(Bloomberg News) BlackRock Inc., the world's largest money manager, plans to start a bond-trading system that will allow investors to bypass investment banks.

"This is an extension of BlackRock's broader efforts to streamline trading and access liquidity across various means," BlackRock said in an e-mailed statement today. It didn't give further details.

The platform would be run by New York-based BlackRock Solutions and offer clients the ability to deal in corporate bonds, mortgage securities and other assets, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported the plan earlier today. Customers would include sovereign-wealth funds, insurance companies and other money managers, the newspaper said.

The system is being developed to reduce costs and make up for Wall Street's diminished ability to provide liquidity, not to compete with investment banks, the Journal said, citing Richard Prager, a BlackRock managing director.

BlackRock, run by Laurence D. Fink, has about $3.5 trillion of assets under management. BlackRock Solutions, the unit of the firm that advises financial institutions and governments on hard-to-value-assets, was selected by the U.S. in 2008 to oversee tainted portfolios at the peak of the financial crisis.

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