Michael Halloran Comments on Money Market Funds

Michael Halloran, a partner in Pillsbury’s corporate and securities group in Washington, D.C., was quoted on the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s two avenues to regulate money market funds. The first avenue would be designating money market fund servicers as systematically important financial institutions and would enforce practical standards under its authority. The second would be another U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission vote.

According to Halloran, Dodd-Frank gives Fsoc authority to force adoption of a money market fund proposal if the council disagrees with the SEC’s explanation for opposing it.

“As I read the statue, [Fsoc] can force adoption of the rule,” Halloran said. “This would be a pretty brave act in an election year but I think [Treasury Secretary] Timothy Geithner, as Fsoc chairman, could get the two-thirds vote to pass it.”