ICAP, the world’s premier interdealer broker, announced that Euro IRS trades with a nominal value of over Euro 10 billion were matched through the electronic order book on its platform in the first week of trading.
ICAP launched its electronic market for trading Euro interest rate swaps (Euro IRS) with market maker support on 6 September. The completed trades during the week included several trading strategies including: butterflies, spreads, outrights, futures crosses and basis.
Michael Spencer, Chief Executive of ICAP, said: “This is a tremendous start for our Euro IRS business and shows the support the project has from our clients. The platform presents an attractive, market orientated proposition for our customers. The fact that 15% of our Euro IRS trades were through the electronic order book during the first week and that 13 major banks were involved in those trades is a testament to the attractiveness of the new platform.
"We developed this market in response to the specific needs of OTC dealers, as well as regulators, who in this post Lehman era, are seeking to establish a viable framework for improving trading efficiency. It sets new high standards in terms of lowering operational and systemic risk, reducing costs and providing access to liquidity. We believe these standards will benefit our customers and the regulators alike.
"By using our technology banks are able to execute trades that they would not previously have been able to match. We expect that the volume of business will continue to grow as more banks are connected and more streaming prices are added to the platform.”
ICAP reports all of its broking volumes on a single count basis.
