Allstate Corp. Chief Executive Officer Tom Wilson has increasedbond trading to boost returns as Wall Street scales back frommaking markets.

“We're a big player in the fixed-income market, we have capacityto hold stuff, we don't have high liquidity needs,” Wilson said inan interview at Bloomberg's New York headquarters last Thursday.“Rather than assume that everything we buy has to stay in thewarehouse at the same time, let's assume that we can buy it andsell it.”

Bankers including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Gary Cohn andJPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon have warned that a shortageof buyers could trigger wide price swings during a crisis. Bankshave limited their role due to higher capital and liquidityrequirements, making it harder to act as market makers and step into buy debt.