Broker to world's biggest banks explores crypto trading
July 20 2018 - 11:53AM
ADVFN Crypto NewsWire
TP Icap, one of the largest brokers sitting between banks in the
global financial markets, has set up a working group to examine how
it should approach cryptocurrencies.
The interdealer broker, which helps to match buyers and sellers
of bonds and derivatives, set up the group this year as the world’s
biggest dealing banks began to take similar steps, according to
people with knowledge of the matter.
The working group includes some of TP Icap’s most senior
business leaders, one of the people said.
Investment banks, which are among TP Icap’s biggest clients,
have warmed to the new asset class despite early reluctance.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are among those
considering their options in the sector — including around trading
the assets — while BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager,
has set up a cryptocurrency working
group.
TP Icap’s crypto group was set up under former chief executive
John Phizackerley, a trading veteran of Lehman Brothers and Nomura,
who was ousted earlier in July
due to mounting costs associated with Brexit and regulation.
READ eToro CEO: ‘We can trade $200m in
crypto in one day’
New CEO Nicolas Breteau, previously the group’s head of global
broking, is expected to focus on TP Icap’s financial performance
and meeting investors, one of the people said.
TP Icap was formed in late 2016 when Michael Spencer’s Icap sold
its voice-broking business to City rival Tullett Prebon. In the
same year, Tullett signed an agreement with a crypto data provider
called Brave New Coin to distribute data on digital money.
The remaining parts of Icap were rebranded as NEX Group, which
owns venues for trading bonds and currencies. NEX has been
exploring the potential of blockchain, the distributed ledger
technology that underpins bitcoin.
The two businesses have experienced contrasting fates this year.
TP Icap’s share price slumped by more than 35% when the broker
announced Phizackerley’s departure. But NEX shares jumped after
Michael Spencer, the founder and CEO of NEX, agreed to sell it to derivatives
exchange CME Group for £3.9bn in March.
CME is one of two big exchanges offering trading in bitcoin
futures, a type of financial instrument that can be used to bet on
the price of the cryptocurrency without owning the underlying
asset.
By
Samuel Agini
Ripple (COIN:XRPGBP)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024
Ripple (COIN:XRPGBP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2023 to Jun 2024