“Goldman Sachs has radically restructured its electronic bond trading platform in a last-ditch effort to lure customers to the struggling system.

“The move underscores one of the biggest challenges facing Wall Street. Banks and investors both say that their ability to trade corporate bonds has dropped sharply in recent years, but the two sides cannot agree on how best to improve liquidity in the $9.2tn market for US companies’ debt.

“News of Goldman’s restructured platform comes just two days before bond investors are set to hold another meeting to discuss issues facing the corporate debt market, according to people familiar with the matter. The meeting follows talks held in Boston last year between “buy-side” investors and “sell-side” banks that ended without any consensus as to how to improve the market.

“This time the dealer-banks have not been invited to participate, in a potential sign that the financial industry is no closer to collectively resolving the liquidity issue. Banks say that liquidity has dropped in part because of new rules that make it harder for them to hold big inventories of corporate bonds and facilitate trades.

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