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September 12, 2001
TO: BOARD OF GOVERNORS No. 44-01
PRIMARY CONTACTS - MONEY MARKET FUNDS No. 1-01
ACCOUNTING/TREASURERS COMMITTEE No. 27-01
SEC RULES COMMITTEE No. 73-01
RE: MONEY MARKET FUNDS
As you know, the U.S. equity markets will be closed tomorrow, September 13th and may
also be closed on Friday, September 14th. We understand that some money market funds plan to
be open tomorrow to process various types of transactions. A number of money market fund
prospectuses state that the fund will be open only when the NYSE is open. We have had
informal discussions with the SEC staff on the issue of whether such funds could be open for
business even though the NYSE will be closed. The staff has advised us that it would be
permissible for such funds to be open, and that the staff would not take any action against
them. The staff stated that funds that do decide to open when the NYSE is closed should take
all reasonable steps to inform their shareholders that they will be open. In addition, funds
should sticker their prospectuses as soon as practicable.
We will continue to post updates on the ICI’s member website regarding the
status of the markets and other issues as information becomes available.
Matthew P. Fink
President