Bloomberg, State Street Launch European Bond Trading System

Bloomberg Bond Cross will use Bloomberg's Trading System Order Execution (TSOX) technology to capture clients' orders. State Street then finds the opposite side of the trade and participants can work towards negotiating and executing a trade with State Street acting as an impartial counterparty for each trade.

"Despite constraints on dealers' ability to make-markets in corporate credit, large orders still need to be executed each day," says George Harrington, global head of FICC trading at Bloomberg. "Bloomberg Bond Cross brings together our existing large network of Bloomberg Professional service subscribers, providing the ability for order staging, negotiation and transacting in one place, attracting volume and building liquidity to help investors identify trade opportunities with State Street."

Bloomberg says participants will minimize information leakage and retain anonymity throughout the execution process.

"The pursuit of liquidity has evolved and a new breed of networked trading solutions is challenging the status quo and offering investors new channels and solutions," adds Martine Bond, head of trading and clearing solutions at State Street Global Markets. "As Bloomberg launches its BBX platform, we are pleased to join them at the forefront of the trend and help offer liquidity through our global, diverse client network."

Bloomberg plans to expand the service geographically, allowing a greater number of firms to trade illiquid credit products.