IG Group

Early years (1974–2000)

IG Group, originally founded as IG Index (Investors Gold Index), was founded in 1974 by British financier Stuart Wheeler with an initial investment of £30,000 from six friends.[3][4][5] It became the first company to offer spread betting,[6] allowing investors to speculate on gold prices rather than buying physical gold, which was restricted by UK exchange controls at the time.[7]

In 1993, IG Group expanded into spread betting on sports events, and in 1996, it started offering foreign exchange trading.

Market expansion and IPO (2000–2010)

In July 2000, IG Group was formed as the parent company of IG Index, and its shares were listed on the London Stock Exchange, making it the first company of its kind to go public.[8] Sports betting surged with the rise of the internet, bringing the company more than £10 million in revenue in the second half of 2001, nearly triple its earnings from the first half of 2000.[9]

IG Group entered the Australian market in 2002, marking its first international expansion.[10] In 2003, founder Stuart Wheeler sold his 23.68% stake in the company, netting £90 million.[11][3] He was joined by some other major shareholders, so a total number of shares to be sold reached 30%.[12] A management buyout backed by CVC Capital Partners valued the company at £143 million.[13] In April 2005, IG Group returned to the stock market with a valuation of £1.3 billion, and CVC sold off £58 million worth of shares.[14]

The company continued its global expansion, entering the United States market in 2007 with the £2.9 million purchase of HedgeStreet, an online derivatives trading platform,[15] later rebranded as Nadex.[16] In September 2008, IG Group acquired FXOnline, a Japanese trading firm, for £112 million.[17]

Challenges and diversification (2011–2020)

In 2011, IG Group reported a net loss of £25.5 million, largely due to regulatory changes in Japan that restricted leverage to 10 times, significantly lower than the 100 times or more the company previously offered. The company also shut down its sports betting service, extrabet, due to declining revenues, incurring £5.3 million in closure costs.[18]

In September 2014, IG Group launched an online stockbroking platform, offering access to 4,500 stocks.[19] In September 2016, it acquired the financial news and research portal DailyFX from FXCM for $40 million.[20] However, the same year, IG Group's shares fell 38% following the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) announcement of new industry regulations, wiping £1 billion off the company's market value.[21] In response, IG withdrew its binary options product in early 2017.[22]

In 2017, IG partnered with BlackRock to launch the IG Smart Portfolio, marking the company's entry into wealth management.[23] In 2019, IG launched a new U.S. subsidiary, IG US, which offers foreign exchange trading[24] (in June 2024, IG US rebranded to tastyfx[25]).

In mid-2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) implemented new rules banning binary options for retail clients and placing leverage limits and other restrictions on CFDs. These measures, which took effect in the second half of 2018, were cited as a major factor in subsequent declines in IG Group's revenue and profit in Europe.[26]

In 2020, IG Group launched its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy, "Brighter Future." As part of this initiative, the company established a £2 million fund to support education and development programs for young people, particularly in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.[27][28][29]

Recent developments (2021–present)

In January 2021, IG Group acquired Chicago-based online brokerage Tastytrade for $1 billion, enhancing its offerings for retail investors. The company, founded in 2011 by Tom Sosnoff, included the brokerage arm tastyworks, which was rebranded as tastytrade in 2023.[30][31][32]

In March 2022, IG Group brokered a deal to sell the North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex) and a 39% stake in the Small Exchange to Foris DAX Markets Inc. (trading as Crypto.com) for $216 million.[33][34]

In the first half of the 2024 fiscal year, IG Group reported a 32% drop in after-tax profits compared to the previous year.[35] By the end of the 2024 fiscal year, pre-tax profits had fallen by 11%, annual revenue had dropped by 10%, and the number of active clients had decreased from 358,000 to 346,200.[36] In response, the company announced plans to cut 10% of its workforce[37] and launched a £150 million share buyback program, starting with a £75 million tranche in August 2024.[38][39]

In January 2025, it announced the acquisition of Freetrade, a UK-based commission-free trading app, for £160 million.[40] The deal, completed on 1 April 2025, more than doubled the company's active client base to approximately 820,000 by the end of FY2025.[40] In June 2025, IG launched direct cryptocurrency trading for its UK clients.[40] In September 2025, IG agreed to acquire Independent Reserve, a regulated cryptocurrency exchange based in Australia. The transaction, valued at around A$178 million for a 70% stake, received regulatory approval in January 2026 and was then completed, with Independent Reserve's founders retaining the remaining 30% interest[41]. Around the same time, IG obtained a cryptoasset registration from the UK FCA allowing it to expand into spot crypto trading in its home market. Also in October 2025, IG sold its interest in the Small Exchange (the U.S.-based futures exchange it had acquired in 2019) to Payward, parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, for $100 million.[42]

The company's financial performance rebounded alongside these initiatives. For the year ended 31 May 2025, IG Group reported an adjusted pre-tax profit of £535.8 million, up 17% year-on-year, driven by higher trading volumes amid market volatility.[40] The company authorized a new £125 million share buyback in July 2025, later expanding the program by another £75 million to a total of £200 million by the end of 2025.[40]

In June 2025, the company closed South African client accounts, cut jobs, and surrendered its local Over-the-Counter Derivative Provider licence and, in February 2026, it began closing its office there.[43]

Violations of customers' rights and system outages

IG Group has faced criticism in the media regarding its handling of customer losses. Natalia Chumak, a partner at litigation firm Signature Litigation, said that customers trading with IG Group can incur unlimited losses, while the company does not always make this risk clear. She also said that IG Group may avoid certain risks but benefits from any gains.[61]

In March 2020, Finance Magnates and FinanceFeeds reported frequent outages of IG Group's trading platform during periods of high market volatility.[62][63] These outages left clients unable to manage their positions, resulting in financial losses. FinanceFeeds also reported that during a significant outage in January 2021, IG Group did not provide adequate customer support, although it responded promptly to media inquiries to address public concerns.[64]

In April 2024, another system failure led to funds being mistakenly withdrawn from the accounts of over 50 customers. The issue remained unresolved for more than a week until it gained media attention. In contrast, the company has been reported to correct over-credited funds in client accounts on the same day.[65][66]

Political donations

IG Group's founder, Stuart Wheeler, was actively involved in politics and made several notable donations. His financial contributions, particularly to the Brexit campaign, earned him a reputation as "a leading disrupter in British politics".[11][3][67]

Lawsuits

In 2010, IG Index (IG Group's spread betting division) faced a £21 million (€25 million) lawsuit filed by three former clients of the defunct Scottish trading firm Echelon Wealth Management.[68][69] The clients believed that their funds had been ring-fenced in segregated IG deposit accounts. However, following Echelon's collapse, IG used these funds to cover other Echelon clients' losses.[70] The claim was dismissed in 2013.[71]

In January 2015, more than 370 clients incurred significant losses following a failure of IG's trading platform during a volatile market event. On 15 January, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) unexpectedly removed its minimum exchange rate for the Swiss franc, causing a 30% drop in EUR/CHF. IG delayed its response by 10 minutes, attempting to hedge its own exposure while competitors acted immediately to protect their clients. Additionally, technical issues on the platform required manual execution of stop-loss orders, further amplifying client losses.[61][72][73][74] Some affected clients were left with substantial debts, with one teacher on a £18,000 salary losing £280,000. Despite these incidents, IG maintained that it had fulfilled its contractual obligations.[73][75][76] In June 2015, the Financial Ombudsman Service ordered IG to compensate affected customers around £1 million in total.[77][74]

As of October 2024, IG Group faced two class-action lawsuits in Australia, alleging misleading and unconscionable conduct. In May 2023, the law firm Piper Alderman filed a class action against IG Markets, accusing the company of promoting contracts for difference (CFDs) to inexperienced traders without proper safeguards.[78] A second class action was filed in August 2023 against IG Markets Limited and IG Australia Pty Ltd, alleging that from May 2017 to August 2023, IG misled retail investors by promoting high-risk financial products, such as CFDs and binary options, which were deemed unsuitable and harmful by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The legal action is being funded by Woodsford Litigation Funding.[79][80]

In November 2025, in Tomasso v IG Markets Ltd (Supreme Court of Western Australia), the court ruled that IG's "manifest error" contract clause was unfair and therefore void under Australian consumer law. The clause allowed the firm to void or adjust trades unilaterally. IG was required to pay a customer AU$5.5 million after it attempted to cancel trades under that clause.[81]