Dedicated electronic platform Volbroker plans to start brokering emerging market foreign exchange derivatives after the merger with TFS-ICAP. Mike Leibowitz, managing director at TFS-ICAP, said the firm's long-term plan is to put all its foreign exchange derivatives on Volbroker. However he continued that Asian, eastern European and Latin America currencies would be a priority because of the large volumes ICAP brokers through the voice market. He declined to set a timeframe as the merger does not come into effect until Dec. 1.
The two firms announced plans to merge their foreign exchange businesses last week. Volbroker was set up with capital from several of the major derivatives houses, including Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs. The system trades through screens on traders' desks that are connected via a dedicated network.
