"Disclosing daily NAVs along with our daily portfolio holdings and approved issuer lists creates an unprecedented level of transparency in money funds," stated Michael Lydon, Reich and Tang's CEO.
Reich & Tang to Disclose Daily "Shadow" Net Asset Values
New York, January 18, 2013—Reich & Tang today announced its next phase in offering additional transparency within its money market mutual funds. The company will soon begin to disclose daily net asset values for its prime money market funds, a move that is gaining steam in the industry and one that complements Reich & Tang’s long standing commitment to providing transparency to all shareholders.
To date, Reich & Tang is the only company to post its prime money market funds’ portfolio holdings and approved issuer lists on a daily basis. “Disclosing daily NAVs along with our daily portfolio holdings and approved issuer lists creates an unprecedented level of transparency in money funds,” said Michael Lydon, Chief Executive Officer of Reich & Tang. “Having this combined ‘transparency trifecta’ enables our shareholders to conduct appropriate real-time due diligence on our funds, evaluate our credit process, and best determine suitability to their individual investment policies and philosophies.”
The SEC currently mandates that all money fund companies provide these “marked-to-market”, or “Shadow” NAVs on a monthly basis, which is then made available to the public on a 60-day lag. Many fund sponsors in the industry see the daily reporting of these NAVs as a positive move as evidenced by their voluntary participation in providing the information. Mr. Lydon does emphasize that education will be paramount. “As with any newer concept or material that comes to market, educating shareholders as to why it is being done and what to look for is important. We have begun working closely with our clients and shareholders in helping them to understand what the marked-to-market NAVs represent, what to expect, and how they behave in different market environments.”
The preemptive move to share daily NAVs with the public comes ahead of the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s (FSOC) deadline to provide comments regarding their proposed money fund reform recommendations. One of the proposed recommendations by FSOC calls for a floating rate NAV, which has stirred much debate within the money fund industry. One could argue that the disclosure of the daily NAVs may be a means to demonstrate to the public the overall long-term stability in the pricing of money market mutual fund NAVs. “Consistent with the times and our transparency efforts, we believe that added levels of transparency and education will help to address some of the challenges that FSOC’s proposed money fund reform measures are seeking to overcome,” concluded Lydon.