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COVID Response: The Money Market Mutual Fund Facility

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Abstract

In this article, we discuss the run on prime money market funds (MMFs) that occurred in March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and describe the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (MMLF), which the Federal Reserve established in response to it. We show that the MMLF, like a similarly structured Federal Reserve facility established during the 2008 financial crisis, was an important tool in stemming investor outflows from MMFs and restoring calm in short-term funding markets. The usage of the facility was higher by funds that suffered larger outflows. After the facility’s introduction, outflows from prime MMFs decreased more for those funds that had a larger share of illiquid securities. Importantly, following the introduction of the MMLF, interest rates on MMLF-ineligible securities decreased at a slower rate than those on MMLF-eligible securities, even after controlling for credit risk.

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  • Kenechukwu E. Anadu & Marco Cipriani & Ryan M. Craver & Gabriele La Spada, 2021. "COVID Response: The Money Market Mutual Fund Facility," Staff Reports 980, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fednsr:93071
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    1. Cipriani, Marco & La Spada, Gabriele, 2021. "Investors’ appetite for money-like assets: The MMF industry after the 2014 regulatory reform," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 250-269.
    2. Burcu Duygan-Bump & Patrick Parkinson & Eric Rosengren & Gustavo A. Suarez & Paul Willen, 2013. "How Effective Were the Federal Reserve Emergency Liquidity Facilities? Evidence from the Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(2), pages 715-737, April.
    3. Marco Cipriani & Gabriele La Spada, 2020. "Sophisticated and Unsophisticated Runs," Staff Reports 956, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sirio Aramonte & Andreas Schrimpf & Hyun Song Shin, 2023. "Non-bank financial intermediaries and financial stability," Chapters, in: Refet S. Gürkaynak & Jonathan H. Wright (ed.), Research Handbook of Financial Markets, chapter 7, pages 147-170, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Jacewitz, Stefan & Pogach, Jonathan & Unal, Haluk & Wu, Chengjun, 2025. "The regulatory dialectic in bank-sponsored money market funds," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Allen, Kyle D. & Baig, Ahmed & Winters, Drew B., 2023. "The response of money market funds to the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).

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    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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