The race to digitize the last manual corners of fixed income is accelerating, with two major infrastructure providers this week announcing expansions into asset-backed securities (ABS) and leveraged loans. The moves signal that electronic trading workflows—long standard in equities and crypto—are finally enveloping some of the deepest and most fragmented bond markets.
Bloomberg targets the $14 trillion ABS market with a new electronic workflow designed to automate the BWIC (Bids Wanted in Competition) and OWIC (Offers Wanted in Competition) process. The system, embedded in Bloomberg’s Electronic Markets ecosystem, introduces structured dealer response windows, electronic bid collection, and integrated pricing analytics. Derek Kleinbauer, Global Head of Fixed Income and Equity Trading at Bloomberg, called it “an important step in bringing electronic trading workflows to the ABS markets,” adding that the tool combines “structured workflows, analytics, and multi-dealer execution” to boost operational efficiency.
TS Imagine pushes into private credit and loans, extending its TradeSmart Fixed Income EMS to cover leveraged loans, syndicated loans, and distressed debt. The expansion complements the platform’s existing support for bonds, mortgage-backed securities, CDS, IRS, and crypto assets. Founder and CEO Rob Flatley noted that clients are “managing increasingly complex multi-asset books, often across fragmented toolsets,” and the loans capability aims to unify liquidity access and reduce operational drag. TS Imagine’s data underscores the trend: automated fixed-income execution volumes surged 200% year-over-year in Q1 2026, and overall fixed-income trading jumped 44%.
The push into these historically voice-and-spreadsheet-driven markets reflects mounting pressure from institutional investors demanding cross-asset execution, real-time analytics, and lower costs. As rates volatility persists and private credit assets balloon, technology providers see ABS and loans as the next big frontiers for electronification. The strategic battle is no longer about whether these markets digitize, but about which firms control the workflow layer connecting dealers, data, and execution.
