Money Markets

Short-term debt instruments Maturity of < 1 year Services immediate cash needs –Borrowers need short-term working capital –Lenders need an interest-earning parking space for excess funds Instruments trade in an active secondary market –Liquid market provides easy entry & exit for participants –Speed and efficiency of transactions allows cash to be active even for very short periods of time (over night). Market size in 2008:.$ 8 Trillion

Money Markets Large denominations –Units of $1 - $10 million –Transactions costs low in relative terms –Individual investors do not participate in this market Low default risk –Only high quality borrower participate –Low time maturities reduce the risk of changes in borrower quality Insensitive to interest rate changes –Maturity (< 1 year) too short to be adversely affected, in general, by changes in rates

Money Market Securities Treasury Bills Federal Funds Repurchase agreements Commercial paper Negotiable Certificates of Deposit (CDs) Bankers acceptances All of these instruments are what comprise YOUR money market investment account at your local bank

Money Market Participants (excluding brokers/dealers) SecurityBorrower (issuer)Lender (investor) Treasury billsU.S. Treasury (Federal Government) Commercial banks, Mutual Funds, Corporations, etc. Federal Funds & Repurchase agreements Commercial banks, other FIs Commercial paperCorporations, Commercial banks Corporations, Mutual funds, other FIs Negotiable CDsCommercial banksCorporations, Mutual funds, other FIs Bankers acceptancesCommercial banksCorporations, Community banks

Treasury securities Issued by Federal Government: Finance annual deficits (budget shortfalls) Refinance maturing debt Standard maturities: 4, 13, 26 or 52 weeks (1, 3, 6, 12 months) Denominations: Face value $1,000 Round lots are sold as $5 million (new issues) Risk: Assumed risk/default free Interest rate: No coupon payment T-bills sold at a discount to face value (implied rate of return)

Treasury Auctions (Primary Market) Auction cycle: Weekly for 4, 13 & 26 week securities Auction process: Single price auction (all winning bidders by the same) Competitive bids 1.Requires $1 million minimum bid, generally made by dealers and large institutions 2.Bidders submit a quantity and lowest yield (highest price) that they are willing to accept 3.No single bidder can win more than 35% of the issue. Non-competitive bids: 1.Purchasers seeking less than $1 million do not participate in the auction 2.Indicate the quantity of securities desired to be purchased at the stop yield 3.Get preferential allocation (all bids are met) Non-public bids : 1.The Federal Reserve Bank participates in this market (open market transactions) and submits the quantity that they wish to purchase 2.This quantity is guaranteed similar to non-competitive bids.

Treasury Auctions Winning bid: 1.Competitive bids are sorted from lowest to highest yield (highest to lowest price) 2.After non-competitive and non-public purchaser orders are filled, the Treasury accepts the highest price (lowest yield) bids until the issuance is completed 3.The highest yield accepted by the treasury is the stop yield 4.Bidders above the stop yield are shut out 5.Bidders at the stop yield have their orders filled on a pro rata basis

stop yield Pro rated percent of face value Source:

Treasury Auctions Quantity of T-bills Bid Price (% of face) competitivetotal Noncompetitive Bids $239 million % Stop yield $15,522 million $15,761 million winnerslosers

Secondary Treasury Market Largest of any Money Market security: Participants: Buy for their own account or on behalf of their customers 1.Government approved dealers (approx 20, designated by the NYFRB) 2.Secondary dealers (approx 500 trade in secondary market) 3.Commercial banks, insurance companies, pension funds 4.Federal reserve bank Trading: takes place between… 1.Primary market dealers (fed wire transfers requiring no paper work) 2.Dealers and their customers 3.Volume greater than $100 billion daily (larger than NYSE) Prices: determine the interest rate paid (T-bills are sold at discount) 1.Dealers earn a bid-ask spread in secondary market Regulation: Very little government oversight since traders are large institutions

Secondary Treasury Market Federal Reserve Bank of New York Transfers $10m. In T-bills from J.P. Morgan Chase to Lehman Brothers Transaction recorded in Feds Book-Entry System J.P. Morgan Chase sells $10m. In T-bills Lehman Brothers buy $10m. In T-bills Fedwire Transaction Fedwire Transaction Individual buy $50,000 in T-bills Local Bank or Broker J.P. Morgan Chase sell $50,000 in T-bills FRBNY -$50,000 in T-bills from J.P. Morgan Chases account + $50,000 T-bill to Individual Source: reprinted from Saunders Cornett Financial Markets and Institutions, 3rd Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, Purchase by individual Between government security dealers

Federal Funds Short term transactions between financial institutions: 1.Term is generally over night/week-end 2.Not backed by collateral - unsecured loans 3.Highly liquid market 4.Depository institutions use this market to buy/sell excess deposits in order to manage their liabilities. 5.For banks, this is sometimes referred to as hot money Federal Fund Yields: 1.No coupon payment - sold at a discount 2.Quoted rates assume a 360 day year, conversion i bond = i ff (365/360) Federal Funds Market: 1.Trades take place between banks that buy/sell excess reserves held at their federal reserve bank 2.Banks or FIs that are not FRB members can use a correspondent bank (that is a member) to conduct the transaction 3.Transactions take place over the Fedwire

Repurchase agreements Definition: selling an asset with an explicit agreement to repurchase the asset after a set period of time Example: A bank has deficient reserves and needs to borrow overnight. 1.Bank A sells a treasury security to Bank B at P 0 2.Bank A agrees to buy the treasury back at a higher price P f > P 0 3.Bank B earns a rate of return implied by the difference in prices 4.Since the loan is backed by collateral, the rate is usually lower than the rate available in the Federal Funds market 5.Fed conducts open market transactions through RAs, using transactions that are generally less than 15 days. i RA = P f – P 0 P0P0 360 days x

Commercial Paper Unsecured short-term promissory note: 1.Generally issued by corporations or financial institutions 2.Sold directly to institutions or through dealers 3.Is the largest (total $ value) of the money market securities 4.Funds used to finance working capital requirements Terms: 1.Sold in denominations of $100k, $250k, $500k and $1 million. 2.Maturity less than 270 days (registration required otherwise) 3.Common maturities are between 20 and 45 days 4.Sold at discount and held to maturity – no active secondary market 5.Yields are quoted based on 360 day year Issuers need good reputation to issue: 1.Issuers must have excellent credit and be rated by a rating agency 2.Low cost alternative to bank loans, but requires that lenders can tell your type – the adverse selection problem 3.Firms in trouble are immediately cut off from this market in the same way that troubled banks are quickly cut off from the federal funds market Tycos downgrade from tier 1 to tier 3 forced them out of the market

Negotiable Certificates of Deposits (CDs) A bank issued time deposit: Not a demand deposit 1.Fixed interest rate and maturity 2.Terms are negotiable (e.g. 6 month at 4.1% or 1 year at 5.2%) 3.Common maturities are less than 12 months 4.These funds are more certain to banks that demand deposits that can leave at any time. Terms and Trading: 1.Most CDs are sold directly to investors who hold to maturity 2.Investors receive both principal and interest 3.Rates are quoted using a 360 day year 4.A network of about 15 brokers/dealers make a secondary market Risk : 1.Small CDs are similar to demand deposits wrt insurance 2.Large CDs (called Jumbo CDs) are not federally insured through FDIC 3.Large banks, with perceived lower risk due to too-big-to-fail (TBTF) doctrine, often have lower rates than smaller banks

Bankers Acceptance Banks act as intermediaries between trading partners: 1.Banks guarantee payments to secure orders of goods from manufacturers 2.Are a type of letter of credit that guarantees a payment by the bank on a specific date 3.Particularly useful between foreign trading partners where there is a high level of asymmetric information – Banks resolve this AI Example: 1.Lubbock Acme Enterprises orders 50,000 Red Raider flags from a Peruvian textile manufacturer 2.The Peruvian manufacturer pulls out a globe to figure out where Lubbock is – they have no idea who the buyer is. 3.Since the Peruvian manufacturer has to retool the factor to make the flags, they want some guarantee that Lubbock Acme is actually going to pay 4.Lubbock Acme doesnt want to pay until they know that they are going to get the goods delivered as promised. 5.Bank of America steps in as intermediary with a contract that provides a credible delivery of payment once the goods are delivered. 6.Bank of America agrees to pay the amount of the BA if the Lubbock Acme fails to pay

Bankers Acceptance Locality of BAs: San Francisco, New York and Chicago originate most BAs Only the largest banks engage in this market Trading: 1.Trading of BAs take place on secondary markets until such time that the payment is delivered 2.Maturity is typically 30 to 270 days 3.Denominations are bundled into $100,000 and $500,000 levels for trading 4.If the manufacturer has an immediate need for cash, they can sell the BA prior to delivery of the goods. Risk: Default risk is low since both the bank and importer must default on payment, and resulting interest rates are low

Eurodollars Eurodollar: U.S. dollars held as deposits in foreign banks Corporations often find it more convenient to hold deposits at foreign banks to facilitate payments in their foreign operations Can be held in U.S. bank branches or foreign banks Dollar denominated deposits are referred to as Eurodollars Risk: They are not subject to reserve requirements Nor are they eligible for FDIC depositor insurance (U.S. government is not interested in protecting foreign depositors) The resulting rates paid on Euro dollars are higher (higher risk) Trading: Over night trading as in the Federal Funds market Eurodollars are traded in London, and the rates offered are referred to as LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) Rates are tied closely to the Fed Funds rate Should the LIBOR rate drop relative to the Fed Funds rate, U.S. banks can balance their reserves in the Eurodollar market (arbitrage)

Money Market Rates