Special fund of a capital management company consisting exclusively of interest-bearing money market securities – and here primarily treasury bills, commercial papers and time deposits – as well as bonds issued by first-class borrowers with a corresponding remaining running time – usually up to one year. They are regarded as low-risk investments because, as a rule, attention is paid to a reasonable diversification of the fund assets. Measured in terms of liquidity, shares in money market funds are close substitutes for deposits. For this reason, they are also categorized by the ECB as monetary financial institutions, a fact which must be taken into account. – In Germany, according to the “Richtlinie zur Festlegung von Fondskategorien gemäß § 4 Abs. 2 InvG” of the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority), at least eighty-five percent of the assets of a money market fund must be invested in money market paper and bank deposits (cash at bank), each with a maximum term of twelve months, as well as units of other money market funds. Similar regulations do not currently apply to foreign money market funds; international harmonization of regulations is underway. – At the end of June 2012, the investment volume of money market funds globally totaled approx. 3.64 trillion. EUR. This represents about nineteen percent of the total volume of mutual funds worldwide. About two-thirds of MMFs were attributable to the United States at that time. The 1,171 European MMFs at that time play a not insignificant role as a short-term source of financing, especially for banks and companies. At the end of 2011, around fifty percent of the total fund volume was invested in money market instruments issued by banks and companies with a maturity of less than one year. – As investment funds, MMFs are subject to
Germany to the provisions of the German Investment Act. German retail money market funds and also the majority of all European money market funds are undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities; they are thus subject to the requirements of the European UCITS IV Directive and the respective national implementing laws. Accordingly, they are supervised and can be distributed throughout Europe. – See cash pool, investment funds, EU Directive-compliant, investment assets, Capital Investment Code, UCITS funds, super UCITS funds, regulatory arbitrage. – Cf. ECB Monthly Bulletin, September 2003, pp. 10 f. (on statistical coverage in the euro area). In the Deutsche Bundesbank’s monthly statistical supplement “Capital Market Statistics,” also figures on the number, shares outstanding and assets of domestic investment funds (domestic money market funds), broken down by various aspects; ECB Monthly Bulletin of October 2010, pp. 21 ff.
(money market funds in the euro area since 2000; overviews), ECB Monthly Bulletin of January 2012, p. 65 (detailed and explanatory definition of “money market funds”; a dialelle in the first sentence: “fund” is explained by “funds”!), ECB Monthly Bulletin of April 2012, p. 18 ff. (new statistical definition of money market funds in the euro area; legal sources, overviews), Financial Stability Report 2012, p. 70 (money market funds do not play a major role in Germany), BaFin Annual Report 2012, p. 53 f.(money market funds are important players in shadow banking; regulatory efforts), Deutsche Bundesbank Monthly Report of March 2014, p. 23 (almost total money market fund assets in the euro area are managed in France, Ireland and Luxembourg), BaFin Annual Report 2013, p. 31 ff. (supervision and regulation issues).
Attention: The financial encyclopedia is protected by copyright and may only be used for private purposes without express consent!
University Professor Dr. Gerhard Merk, Dipl.rer.pol., Dipl.rer.oec.
Professor Dr. Eckehard Krah, Dipl.rer.pol.
E-mail address: info@ekrah.com
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Ernst_Merk
https://www.jung-stilling-gesellschaft.de/merk/
https://www.gerhardmerk.de/