Why did ICI form the Money Market Working Group?
The money market plays a vital role in the nation’s economy as a source of financing for U.S. businesses, financial institutions, consumers, and municipalities. In September and October 2008, a time of considerable financial turmoil, money market funds came under intense pressure. Following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, one fund saw its share price, also known as net asset value (NAV), fall below the $1.00 level that money market funds strive to maintain. During this period, the Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury took unprecedented actions to keep the money market liquid and functioning. ICI’s Executive Committee—as well as the industry as a whole—recognized this crisis as an opportunity to assess the regulations that govern the industry’s operations and the more stringent practices adopted by some money market funds that go beyond those regulations. The Money Market Working Group was formed to develop recommendations to improve the functioning of the money market
