Why did the Reserve's money market funds break the buck? The WSJ Fund Track column takes what will assuredly be the first of many looks at what happened last September and concludes that Bruce Bent's reversal of course on using commercial paper in the funds was the key event. The article also hints, but does not outright say, that Bent made the decision to boost the assets in the funds.

For the full story on the the death of the Reserve and its Primary Fund, see MFWire's timeline.

Those looking for more "inside dish" will likely be disappointed by the article. No disgruntled former Reservers appear to be talking and there are no smoking guns mentioned. The closest the authors come to an inside source is the widow of Henry Brown, Bent's deceased cofounder at Reserve, who tells the paper that she is glad her husband did not live to see the Reserve's collapse: "He would have felt so sad," she said. Pretty tame stuff for a collapse this large.  

Edited by: Sean Hanna, Editor in Chief


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