Category: Brokerages. Country: United Kingdom (UK).
ICAP is the world’s largest voice and electronic interdealer broker with a daily average transaction volume in excess of $1 trillion, 50% of which is electronic. The Group is active in the wholesale market for OTC derivatives, fixed income securities, money market products, foreign exchange, energy, credit and equity derivatives. ICAP provides a specialist intermediary broking services to commercial banks and investment banks in the wholesale financial markets. An interdealer broker works in these markets to draw together liquidity and to match buyers and sellers so that deals can executed by its banking customers. Banks pay a commission when they use a broker to complete a deal. ICAP offers banks significant economies of scale in price discovery by having a number of staff covering each product and in constant contact with a range of counterparties. Access to a broker therefore allows a bank to increase market coverage in busy times without incurring additional overheads. In many markets ICAP operates as an agent or matched principal broker providing banks with the opportunity to deal anonymously through a neutral party at the most attractive price available. ICAP has created a powerful combination: the world’s largest voice and electronic interdealer broker. There is growing demand for electronic broking of liquid products, which is totally complementary to voice broking of more bespoke, less liquid products. The majority of the markets in which ICAP operates rely on, and will continue to rely on, voice broking and in most markets combines voice and/or electronic access to a common pool of liquidity. This hybrid solution provides customers with both voice support and electronic execution. ICAP was formed by the merger of Garban plc and Intercapital plc in September 1999 and was previously named Garban-Intercapital plc. Exco plc acquired the wholesale broking operations of IPGL by means of a reverse take-over in October 1998 and changed its name to Intercapital plc. In November 1998, Garban was demerged from United Business Media plc. The Garban-Intercapital merger brought together Garban’s traditional strength in government and corporate bonds, interest rate products and money market instruments with Intercapital’s strengths in interest rate swaps and options, commodity swaps, illiquid securities and foreign exchange options. Garban-Intercapital plc was changed to ICAP plc in July 2001. Michael Spencer set up Intercapital in May 1986, initially to concentrate on the new interest rate swaps market. As a specialist financial derivatives broking firm, Intercapital grew from the original four people to over three hundred world-wide, with offices in London, New York, Sydney, Singapore and a joint venture in Tokyo. In October 1998 Intercapital merged with EXCO plc, a listed money broker, and formed Intercapital plc...
Address: 2 Broadgate, London, EC2M 7UR, Phone: 44 20 7000 5000 Fax: 44 20 7000 5975
