All but a handful of the 114 equities staff that Icap has earmarked for redundancy have already left the interdealer broker. Financial News has obtained the profiles of some of the most senior bankers that could be snapped up by banks looking to hire a safe pair of hands.

The firm, which said in a statement at the start of this week it would close most of its cash equities function and focus on execution, is understood to be holding on to only a few top executives. According to a source at Icap, "only a couple" of equities staff were still in situ as of yesterday. Icap declined to comment. Most of Icap's 114 redundancies were painstakingly hired by the firm over the last 18 months.