NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has affirmed at 'AAAmmf' the rating for Daily Assets Fund Institutional, a money market fund managed by Deutsche Investment Management Americas Inc. (DIMA).
The rating affirmation reflects the fund's extremely strong capacity to achieve its investment objectives of preserving capital and providing shareholder liquidity through limiting credit, market and liquidity risks.
KEY RATING DRIVERS
--The fund's overall credit quality and diversification;
--Short
maturity profile;
--Minimal exposure to interest rate and spread
risk;
--The capabilities and resources of DIMA as investment
advisor.
As of April 3, 2013, the fund had $5.5 billion in assets under management.
CREDIT QUALITY AND DIVERSIFICATION
The fund seeks a high level of current income consistent with liquidity and the preservation of capital by investing in short-term U.S. dollar-denominated debt obligations, including obligations of domestic and foreign banks, commercial paper, municipal securities and repurchase agreements backed by U.S. Treasury and agency securities or investment grade debt securities.
The fund invests in securities rated at least 'A-' or 'F1' by Fitch or equivalent or enters into repurchase agreements with counterparties rated at least 'F1' or equivalent. The fund also limits exposure to individual repurchase agreement counterparties to 25% of its assets provided such exposure is collateralized by U.S. Treasury and government agency securities. These investment policies are consistent with Fitch's 'AAAmmf' rating criteria.
As of April 3, 2013, the fund's Portfolio Credit Factor, which is a risk weighted measure of the credit quality and maturity profile of portfolio assets, was also consistent with Fitch's 'AAAmmf' rating criterion of 1.50 or less.
MATURITY PROFILE
The fund manages its market risk exposure by limiting its weighted average maturity to reset date (WAM) and weighted average life (WAL) to 60 and 120 days, respectively, consistent with Fitch's 'AAAmmf' rating criteria.
LIQUIDITY PROFILE
To limit liquidity risk, the fund seeks to invest at least 10% of its assets in daily liquid securities and at least 30% of its assets in weekly liquid securities. As of April 3, 2013, the fund's available daily and weekly liquidity levels were consistent with Fitch 'AAAmmf' rating criteria.
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
DIMA, the fund's investment advisor, is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG (rated 'A+/F1+' by Fitch). Deutsche Bank AG is a global banking institution that engages in a wide range of financial services, including investment management, mutual funds, retail, private and commercial banking, investment banking and insurance. Fitch views Deutsche Bank AG and DIMA's investment advisory capabilities, financial and resource commitments, operational controls, corporate governance, and compliance procedures as consistent with the 'AAAmmf' rating assigned to the fund.
RATING SENSITIVITY AND SURVEILLANCE
The rating may be sensitive to material changes in the credit quality, market or liquidity risk profiles of the fund. A material adverse deviation from Fitch guidelines for any key rating driver could cause the rating to be lowered by Fitch, including adverse changes in shareholder concentration and/or increases in unanticipated cash outflows. Given the portfolio's primary investment focus on domestic and foreign issuers in the financial sector, the ratings may also be sensitive to material adverse changes in the sector globally.
Fitch receives weekly fund holdings information and other pertinent fund data from the fund's administrator to conduct surveillance against ratings guidelines and maintain its money market fund ratings. Surveillance and analytical information on this fund is available in the Funds Surveillance section of Fitch's web site (www.fitchratings.com).
Additional information is available at www.fitchratings.com.
The sources of information used to assess this rating were the public domain and DIMA.
Applicable Criteria and Related Research:
--'Global Money Market
Fund Rating Criteria'(March 26, 2013).
Applicable Criteria and Related Research
Global Money Market Fund
Rating Criteria
http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=704145
Additional Disclosure
Solicitation Status
http://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=789606
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