CS First Boston, the US securities arm of Credit Suisse Group, said yesterday it agreed to invest in bond broker Trading Edge, in an effort to tap into its Internet bond trading service.

CS First Boston (CSFB) will take an equity stake in Trading Edge, becoming the first investment bank to do so. Trading Edge created BondLink, a real-time bond trading system that gives users anonymity and price transparency. The size of its investment was not disclosed.

Individual investors and institutions have rushed to buy and sell shares at all hours over the Internet and through new electronic alternative stock exchanges, while online bond trading has been much slower.

Trading Edge's service is the first to trade high-yield bonds over the Internet, and the company plans to expand into municipal and convertible bonds as well as emerging market debt after January 1st, it said.

With CS First Boston's stake, Trading Edge said it could boost the flow of orders passing through BondLink.

"We view CSFB's investment in Trading Edge as a strategic relationship that underscores our view of the role electronic trading services, such as BondLink, will play in the future of fixed income trading," said Mr Ben Cohen, a CS First Boston managing director and head of the firm's fixed income and derivatives e-commerce activities.

Trading Edge was founded in 1997 and its BondLink service moved into the high-yield bond market last April.