The decision in September by the US Treasury to withdraw its guarantee programme for money market mutual funds went largely unnoticed, in spite of the financial industry remaining firmly in the regulatory and media spotlight. The lack of attention may not be surprising - the economic picture is improving and the risk of further big failures has receded significantly. But it is in stark contrast to when the guarantee programme was implemented.

The US Treasury announced its $50bn programme for money market funds on September 19, 2008, four days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Even that was too long for some, as a run on money market funds was already out of the starting blocks within hours of the Lehman announcement. The day after the collapse, Reserve Primary, one of the oldest money market funds, revealed that its net asset value had dropped below the crucial one dollar-per-share level due to Lehman exposures. It had "broken the buck". This was unprecedented for a major money market fund and extremely rare even for smaller funds. The announcement prompted a 60 per cent drop in Reserve Primary's asset value as investors withdrew money, and triggered an exodus from money market funds around the world. Internationally, governments were forced to follow the US Treasury's lead to prop up and maintain liquidity in the uninsured $4,000bn money market fund industry. But a year on, while other core parts of the financial system push forward with regulatory reforms, money market funds appear to be continuing almost as business as usual.