Bloomberg and DirectBooks integration lays new tracks to drive primary bond market efficiencies and automation
Trader TV, London
The Bloomberg–DirectBooks partnership for primary fixed income markets, announced on June 8, aims to lay new tracks for greater efficiency by reducing manual workflows and enabling market participants to manage orders and allocations electronically.
The collaboration integrates DirectBooks with TSOX, Bloomberg’s fixed income execution management system, allowing allocation messages and pricing information to flow electronically between market participants and their trading systems.
Speaking at the Fixed Income Leaders’ Summit in Boston, Bloomberg’s Blair Hurn compared today’s primary market process to «hacking your way through a jungle without a compass,» highlighting the industry’s reliance on manual communication between buy-side desks, bank sales teams and syndicate desks.
The integrated workflow, he said, functions more like a «railroad,» providing a standardised pathway for managing orders, interest updates, pricing and allocations across the market. Early client implementations have reduced manual workflows by as much as 80%, according to Hurn.
Looking ahead, Hurn said further automation could streamline repetitive tasks such as hedging instructions, accelerate allocations and pricing, and expand standardised workflows into additional asset classes, including equities, municipals and structured products.
06.07.2026