Thursday, July 12, 2012
Financial Reintermediation
In the 1970s, financial disintermediation occurred when investors left
the safety of bank deposits for higher yielding money market mutual
funds (MMMFs). Recently, the SEC has been in discussions about possible
changes to the structure and regulation of MMMFs, which has helped lead
to financial reintermediation, that is the increased use of bank
deposits. In the recent 2012 AFP Liquidity Survey, 74 percent of
corporate short-term assets are in bank deposits, MMMFs, and U.S.
Treasury bills. Interestingly, since 2006, the percentage of short-term
assets in bank deposits has increased from 23 percent of short-term
investments to 51 percent. http://www.afponline.org/liquidity/