綠角財經筆記: 美國券商Firstrade中止貨幣市場基金服務(Firstrade Money Market Fund Closure)

美國券商Firstrade中止貨幣市場基金服務(Firstrade Money Market Fund Closure)

最近有使用美國券商Firstrade的朋友，在登入後的主畫面右側，應可看到一封標題為”貨幣市場基金終止須知”的通知信。

信件內容提到Firstrade的交割公司，Apex Clearing將停止參與貨幣市場基金的服務。自2014十二月15日起，Apex所提供的兩支貨幣市場基金:Domestic Retail Fund(代號:DRTXX)與International Retail Fund(代號:DDIRZ)將停止現金掃入的功能。原先使用這些貨幣基金的投資人，則會轉換為現金部分。

之後Apex Clearing提供的現金儲放部位，是有FDIC(Federal Deposit Insurance Company，聯邦存款保險公司)保障的銀行存款，年利率0.01%。

所以將現金繼續放在Apex Clearing提供的現金停泊選項，或是放在券商提供的現金帳戶中，利率都一樣是0.01%。不同的地方在於保障系統。Apex用的是銀行的保障體系FDIC，券商用的是券商的保障體系SIPC。

目前還看不出這個政策改變對台灣投資朋友的影響。譬如我自己帳戶中看到的，不論是在11月，還是12月15號之後，現金部位的標記都仍是ISPXZ。

後記，信件原文如下:
Dear Valued Customer,

We are writing to inform you that our clearing brokerage firm Apex has discontinued its participation in the money market sweep program. Apex offers a more secure FDIC Insured Deposits* which provides the same yield of 0.01% as the money market fund. Currently under the APEX FDIC program, it has been designed to provide you with up to $2.5 million of FDIC insurance.

A money market fund is a type of mutual fund that invests in short term low risk fixed income mutual funds and/or debt securities. The money market funds are not insured by FDIC and may lose value if the investments perform poorly. The mutual fund company attempts to keep their NAV (Net Asset Value) at $1 per share. However, the money market fund could lose money if the NAV falls below $1 per share. There is a low risk possibility of losing money in a money market fund.

As of 12/15/2014, Apex will not process new sweep setup request for:
Domestic Retail Fund (DRTXX)
International Retail Fund (DDIRZ)

Customers currently in the sweep fund will be migrated out of the fund into cash and all sweeps will be discontinued by February 1st, 2015.