Icap’s chief executive, Michael Spencer, has said the UK interdealer broker could profit from US treasury secretary Tim Geithner’s plan to oblige standardised over-the-counter derivatives to be cleared through central counterparties.
Interdealer brokers have usually objected to moving OTC products on to exchanges or central clearing, partly because they believed it would cut out part of their business. A senior derivatives banker recently described this resentment to Futures and Options Intelligence, saying: “The bowl of jam has just been taken off the table.”
The brokers’...