Citadel Securities has announced plans to enter the corporate bond market this year, The DESK can reveal, in a surprise play for one of the few areas of the market that it does not already dominate.
The move was confirmed to The DESK by Will Boeckman, the head of fixed income platform sales at Citadel Securities, who announced the plans onstage at FILS US 2023. He told The DESK that while the launch was still in its early stages, the firm has already partnered with MarketAxess, live as of Tuesday 20 June, and plans to join all the other major platforms.
Activity will initially be limited to the US, with no entry to Europe yet, but the long-term goal is to build the same footprint in corporate bonds as the firm already holds in rates, treasuries and ETFs, according to sources. Citadel Securities is already one of the largest market makers in the world in the global fixed income and currency markets, and in recent years has worked on expanding its footprint in both treasuries and rates, as well as its global presence.
According to Boeckman, it is setting its sights on the corporate bond market in order to help liquidity improve. The news may come as a welcome relief to bond traders, after a challenging year in which bid/offer spreads have notably widened at points and traditional dealer liquidity provision has been challenged by highly volatile markets and cost of capital.
The move comes following a record year for the firm, which posted a windfall revenue of US$7.5bn in 2022, up 7.1% on the previous year. The DESK
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