Introduction for Investors

 About ICAP

ICAP is the world’s premier voice and electronic interdealer broker and provider of post trade risk and information services. The Group is active in the wholesale markets in interest rates, credit, commodities, FX, emerging markets and equity derivatives. ICAP’s businesses are distributed across more than 70 locations in 32 countries worldwide with a strong presence in all major financial centres in EMEA, the Americas and Asia Pacific.

ICAP employs approximately 4,500 people worldwide. Of this number, more than 2,500 are brokers, sales and customer support staff and over 800 are employed in IT and the development of our electronic broking platforms. As the Group has expanded and grown, ICAP has attracted people with a broader range of skills in both technology and in the original broking businesses. Our brokers and their managers comprise the largest group of our staff. They are highly entrepreneurial, dynamic, team spirited individuals with extremely strong networking and interpersonal skills. Our technology professionals, sales, marketing and support staff also contribute greatly to our overall success.


Role of the interdealer broker

An interdealer broker draws together willingness to buy and sell in wholesale markets. ICAP uses voice broking or electronic networks to bring these buyers and sellers together, facilitating price discovery and receiving a commission when a transaction is entered into. In many of the markets where ICAP operates, voice brokers help to create liquidity and facilitate the price discovery process. This is particularly important in non-standardised, bespoke markets where the number of parties willing to enter certain transactions may be limited. In more standardised markets with higher and more frequent participation,such as spot FX and government bonds, ICAP operates electronic broking platforms. ICAP’s combined solution offers access to markets across all asset classes and levels of liquidity.

Strategic goals and outlook

As a result of investments made over a long period our overall business is in good shape. By following a clear growth and diversification strategy for several years ICAP is well positioned to take advantage of any changes in the structure and regulation of the financial services industry.

We are concentrating this year on growing our business organically and working with our customers to expand the use of the market  infrastructure our investment has developed. We have made a good start to the new financial year, with volatile conditions creating more active markets.

ICAP’s strategic goals are clear. We want to be:

• the leading global intermediary;
• the leading post trade risk provider; and
• the main infrastructure provider to the world’s wholesale financial markets.

We aim to have at least 35% of overall interdealer market revenues and to generate operating profit evenly distributed between voice broking, electronic broking and post trade risk and information.

There are three components to our strategy:

• the expansion of our leading voice broking business;
• the growth of our global electronic broking business both through increasing volumes of existing products and by developing new markets; and
• the development of our post trade risk and information businesses to provide innovative services that enable our customers to reduce their costs and risks and to increase their efficiency, return on capital and capacity to process trades.


ICAP continues to expand and diversify its business through a series of investments. For 2009/10 the new business segment includes the Group’s investment in a number of new initiatives which have been started or acquired over the past two years. Despite recording an operating loss in 2009/10, many of these new businesses are expected to be profitable in the coming years. During the year the Group announced its decision to discontinue its European and Asia Pacific integrated full service agency cash equities business.

ICAP’s expansion into Brazil continues apace and has yielded good initial results in its first year of operation, despite showing an operating loss. Brazil is now ICAP’s third largest wholly owned office by head count with more than 250 brokers and
support staff.