View from the Office.

I met up with Thomas McKean from BondBloxx at the Tartinery Cafe at Columbus Circle. I had the omelet and a macchiato. 

Thomas and I had overlapped at Bloomberg before he left for Barclays in 2018. We reconnected on LinkedIn. Thomas works in corporate strategy and development at BondBloxx reporting to founder/CEO Leland Clemons, a former Blackrock executive.

We talked about the serendipity of random decisions that shape one’s career. He was recruited to BondBloxx by co-founder Tony Kelly, who happened to be sitting in on a presentation Thomas did at Georgetown. 

BondBloxx took advantage of advancements in credit market structure such as e-trading and portfolio trading of corporate bonds to launch fixed-income ETFs in 2022. The firm has accumulated $3.5 billion in assets under management. 

The ETFs provide investors the ability to get more precise fixed income exposure to areas such as Treasury duration, credit risk (i.e. corporate debt rated CCC, BB or B) and sectors ranging from healthcare to energy. 

What I love about this story is how it reminds us that even in the ferociously competitive world of Wall Street there are opportunities for new entrants.

Even when the area — ETFs — is dominated by giants like State Street, Vanguard and Blackrock.

It’s a reminder of the dynamism of the American economy.