ICAP has announced the Australian launch of its electronic interest rate derivatives platform.
The Australian dollar is the latest currency to be launched on its i-Swap platform, trading interest rate swaps alongside euros, US dollars and sterling.
The platform allows customers to trade directly on the platform or use a broker to execute trades on i-Swap on their behalf. It is open to banks that can clear via a clearing house for interest rate derivatives. Banks that cannot clear will have access through ICAP’s brokers.
Don McClumpha, CEO of i-Swap, said that their product would continue to facilitate the transition for customers in Australia from a predominately voice-brokered environment to a transparent electronic trading venue.
The i-Swap US dollar platform forms part of ICAP’s swap execution facility and operates in compliance with the rules of the Dodd-Frank act. The firm claims that its automated matching model and implied strategy trading functionality allows ICAP to improve electronic liquidity through better prices. It does that by linking liquidity in underlying swaps to liquidity in strategy orders such as spreads, butterflies, and spread-overs.