Wilmington Trust to Participate in Treasury Guarantee Program

Wilmington Trust announced on Friday that the Board of Trustees of its mutual fund family, the Wilmington Funds, authorized participation in the U.S. Treasury Department’s new Temporary Money Market Guarantee Program.

Through this program, the U.S. Treasury will guarantee the share price of any eligible money market mutual fund—whether retail or institutional—that applies for and pays a fee to participate in the program (see Treasury Opens Guarantee Program for Money Funds).

The three participating Wilmington Funds are the Wilmington Prime Money Market Fund, the Wilmington U.S. Government Money Market Fund, and the Wilmington Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund.

“We remain confident in the stability of our money market funds but would like to provide additional reassurance for shareholders who may have concerns in light of the extraordinary events of the last few weeks,” said John J. Kelley, president of the Wilmington Funds, in the announcement.

UBS (see UBS to Apply for Money Market Guarantee Program), Morgan Stanley (see MSIM Signs Up for Treasury Guarantee Program), and Putnam (see Putnam Signs Up for Money Fund Guarantee Program) have also decided to participate in the program.

The temporary guarantee program provides coverage to shareholders for amounts that they held in participating money market funds as of the close of business on September 19. The guarantee will be triggered if a participating fund’s net asset value falls below $0.995, commonly referred to as “breaking the buck.” While the program protects the accounts of investors, each money market fund makes the decision to sign up for the program. Investors cannot sign up for the program individually.

A list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the Treasury Department’s Temporary Guarantee Program for Money Market Funds, a program that will guarantee the share price of any publicly offered eligible money market mutual fund, is availalbe here.

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