Markets: Icap gatecrashes electronic swaps market

Icap has widened the distribution of its electronic forward foreign exchange platform after what it says is its successful take-up in Europe. The company says the platform will build on the success of EBS, the spot platform it bought from its mainly bank owners in 2006.

“It is set to become a global electronic trading venue and source of liquidity for short-dated FX forwards, building on the company’s global reputation for e-trading spot FX,” Icap claims in a press release. “The system also uses market data from the award-winning Icap-owned EBS platform, the source of the spot FX market, and is therefore ideal data for forwards calculations,” it adds.

Icap says i-Forwards will now be available in other major financial markets, including Asia and the Americas, and will build a global e-book in forward FX.