IG is eyeing the opening of a Switzerland office in 2014.
UK spreadbetting leader IG Group (LON:IGG), which is in process of rebranding its businesses to just IG.com, has just reported its second consecutive quarterly decline in revenues. Fiscal 2014 Q2 revenue of £89.1 million came in at 5% below Q1, with Q1 having been 10% below Q4 last year. IG has a May 31 year end, so Q2 was the quarter encompassing September-October-November 2013).
On the positive side of things, the best performing region for IG in Q2 was Europe (outside the UK), which saw revenues flat from Q1 but more than 20% above what they were last year. As part of its IG.com rebranding, IG Group is also making efforts to have itself viewed as a Forex and CFDs broker, not just spreadbetting, and those efforts seem to be bearing fruit in Europe.
Other interesting nuggets of information from IG’s Q2 release include:
- IG is planning to soon open an office in Switzerland – which will likely require it to obtain a full Swiss bank license.
- IG called the client uptake on its new IG.com MT4 offering as ‘slow’, nut ‘steady’.
- IG plans to launch a cash equity service in the UK in the second half of calendar year 2014.
- Mobile — almost a third of all client-initiated transactions at IG are now executed using mobile devices, and in some countries mobile trading exceeds 50%.
- Expect new and stricter regulations to soon take in Singapore, including lower leverage on forex trading.
- Japan’s new binary options regulations have indeed slowed the pace of binary trading in that country.
Regarding a much bigger issue for IG, the possible placing of capital gains tax on UK spread betting, IG continues to view the prospects of changes to the current UK exemption from capital gains tax of all forms of betting, including spread betting, as remote.
IG’s rebranding has also seen an uncharacteristic turnover in senior management ranks at IG. IG recently lost its Chief Market Strategist David Jones, and also parted ways with Head of UK and former MD of IG Index Tim Hughes.
To see the complete IG Group press release on Q2 results click here.
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