Icap launches i-Swap for Australian dollar
ICAP (IAP.L), the leading markets operator and provider of post trade risk and information services, announces that it launched i-Swap, its electronic interest rate derivatives platform for trading interest rate swaps (IRS), in Australia on 2 April.
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Australian Dollar (AUD) is the latest currency to be launched on the i-Swap platform alongside Euro, USD and GBP. The launch in Australia is the first for i-Swap in the Southern hemisphere and the platform is designed to be adaptable to the changing requirements driven by regulatory reform in the Asian markets.
i-Swap is ICAP's award-winning trading platform for interest rate derivatives that enables customers to choose an optimal execution method, either trading directly on the platform or using a broker to execute trades on i-Swap on their behalf. i-Swap is open to banks that have the ability to clear via a recognised clearing house for interest rate derivatives. Banks that are unable to clear will continue to have access via ICAP's brokers.
ICAP launched Euro IRS on i-Swap in September 2010, since when it has experienced increasing use by market participants and has seen trading activity grow. Two thirds of ICAP's 2-year and more than half its 10-year Euro IRS trades are executed electronically through the platform.
The i-Swap USD platform forms part of ICAP's Swap Execution Facility (SEF) and operates in compliance with the rules of the Dodd-Frank act.
Don McClumpha, CEO of i-Swap, said: "I'm delighted that we have launched i-Swap in Australian Dollar. It is the world's fifth largest currency and supports our thriving broking business in the Australian market. i-Swap will continue to facilitate the transition from a predominately voice-brokered environment to a cost-efficient and transparent electronic trading venue for customers in this market, as it has done in USD and Euro."