Business briefs: Icap loses its voice to electronic trades | Codbod has green contract in the bag

Published on 17/08/2012 00:00

ICAP, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, is consolidating its voice broking business into one global unit, reflecting the declining importance of dealing by phone in favour of electronic trade in major financial markets.

Historically brokers like Icap and rivals such as Tullett and BGC did the majority of their business over the telephones, cutting deals between buyers and sellers of currency, bonds and swaps. That justified a regionally-focused “voice” operation, which the company said it will next month abandon in favour of a new “global broking” division.

Codbod has green contract in the bag

Codbod, a recently launched “cloud” computing-based venture that aims to help companies improve their green credentials and cut costs, has signed up Fife-based paper bag manufacturer Smith Anderson.

The firm, which can trace its roots back more than 150 years, will use Codbod’s system to manage all its environmental data and produce internal and external reports.

Edinburgh-based Codbod, the brainchild of Michael Groves, a 20-year veteran of the “eco” sector, is tapping into a market worth £700 million in the UK alone this year.