Swap execution facilities have been meandering along for three years now, most of the nonincumbents dropping by the wayside, volume in the doldrums for over a year, and … boom! By the end of Q4 2016, this market is finally starting to get spicy:

• On the heels of Brexit becoming very real in the European Union and Trump having a surprise victory, U.S. interest rates unmistakably bottomed late in 2016 with the Fed hiking rates 0.25% in December and promising more to come—finally rising rates helped drive IRS volume up 25% year over year.
• Tullett Prebon closed its acquisition of ICAP’s broking business to form TP ICAP, and suddenly 60% of SEF business is controlled by the combined company, and the regulators are OK with that.

To learn more about this report by Aite Group senior analyst David B. Weiss, view his latest webcast below.