Setting Up Bloomberg Chat Archiving

Comma archives Instant Bloomberg (IB) chat and Bloomberg Message (MSG) by pulling your firm’s daily compliance feed directly from Bloomberg. There are no agents on trader workstations and nothing to install on the Terminal - Bloomberg exports your messages to a Bloomberg-hosted SFTP site once a day, and Comma connects out, downloads the encrypted files, decrypts them, and lands them in your archive.

This guide covers the two halves of the setup: what you arrange with Bloomberg, and what you configure in Comma. Keeping those two straight is the single biggest thing that makes the setup go smoothly.

How Bloomberg chat capture works

Instant Bloomberg (IB) chat ─┐
                             ├─►  Bloomberg copies them, once every 24h,  ─►  Comma connects out to
Bloomberg Message (MSG) ─────┘     PGP-encrypted, to your Bloomberg-           sftp.bloomberg.com, pulls the
                                   hosted SFTP site                            new files, decrypts, and archives

1. Bloomberg captures your in-scope users’ IB chat and Bloomberg Message traffic.
2. Bloomberg exports that content - every 24 hours - as PGP-encrypted files to your Bloomberg-hosted SFTP site (Bloomberg calls this the “Daily Compliance File” feed).
3. Comma pulls from Bloomberg’s SFTP server on the schedule you choose, decrypts each file with a private key only Comma holds, and stores it in your WORM-compliant archive.

This is the standard delivery model for Bloomberg’s Daily Compliance File feed. A few things to know up front:

• It’s daily, not real-time. Bloomberg’s compliance feed is a once-every-24-hours export. Comma pulls on a schedule (Daily is the right cadence for most firms).
• Bloomberg’s SFTP site is store-and-forward. Bloomberg drops files there and removes them on a rolling basis (roughly 21-30 days), so the archive of record is Comma, not Bloomberg’s SFTP site. As long as Comma pulls on schedule this is automatic.
• Two channels, two sources. IB chat and Bloomberg Message are separate feeds. In Comma you add one source for Bloomberg IB and, if you also archive Bloomberg Message, a second source for Bloomberg Mail.

What you’ll need

Before you start, make sure you have:

• A Bloomberg Anywhere license for your firm. Bloomberg requires this to provision an SFTP compliance site.
• Compliance capture enabled with Bloomberg. Bloomberg only generates the daily files once it is configured to copy your in-scope users’ IB/MSG traffic. If capture is not turned on, the SFTP site will simply be empty - this is the most common reason a new feed shows no data.
• Comma admin access (you must be a team admin to add integrations).
• Pull File Transfer enabled on your Comma team. This surface is rolled out per team - if you don’t see it under Integrations, contact Comma support to turn it on.
• A Bloomberg representative or Bloomberg Customer Support contact. Provisioning the feed is a Bloomberg-side change you cannot self-serve; you arrange it through your Bloomberg rep or Bloomberg support.

The setup at a glance

The order matters, because Bloomberg needs Comma’s keys before it can set up your feed, and Comma needs Bloomberg’s firm code before it can connect:

1. In Comma: add the Bloomberg source. This generates the SSH and PGP public keys you’ll hand to Bloomberg.
2. Send Bloomberg three things: Comma’s SSH public key, Comma’s PGP public key, and Comma’s IP address.
3. Bloomberg sets up your feed and sends back your firm code (your SFTP username), an SFTP password, and confirms the host (sftp.bloomberg.com, port 22).
4. Back in Comma: edit the source to enter the firm code and password, pin Bloomberg’s host key, and verify the connection.

Step 1 - Add the Bloomberg source in Comma

1. Log in to the Comma dashboard as an admin.
2. Go to Integrations > Pull File Transfer.
3. Click Add Pull File Transfer Source.
4. Fill in the form:
   • Name - something recognizable, e.g. “Bloomberg IB”.
   • Vendor - choose Bloomberg IB (or Bloomberg Mail for the Bloomberg Message feed). The host, port, and PGP setting are filled in for you.
   • Authentication - leave as SSH key (the default). You can switch to Password later if Bloomberg issues you a password instead.
   • Username - if you don’t have your Bloomberg firm code yet, enter a placeholder like pending. You’ll replace it in Step 4 once Bloomberg sends it.
   • Schedule - Daily is recommended.
   • Leave Remote directory and File pattern at their defaults.
5. Click Create Pull File Transfer Source.

Comma generates a fresh SSH keypair and a PGP keypair for this source and shows you the public halves. The matching private keys are stored encrypted and are never displayed - only Comma can use them.

Step 2 - Send Bloomberg the three artifacts

On the source’s page, find the “Public keys to register with your vendor” section and copy:

• SSH public key - lets Comma authenticate to your Bloomberg SFTP site.
• PGP public key - Bloomberg encrypts your daily files to this key so only Comma can decrypt them.

You also need:

• Comma’s IP address - Bloomberg only accepts connections from IP addresses you pre-register (allow-list). Comma always connects to Bloomberg from a single fixed address, shown in that same section on the source page: 20.150.251.231.

Then, following Bloomberg’s own recommendation, attach those items to an email to your Bloomberg representative or Bloomberg Customer Support and ask them to:

• Set up a Daily Compliance File SFTP feed for Instant Bloomberg (IB) and/or Bloomberg Message (MSG) for your in-scope users.
• Enable compliance capture for those users (so the daily files are actually produced).
• Encrypt the feed with the PGP public key you provided.
• Register the SSH public key for authentication.
• Allow-list Comma’s IP address (20.150.251.231).

Tip: Bloomberg provisioning is a back-and-forth that can take time. The source you created in Step 1 holds its keys, so you can pick the setup back up later without regenerating anything.

Step 3 - Receive your connection details from Bloomberg

Bloomberg will reply (often called the “Bloomberg implementation email”) with:

• Firm code - an ID for your organization that doubles as your SFTP username (typically a letter followed by a few digits).
• SFTP password - if your feed uses password authentication. (Note Bloomberg passwords expire periodically - around every 18 months - so set a reminder to rotate.)
• SFTP URL - sftp.bloomberg.com (Bloomberg may also list an IP; always use the hostname, which fails over automatically).
• Port - 22.

Save these. You’ll enter them in the next step.

Step 4 - Finish the connection in Comma

1. Open the Bloomberg source in Comma and click Edit.
2. Replace the placeholder Username with your Bloomberg firm code.
3. If Bloomberg issued a password, set Authentication to Password and enter it. (If you’re using key authentication, leave it as SSH key - the public key you already sent Bloomberg is all that’s needed.)
4. Confirm the Remote directory (/ for a standard feed, or the path Bloomberg gave you) and that the File pattern matches your feed (the defaults pull the IB or MSG files for the vendor you chose).
5. Save.

Then pin Bloomberg’s host key so Comma can never connect to an impostor:

6. In the “Host-key trust” section, click Scan host key. Comma shows you the fingerprint the server presented.
7. Either Accept & pin this key (trust the key you just scanned), or - if your Bloomberg rep gave you the host-key fingerprint out of band - paste it and click Confirm host key (Comma pins it only if it matches what the server presents).

Finally:

8. Click Verify connection. A green confirmation means Comma reached Bloomberg, authenticated, and listed your feed directory.
9. Make sure the source is enabled. Comma will now pull on the schedule you set.

That’s it - new files will appear under Recent deliveries after the next scheduled pull.

What gets captured

Bloomberg’s daily feed delivers PGP-encrypted files (Comma decrypts each one on download), typically at the root of your SFTP site unless Bloomberg gives you a different directory. File names follow Bloomberg’s conventions - the schema and version tokens can vary, so your Bloomberg implementation email is the source of truth for the exact patterns:

Content	Typical filename pattern
Instant Bloomberg chat messages and room invites	*.ib19.*.xml*.gpg
Bloomberg Message email-style messages	*.msg.*.xml*.gpg
Attachments for the above	*.att*.tar.gz*.gpg
Disclaimers (kept for regulatory completeness)	*.dscl.*.xml*.gpg

The Bloomberg IB source pulls the IB files and their attachments; the Bloomberg Mail source pulls the MSG files and their attachments. If you need the disclaimer files too, widen that source’s File pattern to * (or add a Custom source for them) - your Comma implementation contact can confirm the exact pattern for your feed.

Troubleshooting

Verify says authentication was rejected - Check that the firm code is entered exactly as Bloomberg sent it, and that Bloomberg has registered Comma’s SSH public key (or that the password is correct). Also confirm Bloomberg has allow-listed Comma’s IP address (20.150.251.231) - Bloomberg refuses connections from unregistered addresses.

Verify says the host key isn’t pinned - Run Scan host key, then Accept & pin (or paste Bloomberg’s published fingerprint and Confirm) before verifying.

Verify says the host resolves to a disallowed address - The host must be Bloomberg’s public SFTP server (sftp.bloomberg.com). This shouldn’t happen for the Bloomberg vendor presets.

The connection works but no files arrive - Two common causes: (1) Bloomberg hasn’t enabled compliance capture for your users yet, so the feed is empty; or (2) the files have already aged out of Bloomberg’s store-and-forward site. Confirm capture is on with your Bloomberg rep, and make sure the source is enabled so Comma pulls daily.

Authentication suddenly fails after months of working - Bloomberg SFTP passwords expire (around every 18 months), and Bloomberg limits how long a registered SSH key stays valid (no longer than two years), so keys need periodic renewal. Edit the source to set a new password, or use Rotate SSH key and re-register the new public key with Bloomberg.

Comma’s IP address - Comma connects from a single fixed address (20.150.251.231) that does not normally change. In the rare event Comma notifies you of a new address, re-register it with Bloomberg or pulls will be refused.

Good practice

• Pull daily. Bloomberg’s feed is daily and its SFTP site purges files on a rolling ~21-30 day window, so a Daily schedule keeps you well inside the retention window.
• Rotate keys deliberately. Use Rotate SSH key / Rotate PGP key when you need to, and re-register the new public key with Bloomberg. Comma keeps prior PGP keys so already-delivered files stay decryptable.
• Set a password-rotation reminder for ~18 months if you use password authentication.

What’s next

• Adding Organizational Integrations - connect other platform-level feeds
• Encryption Keys - how Comma protects archived content
• Configuring Compliance Policies - set up automated checks on captured messages
• SEC & FINRA basics - the recordkeeping rules behind chat archiving