The world's largest interdealer broker ICAP Plc reported record profits from electronic broking, underscoring its headstart on a small band of rivals all moving away from phone-based trades. Electronic brokerage profit jumped 23 percent to 123 million pounds ($200.2 million), delivering more than a third of the group's 350 million profit for the 12 months to the end of March, itself a 4 percent increase on the previous year.
"In the first half of the year we saw generally quieter markets but delivered good revenue and earnings growth, driven primarily by our electronic broking," ICAP Group Chief Executive Michael Spencer said on Wednesday.
The electronic broking profit is a boost for ICAP at a time it and its main rivals - BGC Partners, Tullett Prebon and GFI - want to expand their screen-based business to take advantage of regulatory changes. These brokers sit between the world's largest trading banks, matching buyers and sellers in over-the-counter trading of instruments such as bonds, foreign exchange and swaps.
US and European lawmakers plan to draft rules, perhaps as early as the end of this year, to force swathes of the brokers' over-the-counter (OTC) business onto electronic trading platforms, to make these markets more transparent. ICAP also said its fledgling post-trade services profit rose 14 percent to 79 million, while commodities revenue was up 35 percent. But credit and equities were off 9 percent and 17 percent respectively.
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