposium 2026 Download Center." See our latest Money Fund Intelligence for more highlights, and mark your calendars for next year's show, which will be June 23-25, 2027 in Philadelphia!)
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