Icap, the largest interdealer broker, has emerged as frontrunner to acquire EBS, the world's most widely-used bank-to-bank currency exchange, sources close to the companies said today.

EBS, which is owned by a consortium of banks and handles $120bn (€97.9bn) in volumes each day, had earlier appointed Citigroup to determine its strategic options and is believed to have whittled down potential suitors to the London-based broker.