Systems and methods are provided for inducing transactions between buying and selling parties in the electronic commerce of financial instruments. An electronic messaging platform is used to receive transaction proposals that are formatted according to financial industry protocols. The transaction proposals are sent as electronic messages to prospective counterparties. A person-person contact link is attached to each sent transaction proposal message. In response to activation of the person-to-person contact mechanism on a particular transaction proposal by any recipient, the system sets up an instant messaging session between the sender and the recipient. The instant messaging session may additionally be open or accessible to members of pre-designated coverage teams associated with the sender and/or the recipient. The information content of protocol-governed messages can also can be augmented by attaching additional information files to the messages. Electronic messages with attachments are marked for distinctive visual display. A recipient may view an attachment by activating a navigation link embedded in the distinctive visual display.