More competition is coming to the money fund information business. Longtime data provider iMoneyNet and its flagship publication, Money Fund Report, face a rival in the form of newly formed Crane Data LLC and its initial publication, Money Fund Intelligence.

"It’s really an underserved niche," said Crane Data founder and president Peter G. Cane in an interview with the MFWire.

According to its founder, the company was founded to shake up the market. "Prior to this, some of the companies would charge prohibitive fees," said Crane, who previously served as vice president and managing editor at iMoneyNet. "Crane Data is here to provide competition to the money fund information marketplace, and we're hoping to bring down those fees."

Crane Data, headquartered in Westboro, MA, announced the launch of Money Fund Intelligence in a statement released last Wednesday. The eight-page pdf publication is delivered monthly via email, and currently contains data and analysis on the 200 largest money market funds (each with over $2 billion in assets). However, Crane Data plans to expand the publication's coverage in the coming months to include all money market funds with more than $1 billion in assets.

Limiting the publication's coverage to only the largest money market funds makes sense, argues Crane. "It gives the money funds a more focused peer group, and from the investor's perspective, there are just too many choices," Crane said, adding, "the bigger you are, the lower your expenses are, and the safer you are."

In June, Crane hopes to begin demonstrating a spreadsheet product to clients, and he has a larger database product aiming for a March 2007 release. The database will provide historical performance data on money market funds, and will allow users to create custom peer groups to ease their search.  

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