Icap has admitted that its profits are set to rise in this financial year at a slower rate than last year, after the world’s largest inter-dealer broker reported growth in interest rate and foreign exchange trading but a slowdown in credit derivatives volumes.

In its interim management statement, Icap today said that it expected its performance for the financial year ending March 31 2009 to “be broadly in line” with the average of analysts’ forecasts, which predicted profits of £375m (€471.7m), an increase of 13.6% on the previous year.