< The 2016 Tech 50

Long before “fintech” became a buzzword, Michael Spencer was charting a course in that direction for the interdealer brokerage, now known as ICAP, that he founded in 1986. Following acquisitions in the early 2000s of e-trading platforms BrokerTec Global and EBS, which were combined last year into EBS BrokerTec, and a ramp-up in posttrade services and R&D investments, London-based ICAP has been redefining itself as a “fintech firm” and “the world’s leading multiproduct global electronic network for over-the-counter products and posttrade services,” says Spencer, 61. To cap it off, ICAP is awaiting regulatory approvals to transfer its voice and hybrid brokering businesses to Tullett Prebon, and plans to rebrand itself as NEX Group. “Our whole focus as a management team will be on these higher-growth, technology-focused businesses,” says the CEO, noting that 79 percent of £1.2 billion ($1.7 billion)-in-revenue ICAP’s operating profit comes from what will be NEX activities. Spencer has his executive team lined up, including CEOs Jenny Knott of Post Trade Risk and Information (PTRI), Gil Mandelzis of EBS BrokerTec, Per Sjöberg of derivatives risk mitigation platform TriOptima and Steve Gibson of venture investment arm Euclid Opportunities. The Euclid portfolio included hedge fund and prime brokerage data platform ENSO Financial Analytics until April, when ICAP bought it outright for the PTRI division. Also this year, Euclid purchased a stake in Digital Asset Holdings (see Blythe Masters, No. 17). “We are not trying to disrupt but are working with the industry,” Spencer says of ICAP’s “practical approach” to blockchain strategy. “PTRI completed a proof-of-technology test of distributed ledger in February, so we are well under way in understanding and experimenting with this technology.” Spencer believes there are countless opportunities to improve financial market efficiency through data and capital management, as TriOptima is demonstrating with its portfolio compression service and OpenGamma, a Euclid portfolio company, is doing with central counterparty margin optimization tools. In June, EBS BrokerTec announced a three-year, $65 million deal to provide next-generation technology for China Foreign Exchange Trade System’s fixed-income and currency execution services. Spencer describes the project as “a significant platform which will play a key role in the future of the renminbi.”

Visit The 2016 Tech 50: Making Financial Services Faster, Cheaper, Bigger for more.

 
The 2016 Tech 50

1. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp. 2. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange Methanol Gains Traction as an Alternative Energy Source Sponsored by CME Group May 5, 2025 3. Lance Uggla Markit 4. Phupinder Gill CME Group 5. Shawn Edwards and Vlad Kliatchko Bloomberg 6. R. Martin Chavez Goldman Sachs Group

7. Robert Goldstein BlackRock 8. Adena Friedman Nasdaq 9. Deborah Hopkins Citi Ventures 10. Daniel Coleman KCG Holdings 11. Stephen Neff Fidelity Investments 12. David Craig Thomson Reuters

13. Michael Spencer ICAP 14. Michael Bodson Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. 15. Charles Li Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing 16. Chris Concannon BATS Global Markets 17. Blythe Masters Digital Asset Holdings 18. David Rutter R3CEV

19. Neil Katz D.E. Shaw & Co. 20. Lee Olesky Tradeweb Markets 21. Richard McVey MarketAxess Holdings 22. Seth Merrin Liquidnet Holdings 23. Robert Alexander Capital One Financial Corp. 24. Brad Katsuyama IEX Group

25. Antoine Shagoury State Street Corp. 26. David Gledhill DBS Bank 27. Lou Eccleston TMX Group 28. Andreas Preuss Deutsche BÖrse 29. Dan Schulman PayPal Holdings 30. Scott Dillon Wells Fargo & Co.

31. Mike Chinn S&P Global Market Intelligence 32. Craig Donohue Options Clearing Corp. 33. Gary Norcross Fidelity National Information Services 34. Steven O'Hanlon Numerix 35. Sebastián Ceria Axioma 36. Michael Cooper BT Radianz

37. Tyler Kim MaplesFS 38. Neal Pawar AQR Capital Management 39. David Harding Winton Capital Management 40. Chris Corrado London Stock Exchange Group 41. Brian Conlon First Derivatives 42. Jim Minnick eVestment

43. Stephane Dubois Xignite 44. Mazy Dar OpenFin 45. Yasuki Okai NRI Holdings America 46. Kim Fournais Saxo Bank 47. Jock Percy Perseus 48. Robert Schifellite Broadridge Financial Solutions

49. Brian Sentance Xenomorph Software 50. Pieter van der Does Adyen