Bent in Favor of New Money Market Fund Rules

Bruce Bent, chairman of The Reserve and the creator of the first money market mutual fund, is breaking from the pack that has been critical of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposal of the rule governing money funds to lessen their reliance on credit rating agencies, Dow Jones reports.

Bent agrees that the SEC’s proposed amendments to Rule 2a-7 will force money market funds to become better skilled at assessing credit risk. The effect of the rule, Bent said in a letter to the SEC, “will either be increased credit expertise at money fund providers or a winnowing of the funds offered, both of which would increase the integrity of money market funds.”

Bent is in the minority in the mutual fund industry; a number of large fund companies, including Vanguard and Fidelity, have opposed the proposed changes.