It's a bit confusing for investors. But ABE has several Hats: 1)...

It's a bit confusing for investors. But ABE has several Hats: 1) a Bond Exchange (think ASX for instant Bond purchase in small quantities or large). Here, a superior tech stack with full service including custodian and post-sale plus self-service and integrations to the likes of IRESS offers for the first time an Exchange like service instead of OTC (If you will try to answer the Q: why don't I hold some different bonds in my portfolio directly? you will be on the right research track). 2) A Broker. Since this is a new Biz - they needed to sell Bonds and for that purpose, they needed a Broker. They are the first broker and in this hat they bring new Bond offerings from various sources for a nice profit, using the platform (Exchange). This is a demo for other brokers. As this grows they hope to attract more brokers who will realize ABE offers better service, for cheaper prices. 3) Market making for Banks. Post 2008 banks were prohibited from market making in Bonds. Unintended consequence: Lack of liquidity. Now banks can use them to buy and sell bonds without putting this on the Bank Balance sheet. Via this venue, they can get visibility to Institutional pricing and interesting inventory they can bring to retail at the best prices possible.

Since they have direct data coming from Retail (this is a segment no one knows because they could never get involved in the market), they can tailor build products designed accurately for the small users. They can also bring INTL products after they create a FX conversion mechanism, thereby filling a painful lack of supply and desperately needed income structure (check out the site and the new bond offering).