The ten biggest money-fund managers and the Investment Company Institute are looking to block the new rules SEC chairman Mary Schapiro has been pushing for, Christopher Condon from Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

These ten firms and the ICI have spent a combined $16 million in the first half of the year on lobbying efforts, to go with the $31.6 million spent last year. This is money "well spent," according to Condon.

Schapiro's new rules would require funds to abandon their fixed $1 capital share price or introduce withdrawal limits and capital buffers. SEC officials claim that these tougher rules will provide better insurance against investor runs the $2.5 trillion industry .

Although the SEC passed rule changes in 2010 requiring funds to meet various restrictions, Schapiro believes that more needs to be done to prevent a 2008-style run on money funds.

But she faces an organized opposition. The ICI, for example, has hired public relations firm MWW Group to oppose the rules, Condon writes.

Schapiro has received public backing from Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Fed, and Treasury secretary Timothy F. Geithner. Geithner noted that the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which was established under the Dodd-Frank law, could take action if the SEC does not. The FSOC's purpose is to identify and contain systematic risks. 

Edited by: JY


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