Interdealer broker and post trade risk services provider ICAP has taken an equity stake in iSwap, a trading platform for interest rate swaps.
Citigroup has joined as an investing partner and will support the platform with streaming prices, alongside the other shareholding banks Barclays, BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.
The potential exists to expand further the number of banks participating in the i-Swap initiative.
As disclosed at ICAP’s half year results announced on 14 November 2012, volumes on the i-Swap platform have improved markedly over the past six months. This trend further accelerated in October as electronic trade volumes returned to levels last seen pre-Euro crisis. Volumes in November were broadly similar to October.
Jason Cohen, head of Euro swaps trading at Citigroup, says: “We are delighted to have invested in iSwap. In the new regulatory environment dealers are looking for greater automation in certain segments of the market, with increased transparency and lower transaction costs which i-Swap provides. The market is seeing increasing volumes of swaps executed electronically and i-Swap is very well placed to be a market leader in this space.”
Michael Spencer (pictured), group chief executive officer of ICAP, says: “We welcome Citigroup’s participation. We look forward to working together with them and our other partners to launch US Dollar interest rate swaps on the platform in the new year.”
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