Bloomberg strengthened its position as a multi-asset benchmark provider in 2025 by combining broad index development with measurable product adoption. Sixty-six passive ETFs launched during the year, with approximately $21.4 billion of assets linked to Bloomberg indices.
The strategy extends beyond adding products to an already extensive catalogue. Bloomberg uses its market data, research, calculation infrastructure and the Bloomberg Terminal, its flagship financial data, analytics and trading platform, to support the complete index lifecycle, from methodology design and customisation to calculation, publication, analytics and product creation. It calculates more than 55,000 indices each day across more than 120 countries.
Development during 2025 addressed several distinct investment needs. The VolMax family of indices uses volatility targets to adjust equity exposure as market conditions change. The rules are designed to amplify participation in rising markets while reducing exposure during periods of higher volatility. RBC Capital Markets provides structured solutions linked to the indices.
In fixed income, Bloomberg launched the US Total Fixed Income Market Index in October 2025. The benchmark seeks to represent the complete $41 trillion investable US market without restrictions by sector, rating or coupon structure. It incorporates government debt, investment grade and high-yield credit, mortgages, structured products, leveraged loans, inflation-linked bonds and floating-rate securities. BlackRock adopted the benchmark for an ETF.
“A benchmark is most useful and trusted when it reflects the market investors operate in,” says Emanuele Di Stefano, CEO and head of index product, Bloomberg Indices. “Investors increasingly want to measure and allocate across the full breadth of the market. This was the drive behind the Bloomberg US Total Fixed Income Index, which carries no restrictions on sector, rating or coupon. It gives investors a more representative baseline of the entire fixed income market for measuring performance and a broader foundation for new products.”
The index addressed a practical limitation of established benchmarks: they often represent large and liquid segments well but omit securities widely held by active managers. Bloomberg’s research team designed the new index as a more comprehensive reference point for benchmarking and product creation.
Extending the benchmark toolkit
Bloomberg’s other launches demonstrate the range of its development programme. A family of 468 thematic benchmarks translates 33 thematic baskets identified by Bloomberg Intelligence into transparent indices. Members and periodic changes are available through Bloomberg Terminal, while the benchmarks can provide selection universes for fixed baskets and actively managed certificates.
Commodity development focused in part on structural economic change. The Bloomberg Commodity Carbon Tilted, Transition Metals & Gold Index and the Bloomberg Commodity Global Oil & Gas Liquidity Weighted Index provide rules-based exposure to investment themes associated with decarbonisation, electrification and energy markets.
Investors increasingly want to measure and allocate across the full breadth of the market. This was the drive behind the Bloomberg US Total Fixed Income Index, which carries no restrictions on sector, rating or coupon
Emanuele Di Stefano
The Bloomberg Screened Choice Indices, introduced in September 2025, addressed demand for more configurable exclusions. The methodology groups six common exclusion themes into modules that can be selected separately, in combination or applied as an overlay to another equity strategy. This lets investors adapt a common framework to different mandates without relying on an opaque bespoke index.
Customisation also produced client-specific solutions. Bloomberg created more than 20 indices for BNP Paribas structured notes, including the Bloomberg Europe Sovereignty Index. The methodology uses the Bloomberg Industry Classification System to identify and explain the relevant sector exposures. With BBVA, Bloomberg developed sector indices combining quality, value and momentum factors.
The derivatives ecosystem continued to develop around Bloomberg benchmarks. Products in the market linked to Bloomberg indices included 15 credit index futures listed across Eurex and CME, 15 BFIX currency futures at SGX, four Bloomberg Commodity Index futures and options, and 28 commodity sector futures at CME.
Infrastructure and benchmark integrity
This breadth depends on industrial-scale data processing. Bloomberg calculates approximately 450 billion data points each day across 50 million securities, 70 million instruments and 6.5 million entities. Its index coverage spans more than 42 currencies.
The calculation infrastructure combines proprietary data, third-party sources and specialist research. A building-block approach allows Bloomberg to add security types, methodological components and client requirements without constructing each index independently. This supports quicker iteration and makes flagship benchmarks usable as foundations for custom strategies.
Distribution through Bloomberg Terminal connects data with investment workflows. Every index receives a ticker that can be used across Terminal functions and Microsoft Excel. Clients can examine descriptions, membership, historical performance, portfolio characteristics, basket composition, evaluated prices and published methodologies. The IQ function supports index construction and customisation.
Bloomberg’s indexing philosophy emphasises transparent, rules-based and replicable construction. Methodologies, factsheets, announcements and supporting research are published through the Terminal platform. Performance attribution and portfolio analysis tools help clients understand how a benchmark behaved rather than seeing only its return.
“As clients ask for more customisation, greater scale and faster product development, governance, methodology transparency and data quality controls remain the priority,” says Di Stefano. “That discipline is what gives clients the confidence to build with our solutions.”
The index business draws on specialists in markets, quantitative research, data science, engineering and product development. More than 600 research professionals support Bloomberg Indices, including analysts from Bloomberg Intelligence and BloombergNEF. Their research informs thematic development and helps connect index construction with changes in industries, technology and the energy system.
Bloomberg combines breadth with integration, bringing together custom and flagship indices, largescale calculation, transparent methodology, embedded analytics and global distribution.
