TSR Wiki > Careers > Graduate Employers Guides > Graduate Employers Guides - ICAP
Employer Information
- Application deadline: March 31st
- Starting salaries: Highly Competitive
- Regions: London, New York, Hong Kong
- Industries: Interdealer Broking (Voice, Electronic, Ship), Risk, Finance
- Website: http://www.icap.com
- Email: ukgraduates@icap.com
- Telephone: Main Switchboard: 020 7000 5000
- Address: 2 Broadgate, Liverpool Street, London, EC2M 7UR, United Kingdom
What is ICAP?
ICAP is the world’s premier voice and electronic interdealer broker and provider of post-trade services. The Group is active in the wholesale markets in interest rates, credit, commodities, FX, emerging markets, equities and equity derivatives. ICAP has an average daily transaction volume in excess of $2.3 trillion, more than 40% of which is electronic.
What roles are available at ICAP?
Intern and Graduate roles in Voice, Electronic and Ship Broking as well as Risk and Finance
Application process for ICAP:
- Online Application
- Telephone Interview
- Assessment Day
- Paper Based Numerical Reasoning Test
- Group Exercise designed to test motivation, teamwork and analytical ability
- Market Based Trading Simulation
- Panel Interview with Graduate Recruitment
- Final Round Panel Interview with Brokers and Global Head of Graduate Recruitment
Entry requirements and type of person suited for ICAP
Academic Requirements
Our minimum academic requirement is a 2:1 (UK) or a GPA of 3.0/4.0 (US). However, if you feel you may have mitigating circumstances, you are invited to include this information on your online application.
We accept degrees in any discipline although those in business studies; finance; mathematics; economics or languages are advantageous.
Skills criteria
- A detailed competency analysis was undertaken with key stakeholders/potential managers. The key skills criteria identified are shown below:
- Analytical ability
- Strategic thinking
- Drive and motivation
- Innovative
- Team player
- Sales/client focused (broking)
- Strong interpersonal and networking skills
- Resilience
- Numerical aptitude
- Interest and understanding of the financial markets/interdealer broker market
- Work within high pressurised, dynamic and demanding environment
- Language skills (in some areas)
A diverse and well-rounded person with a variety of ex periences, along with a keen interest in the field of work and a sense of humour to match.
Future prospects and training at ICAP
We offer a range of structured training programmes (see below) which provide entrants with all the training and support they need to be successful in our business.
- Our full-time programmes are suitable for students in their final year or study, those recently graduated and for career changes.
- Our internship programmes are suitable for penultimate-year students, those looking for a placement as part of their degree or those going to do a one year masters course.
- Our spring programme is suitable for first year students.
Other comments about ICAP
Experiences
If you have applied to ICAP, we would like you to hear from you. Please use the following form to detail your experiences of application, to aid those interested in following a similar career path.
Position applied for:
Summer Analyst, Voice Broking
Year of Application:
2008/2009
Region:
London
Educational Background:
BA Hons, 2.1, Masters in Finance
What were your experiences of the application process?
The interview process for my internship was rigorous, but not too different to investment banking. It entailed:
Online application,
Phone Interview,
Assessment Centre (Numerical, Group, Trading Sim & Interview),
then a Final Round Panel Interview.
Mostly just competency stuff, Broking is a personality based career, so if you're yourself and they like you you'll get through.
What is it like working for ICAP?
Broking seems to be something of an enigmatic career, one which people don't seem to talk about as much as Banking. Indeed, if you google 'Interdealer Broker' careers, the relative search results are far more limited than "Investment Banking Careers". When I was applying for internship places last summer, one of the careers that came up on various websites such as Milkround and eFinancialcareers was that of IDB, and in particular one or two big firms in the industry, the names of which I will not mention in regard to my own experiences. Before then I had no idea what an Interdealer Broker (IDB) was, but a friend of a friend had interned at one and recommended it as a great job, with the 'perks of trading, minus the downsides'. In fact, one graduate at a major IDB described it as "the City's best kept secret". As such, I was keen to look into a career as an IDB, to understand exactly how it differs from S&T and what the careers are like there.
My desk was on one of the quieter floors within the company, and the small team that I joined had a load of time for me, teaching me the ropes and helping me get to grips with things. The hours are similar to any job in Financial Markets, 7am-5.30pm, which was fine for me as I'm a morning person anyway.
How has it compared to your expectations?
The thing about IDB is that for all the similarities it shares with S&T, it is far from the analytical career path I had been expecting. You get into work at 7am, call your clients, get their prices, put them on a screen, then simply sit back and wait for them to call, and for the spreads to narrow over the course of the day. It is not a difficult job, the only difficult part is attracting and retaining Traders by making sure you take them out and treating them better than their next best Broker does, and at an even more impressive venue. The better Brokers have had spells in Trading, and as such have some solid market knowledge, but for the rest, there's not much technical analysis involved - the numbers on the screen have to get close to each other, and when they touch, you're in the money.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
Working at an Investment Bank in Equity/Fixed Income Sales, maybe in London, maybe in East Asia, who knows?
Finally, any advice you would give to potential applicants?
Think hard about a career in broking, if you're the mathsy/analytical type then chances are you won't fit and will probably get bored anyway. Furthermore, if you don't like to go out and socialist a LOT, then Broking is not the right path for you. Good luck!
