Corporate Treasurers Applaud SEC's Decision to Forgo Changes to Money Market Funds

Association for Financial Professionals supports money market funds as corporate cash management vehicles

News provided by

Association for Financial Professionals

Aug 23, 2012, 12:53 ET

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association for Financial Professionals, the professional society that represents corporate treasurers, CFOs and their staff, heartily supports the decision of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Shapiro to forgo making potentially damaging changes to the fundamental structure of Money Market Funds (MMF).

"The potential disruption of $2.6 trillion of funding would likely have left Corporate Treasurers without a critical source of short-term capital, namely Commercial Paper," said Jim Kaitz, AFP's president and CEO. "AFP will continue to monitor the situation in Washington, as we understand that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) will continue to assess the role that money market funds play in the global financial market."

Research conducted by AFP this spring had found that organizations would be less willing to invest in MMFs and/or would reduce/eliminate their holdings of MMFs in their short-term investment portfolios if any of the SEC's three reform scenarios became reality: If money market mutual funds (MMFs) were to shift to a floating net asset value (NAV), impose redemption holdbacks or seek additional reserve capital through fees. Results of the 2012 AFP Liquidity Survey results are available on www.afponline.org/liquidity.

AFP members are responsible for ensuring that their organizations have enough cash on hand to fund operations. They are uniquely positioned to observe the cash flows and investment decisions of their organizations. Since they work in a wide range of industries and in both public and private organizations of varying sizes, their opinions reflect a broad corporate perspective that is both operational and strategic.

ABOUT AFP®
The Association for Financial Professionals (www.afponline.org) serves a network of more than 16,000 treasury and finance professionals. Headquartered outside Washington, DC, AFP provides members with news, economic research and data, treasury certification programs, networking events, financial analytical tools, training, and public policy representation to legislators and regulators. AFP's global reach extends to over 150,000 treasury and financial professionals worldwide, including AFP of Canada; London-based gtnews, an on-line resource for the treasury and finance community; and bobsguide, a financial IT solutions network.

SOURCE Association for Financial Professionals