It may not surprise Financial News readers, but the fees institutional investors pay to their dealers when entering into derivative trades can be considerable. But what if the titans of capital finance were no longer needed? And what if regulators had helped it all happen?

A new trading platform, unveiled this week by former city traders at TradeRisks, aims to address this problem by providing an exchange where funds and non-financial users of swaps can trade over-the-counter derivatives without having to use an investment bank as an intermediary.