Shares in Icap, the London-based inter-dealer broker, jumped sharply yesterday after it confirmed that it was in talks with EBS, the foreign exchange trading platform owned by a consortium of banks.

The news of the deal, which could be worth more than $700m (£392m), is the latest example of the trend towards consolidation in the broking industry and in particularly brokers offering multiple asset classes in a "one-stop shop" trading model.