Mary Schapiro is still pushing two controversial reform proposals for the money market mutual fund industry. On Friday the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair reiterated her support for switching money funds to floating net asset values (NAVs) and adding a new capital buffer requirement for backing up money funds.

Ronald Orol of MarketWatch reports on Schapiro's speech, delivered Friday morning at the Practicing Law Institute's "SEC Speaks" event [speech]. According to the pub, after the speech Schapiro told reporters that the SEC will put both proposals out to the public for comment.

Schapiro acknowledged that the two proposals haven't exactly provoked a positive response from many mutual fund firms.

"It's hard to miss the hue and cry being raised by the industry against either of these approaches," Schapiro said. "But the fact is investors have been given a false sense of security by money market fund sponsor support and the one-time Treasury guarantee."

She insisted that, unlike when the Reserve Primary Fund broke the buck in September 2008 after Lehman Brothers' collapse, the U.S. Treasury won't be swooping in next time to off guarantees for the rest of the funds in the industry. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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