More Money Funds Hold Risky Subprime Paper

Although it became apparent two months ago that a handful of money market funds held subprime paper through structured investment vehicles (SIVs), at least a dozen more hold SIVs that Moody’s Investors Service said on Friday it might downgrade, The Wall Street Journal reports.

It became apparent earlier that one money market fund at Bank of America, for instance, had $640 million invested in a SIV that just folded, and filings indicate that other fund companies with SIV exposure of between 1% and 2% include Fidelity, JPMorgan and Federated. Now it’s apparent, through regulatory filings, that Barclays Global Investors, UBS, Charles Schwab, Deutsche Bank, BNY Hamilton Funds, Legg Mason and Morgan Stanley also held SIVs in their money market funds.

“No matter what the exposure, if it’s a penny or million dollars, we’re keeping our eye on it,” said money market fund analyst Peter Rizzo of Standard & Poor’s.