Fundsters interested in money market funds may to take a look at this morning's "Fund Track" column in the Wall Street Journal. Sam Mamudi follows up on Moody's proposed new money market fund rating system, first unveiled last week (see The MFWire, 9/8/2010). Some money market insiders are unhappy with Moody's plan.

"These proposals are going down like a lead zeppelin," Peter Crane, founder of money-market fund tracker Crane Data, told the WSJ when describing industry reaction to Moody's plan. "Tweaking the ratings criteria is one thing, but moving away from AAA ratings is sacrilege."

The WSJ reports that multiple fund firms privately confirmed that they're giving Moody's some critiques of the new system, though none of those firms was willing to go on the record for the article.

Dan Serrao, senior vice president in Moody's global managed investments group, defended the proposal, which would separate rating scale only for money funds.

"There are risks that are unique to money-market funds and we're looking to provide additional information to investors," Serrao told the WSJ. "What we are proposing is a big change, but one that we think will ultimately be of benefit to investors and the industry." 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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