Citadel and Virtu prepare for tilt at OTC market

Non-bank dealers – including an arm of Citadel and Virtu Financial – are preparing to go up against banks as swap market-makers, but some barriers remain, including regulatory costs and the need for big, easily checked clearing limits. Joe Rennison reports

Outside the office of one European bank's head of fixed income, trading floor TVs are showing the last minutes of a World Cup giant killing. Tiny Costa Rica – which has no history of footballing success on the world stage – is about to dump Italy, a traditional superpower, out of the competition.

It's a fitting backdrop for the conversation that follows – on whether Citadel, the Chicago-based hedge fund and trading firm, could rival incumbent dealers as an over-the-counter derivatives market