In a recent American Banker editorial, John D. Hawke, Jr. posits that recent proposals to radically reform money market funds are "really intended to abolish [money market funds], by saddling them with enormous new capital requirements and making them extremely unattractive for the 30 million investors who now use them."  He states that proposals to float the NAV, add a layer of capital or impose fees or "holdbacks" on redemptions during certain economic conditions would make money market funds "significantly less attractive to money managers, institutions and households" and encourage them to use bank accounts, where withdrawals can be made at par. 

John D. Hawke, Jr. is a partner at Arnold & Porter LLP, formerly served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, Comptroller of the Currency and General Counsel to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.  He currently represents Federated Investors, Inc., a sponsor of money market mutual funds.