Greek uncertainty puts brake on ICAP's trading volumes

* Lack of clarity on U.S. rate rise weighing on volumes

* Greece crisis has also subdued overall activity (Adds CEO comment, analyst comment, share move)

By Aashika Jain

July 15 (Reuters) - Interdealer broker ICAP Plc (LSE: IAP.L - news) , which matches buyers and sellers of bonds, swaps and currencies, said uncertainty over Greece's fate in the euro zone had reduced risk appetite and overall trading volumes.

ICAP, a broker for interest rates derivatives, commodities, foreign exchange and fixed income products, said that while currency volumes had picked up, the lack of a clear picture on the direction and timing of any interest rate moves was also weighing on volumes.

The twin uncertainties dogging ICAP pushed the company's group revenue down by one percent for April 1 to June 30, the first quarter of its financial year, once currency fluctuations had been stripped out.

Chief Executive Michael Spencer, who expressed surprised at the Greek crisis not having a bigger impact on market volumes, said it illustrated reduced risk appetite in the banking sector.

"Alternatively, my view is the market always judged all along that there would be a fudged settlement, and that is what the market assumed, bet on and indeed that is what the outcome was," Spencer said in a conference call.

Spencer has his hopes pinned on a U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike, which he said could be imminent and had greater capability of triggering a change in volatility.

Investors said this week that the Greek deal had made it more likely that the Fed would raise interest rates during 2015.

"I think the move away from zero or nearly zero interest rates will be a big, big moment not just in the U.S. dollar market but in many other markets," Spencer said.

In its mid-year investment outlook, BlackRock Investment Institute said this week that it expects the Fed to raise short-term rates in the autumn, with the Bank of England likely to follow either in November this year or February 2016.

The 29-year-old company, which competes with Tullett Prebon (LSE: TLPR.L - news) and the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) , combined its electronic trading platforms in fixed income and forex in a restructuring to offset a slump in interdealing broking revenue that plunged last year.

Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) in FTSE-250 company were marginally up at 524 pence at 0945 GMT. (Reporting by Aashika Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely and Keith Weir)