Bloomberg: Approaching the terminal

With 20,000 people using its terminals for fixed income trading on a daily basis, Bloomberg believes it will be a success as a Sef - but it may have to revisit its traditional revenue model. By Ramya Jaidev

As things stand, swap execution facilities (Sefs) only exist on paper. But that makes it easier for would-be operators of the platforms to engage in a kind of origami – taking the flat outlines that appear in the Dodd-Frank Act, then folding and bending them to suit changing competitive and strategic dynamics.

Bloomberg is a good example. It plans to launch a cross-asset class Sef that will generate revenues through sales of Bloomberg terminals – but that business model would make it difficult