Interdealer broker Icap is to abandon plans to launch its own derivatives exchange following a business review which has led to the departure of chief operating officer for exchange projects Cathryn Lyall.
Lyall was recruited by Icap from the Chicago Board of Trade eleven months ago with a brief to lead the development of a new listed derivatives exchange.
However, following a business review led by Icap chief Michael Spencer, the group has decided to pull back from the venture and instead increase its focus on post-trade clearing and settlement.
Icap is currently leading a consortium that it contemplating an £800 million bid for European independent clearer LCH.Clearnet.
While the consortium has yet to make a firm offer, LCH.Clearnet is understood to have set back its proposed deadline for a pre-agreed merger with the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation by a month while it considers its options.
More details are expected to be forthcoming from Icap when it reports its next set of year-end figures at the end of month.