ICAP and Banco Centroamericano de Integracion Economica Announce Joint Venture

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ICAP (IAP.L), the world’s premier interdealer broker, announced today a joint venture with the Banco Centroamericano de Integracion Economica (BCIE), a multilateral bank formed by Central American governments and the leading source of multilateral financing for integration and development of Central America.

ICAP and BCIE (known in English as the Central American Bank for Economic Integration or CABEI), will each own fifty percent of a new company called BCIE-ICAP Capital Markets S.A. de C.V., based in Mexico City. By providing essential credit enhancement and clearing services for local counterparties, BCIE-ICAP expects to overcome the credit limitations that have slowed down the development of the financial markets in Central America. As a result, BCIE-ICAP will be able to provide a dynamic voice and electronic brokerage platform for Central American financial products, both within the region and globally.

BCIE Acting Executive President Nick Rischbieth said: “We are pleased to partner with ICAP in this exciting new venture. The absence of a central clearing authority and limited available credit is having an adverse effect on the ability to trade certain financial products in the Central American region. We are addressing these needs by launching this new business which offers credit-worthy institutions access to the Central American markets and will in turn provide the liquidity and risk guarantees these markets need to grow.”

Under the terms of the new agreement, BCIE will provide credit enhancement so that regional companies can participate in global markets. Through ICAP, global traders will have improved access to the Central American fixed income, foreign exchange, and credit markets.

Doug Rhoten, Chief Executive Officer of ICAP Americas said: “We are honored to partner with BCIE, a well-known and highly-regarded financial organization in Latin America. This venture brings together BCIE’s considerable experience in developing the Central American financial marketplace with ICAP’s international expertise, network, and dominant OTC market share. We see enormous potential for growth in Latin America, and this new partnership gives ICAP and our customers entry into this burgeoning economy.”

The partnership, seen as a pivotal step forward in developing the market for financial products in Central America, strengthens ICAP’s already significant presence in Latin America, where it has offices and staff in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico. ICAP’s emerging markets teams cover a broad range of products and markets offering, among other products, Latin American NDF (Non-Deliverable Forward) contracts in the Argentine Peso, Chilean Peso, Colombian Peso and Peruvian Nuevo Sol.

BCIE has become the main source of medium and long term financing in Central America, and in 2007, was responsible for 61.8% of total disbursements channelled to Central America by multilateral banks, providing financing with customized interest rates and terms for the region’s economic and social development needs.

About Banco Centroamericano de Interagración Económica BCIE (CABEI in English)

Headquartered in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, BCIE is Central America’s main multilateral bank and financial arm. On December 13, 1960, BCIE was founded by Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, as part of a regional integration process that seeks to foster economic and social development. A number of non-regional members have subsequently joined BCIE, including Mexico, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Argentina, Colombia and Spain. Belize was also incorporated as a non-founding beneficiary member and Panama and the Dominican Republic joined as non-regional and non-founding beneficiary countries. In 2007, BCIE attracted and disbursed a total of US$ 2.89 billion in funds for projects within the region. BCIE/CABEI: www.bcie.org.

About ICAP

ICAP is the world’s premier voice and electronic interdealer broker and the source of global market information and commentary for professionals in the international financial markets. The Group is active in the wholesale markets in interest rates, credit, commodities, foreign exchange and equity derivatives. ICAP has an average daily transaction volume in excess of $1.5 trillion, more than 60% of which is electronic. ICAP plc was added to the FTSE 100 Index on 30 June 2006. For more information go to www.icap.com