As they patch up their bond trading operations following the hack of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, brokers are also piecing together how China’s largest lender became such a significant player in US Treasuries that the attack on its systems could disrupt the $26tn market.
The impact of the attack was still being felt days after the ransomware was found. At least one subsidiary of TP ICAP, one of the world’s largest interdealer brokers, was experiencing difficulties in finalising trades for hedge funds in the short-term lending market, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The company confirmed it was helping clients suffering from the impact of the hack.
“The unexpected thing we uncovered was that [market] exposure to ICBC was significantly higher than what we expected,” said a senior executive in fixed-income prime brokerage at a large US bank.