Geithner pressures SEC on money-market funds

Geithner sent a letter Thursday to members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council seeking their help in pressuring the SEC to change its rules. Geithner, who heads the panel, said the changes are necessary to protect the system.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro has pushed for the changes. But she abandoned them last month because three of the agency's five commissioners oppose new rules.

The changes were sought after a big fund collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis. One proposed change would require funds have capital cushions, like banks.

The SEC would be required to adopt the council's recommended changes or explain why it failed to act.

Money-market funds are a linchpin of the economy, holding $2.7 trillion in assets. Individual investors, corporate treasurers and professional money managers rely on money funds to limit losses when stocks plunge.

The mutual fund industry has vigorously opposed an overhaul of money funds. The industry supported less comprehensive restrictions on the funds that the SEC adopted 2 ½ years ago. But industry leaders warn that further changes would make money funds so unattractive that investors could pull out of them altogether