ICAP Taps Kieran Walsh to Head European Agriculture and Softs Business

Despite pulling out of direct trading in Australian agricultural and soft commodities to focus on more profitable sectors, interdealer broker ICAP tapped Kieran Walsh to build a team and develop a new place to expand its commodities broking operations.

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ICAP believes clients still need to hedge their exposures across European Agricultural and Soft Commodities, thus it has seized the opportunity to roll out a ready-made specialist team in agriculture and softs with several years experience in the region.

Prior to joining ICAP, Kieran served as a senior agricultural commodities broker at Aurel BGC in Paris. He also formerly held similar positions across the agriculture and softs sector including a physical grains trader in London.

Based in the City, Kieran and his team will close the gap between already established offices in the United States. He will report globally to Graham Francis, Head of EMEA Energy and Commodities.

With businesses in New York, Chicago, London, Sao Paulo and Louisville, ICAP provides Execution Execution Execution is the process during which a client submits an order to the brokerage, which consequently executes it resulting in an open position in a given asset. The execution of the order occurs only when it is filled. There is typically a time delay between the placement of the order and the execution which is called latency.In the retail FX space, reliable brokers always strive to deliver best execution to their clients in order to maintain a solid business relationship with them. This is a co Execution is the process during which a client submits an order to the brokerage, which consequently executes it resulting in an open position in a given asset. The execution of the order occurs only when it is filled. There is typically a time delay between the placement of the order and the execution which is called latency.In the retail FX space, reliable brokers always strive to deliver best execution to their clients in order to maintain a solid business relationship with them. This is a co Read this Term services in both exchange-listed and OTC markets. ICAP has teams on the floors of CBOT and the ICE US (NYBOT), providing a comprehensive suite of Swaps Swaps Swaps can be defined as a derivate contact composed of two parties that exchange to cash flow between two separate financial instruments.They are generally divided into two categories. This includes contingent claims (options) and forward claims, where forward contracts, swaps, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are exchanged. Commodity price, equity price, interest rate, and foreign exchange rate are common variables used as one of the cash flows in swaps upon initiation. Different Types of Swaps Swaps can be defined as a derivate contact composed of two parties that exchange to cash flow between two separate financial instruments.They are generally divided into two categories. This includes contingent claims (options) and forward claims, where forward contracts, swaps, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are exchanged. Commodity price, equity price, interest rate, and foreign exchange rate are common variables used as one of the cash flows in swaps upon initiation. Different Types of Swaps Read this Term, spreads, options and other exotic derivative structures.

Announcing the appointment, Graham Francis said: “We are pleased to welcome an experienced professional of Kieran's calibre to our European Commodities team. With strong demand for agricultural commodities in Europe, we believe it is an excellent time to expand ICAP's offering and we look forward to servicing new and existing customers in this venture.”

Speaking on his appointment, Kieran Walsh said: “This is an extremely exciting time to be joining ICAP and building a European agricultural commodities desk within the largest clean balance sheet commodities broker in the market. Our market-leading position, superior execution platform and technology expertise allows us to provide our customers with a first class service. I look forward to working with ICAP Energy to diversify our commodities offering.”