Icap Information, part of leading interdealer broker TP Icap, has launched a data package covering African OTC markets, the first of its kind. The new product will cover many areas for which there has previously been no data available and includes multiple asset classes such as FX, fixed income and interest rates across a wide range of countries and regions throughout the continent, namely Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.The data on African OTC markets is captured by ICAP’s South African desk and the release is the latest output from the closer relationship between TP ICAP’s Data & Analytics and broking divisions.
Wayne Jackson, Director at ICAP South Africa, commented: “Africa is rapidly emerging as a hotspot for global investment, with foreign investment expected to continue to rise significantly.
However, there is currently a real lack of generally-available data and information on OTC activity across the continent, and what is available tends to be patchy and unreliable at best. Driving
transparency across Africa’s capital markets will be crucial to unlocking its economic potential in the years to come. We have a strong track record on the ground in the region, making us best placed to provide this data as an independent and trustworthy source. In many cases, we are the only ones holding any data at all. This is a very exciting step for us, and an important illustration of the broader role TP ICAP can play in the global financial sector.”
Eric Sinclair, CEO of TP ICAP Data & Analytics, added: “The initial release has been curated to cover markets and regions where we know there is significant demand. We are confident that as
interest spreads, we will be best placed to provide further data sets and the package offered will evolve along with this. Our sub-Saharan African data, in particular, has long been relied upon by some of the world’s largest and most reputable financial institutions – we are confident that the data in this package will be equally valuable to anyone with exposure to these regions and markets.”
The new offering aims to address the urgent need of information for customers with exposure to the continent across a number of day-to-day activities, from the front-office, covering price discovery and accurate securities pricing, through to the middle and back offices including risk management, valuation, and independent price verification.
In July, TP ICAP launched a comprehensive market data service for the Indian OTC market which allows participants to access information based on real-time bids and offers, rather than having to rely on indicatives. The service sources real-time data relating to INR denominated Money Markets, FX, Interest Rate Derivatives and Fixed Income instruments from five desks – four onshore and one offshore – and provides real-time data direct from electronics swaps trading platform, I-Stream.
The company has recently appointed industry veteran Amir Zaidi to serve as its head of global compliance division, reporting directly to Philip Price – Group General Counsel and Executive Direction at the firm. The incoming head of global compliance division had been serving in several key roles at US Commodity Futures Trading Commission for nearly 6 years before taking up his current role at the firm.
