ICAP CEO eyes 35-40 percent market share

By Steve Slater

LONDON (Reuters) - ICAP Plc (IAP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's biggest inter-dealer broker, said it expects to increase its market share to 35-40 percent in the next three years, from about 31 percent now, and may make small acquisitions to get there.

"We believe we'll get our market share to between 35 and 40 percent in the next two or three years, both through organic growth or a small acquisition or two," Michael Spencer, chief executive of ICAP, said at the Reuters Finance Summit in London on Tuesday.

Spencer said ICAP would grow with new products and markets, expand in emerging markets and try to build "a whole new portfolio of businesses in post-trade services".

A greater share of business will be conducted on ICAP's lower cost and higher profit electronic trading platform, which currently accounts for about 30 percent of group profit.

"I fully expect that in the foreseeable future half of ICAP's profits will come from the electronic business, and I don't think that's many years away," Spencer said.

ICAP has been one of the top-performing financial stocks this year as it benefits from lively financial markets, matching up buyers and sellers across fixed income, foreign exchange, equities and commodities markets.

"I suspect ... we will continue to see higher-than-average volatility across the financial markets," Spencer said, in reference to recent turmoil in financial markets.

"Yes, we are a commercial beneficiary of these uncertain times and are likely to continue to be so, but I'd prefer the world banking system wasn't going through the crisis it is experiencing."  Continued...