Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NDAQ:IBKR) will be the next major financial IPO to watch, as it filed its S-1 registration statement with the SEC today. This latest IPO comes amid heavy M&A activity, a great IPO market, and strong performance by many players in the financial sector - particularly exchanges and investment banks.

Their S-1 filing with the SEC gives more details about the company:

"We are an automated global electronic market maker and broker specializing in routing orders and executing and processing trades in securities, futures and foreign exchange instruments as a member of more than 60 electronic exchanges and trading venues around the world. Since our inception in 1977, we have focused on developing proprietary software to automate broker-dealer functions. The advent of electronic exchanges in the last 16 years has provided us with the opportunity to integrate our software with an increasing number of exchanges and trading venues into one automatically functioning, computerized platform that requires minimal human intervention.

Our high degree of automation enables us to process approximately 500,000 trades per day with approximately 500 employees. During 2005 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2006, we generated pretax income in each period at a rate of more than $1 million per employee. Publicly available data regarding other companies in the securities and commodities industry indicate that this level of productivity is unparalleled for our industry. Automation has allowed us to become one of the lowest cost providers of broker-dealer services and to increase significantly the volume of trades we handle. According to data compiled by the Futures Industry Association (FIA) based on data received from exchanges worldwide, during the nine months ended September 30, 2006, we accounted for approximately 16.0% of exchange-listed equity options volume traded worldwide and approximately 18.8% of exchange-listed equity options volume traded on those markets in which we actively trade. We were the number one or number two liquidity provider on each of the three largest U.S. options exchanges (the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the International Securities Exchange and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange) during the nine months ended September 30, 2006, according to rankings provided by these exchanges. We serve sophisticated and active customers worldwide, including institutional investors, financial advisors, brokers and individuals." (Read More)

Given the M&A activity in the overall market (and especially the financial sector), this IPO may see significant interest and upside. Moreover, as such a prominent player in providing liquidity, it may be a takeover target for either another broker or even an exchange interested in diversifying its revenues. The high degree of automation in this company also makes it extremely capital efficient and profitable on its own. Combined, this company is definitely worth watching as a takeover target as well as a strong independent company.