The surge in market volatility gave a big boost to London, England-based inter-dealer broker ICAP, which reported record volumes in its electronic broking products for August.

ICAP’s electronic broking platforms EBS and BrokerTec traded a record of approximately US$1.3 trillion on August 16, an increase of almost US$200 billion above the previous record. This was followed by US$1.2 trillion on August 18. Average daily volumes on EBS and BrokerTec in the month of August reached US$945 billion, an increase of 51% on August 2006.

Spot FX trading on the EBS platform reached a record level of US$456 billion on August 16, surpassing the previous record of US$311 billion by almost 50%. This record volume was almost triple the average daily volume in the first half of 2007. This was followed on August 17 by a new second highest trading day of USUS$ 411 billion. Average daily volumes on EBS were strong throughout August at approximately US$240 billion per day.

Electronically traded fixed income products – U.S. Treasuries, European Repo and US Repo – also reached a new record of US$819 billion on August 16, breaking the previous record of US$809 billion. Average daily volume in these products in August was US$703 billion, an increase of 42% on August 2006.

Michael Spencer, group chief executive of ICAP plc said, “The record volumes in FX and fixed income electronic broking highlight ICAP’s position as a trusted liquidity source in these volatile markets. Both the EBS and BrokerTec platforms have proven their value to customers with strong liquidity, tight spreads and robust performances in the face of highly volatile trading.”