(Reuters) - ICAP Plc, the world's largest interdealer broker, said on Thursday it would combine its foreign exchange trading platform EBS and fixed-income trading platform BrokerTec.
Interdealer broker revenues have plunged as banks retreat from risky trading to comply with new rules brought in after the 2008 financial crisis, and ICAP has been trying to offset a slump in trading volumes by cutting costs.
It has also been moving to reposition its business towards electronic broking and post-trade services.
"Bringing EBS and BrokerTec together will allow us to deliver new products and reach new client segments ... We want to continue to expand our addressable market with the launch of innovative products into other asset classes," ICAP Group Chief Executive Michael Spencer said in a statement.
ICAP said the combined business, to be known as EBS-BrokerTec, would be headed by Gil Mandelzos, who has been chief executive of EBS since March 2012. Spencer will be chairman.
London-based ICAP, which has more than 3,300 customers in more than 50 countries, match buyers and sellers of tradeable instruments such as currencies and bonds.
EBS is one of the two dominant currency trading platforms, along with Thomson Reuters.
ICAP reported a 38 percent fall in first-half profit last month. The company also confirmed that its shipping business is in merger talks with rival Howe Robinson.
(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Ted Kerr)