ICAP Hires Humphrey Percy To Start Futures Trading Operation

ICAP, the inter dealer broker, is to go head to head with Man Group by launching an independent global futures business. Humphrey Percy, a banker, has joined ICAP with a mandate to build a market leading futures operation. "There is

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ICAP, the inter-dealer broker, is to go head to head with Man Group by launching an independent global futures business. Humphrey Percy, a banker, has joined ICAP with a mandate to build a market leading futures operation.

“There is ongoing and rapid convergence between the exchange traded and over-the-counter (OTC) markets and significant trading opportunities exist between these closely related markets,” says Michael Spencer, Chief Executive of ICAP. “Leveraging off ICAP’s strengths in the OTC markets, in which we transact significant volumes across a very broad range of products, we aim to become one of the small number of truly global futures execution businesses within two years. Humphrey Percy’s considerable experience will speed up the expansion of our existing small futures business into a global operation. Our concept will focus on the cross marketing of futures with OTC products and identifying relative value strategies. This will significantly expand our customer base, both vertically and horizontally.”

Since its 181 million acquisition last year of BrokerTec from the consortium of 14 investment banks which owned it, ICAP has had a half-share in the US Treasury market. The firm is now looking to capitalise on the close correlation between the cash and futures markets, especially the interest rate futures, but the new operation will also be active in the commodity and currency futures markets. Hedge funds have become a important source of new business in the futures markets.

“We plan to expand ICAP’s market and product coverage, especially in North America, as clients seek a wider range of markets through a smaller number of access points,” says Percy. “The electronic BrokerTec platform – currently transacting some $250 billion of transactions daily – will be at the core of our electronic proposition. Furthermore, as a part of this initiative we expect to offer a global futures clearing service through a single entity and to significantly expand our exchange traded interest rate options capability.”

ICAP is now the world’s largest interdealer broker, broking a daily average fixed income transaction volume of over $550 billion, 40 per cent 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.

Humphrey Percy started at Schroderr Wagg in the early 1970s (1974-1980) before moving to Barclays Merchant Bank (1980-1986) and BZW (1986-1994). He was Managing Director & Head of the Swaps and Options Group at BZW from 1989 to 1992. He left Barclays in 1994, since when he has worked at Strategic Asset Management Ltd., Bermuda; Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, and SGM-Foreign Exchange, a firm he founded and chairs.

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