Will brokers go broke?

A few have already. For inter-dealer brokers, the expansion of electronic dealing and a hiccup in derivatives activity have, at best, necessitated refocusing and downsizing. Only those with special expertise and those that dominate a niche will emerge stronger from the changes. Stephanie Cooke reports

Inter-dealer brokers (IDBs) are by nature a secretive, competitive bunch. So when it comes to meeting legal deadlines for filing annual results, many firms, most of which are privately owned, wait until the last minute. This past year most have performed so dismally that they had an added reason for stalling. One big broker in London was said to have done so badly that it chose to pay a fine for missing the deadline rather than report on time.

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