Home About IG Group Our Brands Investor Relations Media Centre Careers Contact Us Home About IG Group Our History About IG Group Corporate Profile Our History Strategic Goals Board of Directors Awards Who we work with Our History IG Group Holdings is a London-based company with a global presence. The Group consists of a number of market-leading brands – including the world's longest-running and largest financial spread betting firm. IG Index was founded in 1974 to enable people to trade the price of gold as an index rather than trading the commodity itself, making the market far more accessible and removing the prohibitive costs surrounding commodity trading. Thus 'Investors Gold' Index was born. The name was soon shortened to IG Index, paving the way to introduce a wide range of other products over the years ahead. The company expanded rapidly, underpinned by market-leading technology which supported round-the-clock client trading. IG Index became the first spread betting firm to introduce online dealing in 1998, capitalising on the emergence of the internet and an increased awareness of investment products. The company became IG Group in 2000. IG Markets, IG Markets Japan and Nadex were all added to the Group as it continued to grow and it is now one of the UK's top 200 firms and is listed on the FTSE 250. The Group has also developed internationally, opening ten offices across the world during the past five years. A New Milestone In September 2012, we took a major step in the Group’s continuing evolution, bringing together IG Index and IG Markets to establish a single, global identity: 'IG'. The creation of a single IG has significantly enhanced our ability to provide a consistently excellent service to clients around the world. It is a move that reflects and reinforces our status as a global market-leader. And it provides a platform on which we can continue to progress – delivering more of the kind of innovations and improvements that have made IG Group what it is. Innovation and technology Product and technological innovation have been key elements of the Group's successful development. As pioneers of financial derivatives trading online, our businesses have repeatedly broken new ground, helping IG Group as a whole to become a highly successful business. One of the cornerstones of IG Group's success is our multiple-award-winning, browser-based trading platform, which lets clients trade quickly and securely. The platform takes millions of trades each month, with around five million trades placed each month during 2011. Our trading platform combines reliability, even during periods of intense client activity, with a huge range of resources and cutting-edge trading technology. An intuitive trading interface and a fully customisable layout allow clients to optimise our platform according to their trading strategies. Some of the Group's other key innovations include: Deal-through charts: advanced, real-time charts that let clients trade directly from the chart Mobile technology: powerful tools for mobiles and smartphones, including the iPhone Price improvement: a unique tool that offers clients the best price in volatile markets PureDMA: the UK’s first browser-based direct market access (DMA) service MTFs: we source multiple price feeds to ensure clients get the best prices Our commitment to outstanding trading technology that is as reliable as it is powerful sets us apart from our competitors and ensures IG Group's status as a true market leader. IG Group today IG Group companies have tens of thousands of clients worldwide making millions of transactions per month, over 99% of them online. In the year to May 2013, the Group achieved a turnover of £361.9 million, and generated a record adjusted profit before tax (PBT) of £192.2 million. Find out more about how the business operates today by visiting our Corporate Profile page. To learn more about the companies that make up IG Group, including information about where we are located globally, our client base and our commitment to providing all our clients with an excellent service, please visit the Our Businesses section. While IG Group is proud of its history, we are constantly looking forwards and focusing on new challenges and opportunities. With many of the Group's member businesses being at the forefront of the market in their respective territories, and offering cutting-edge products, one of our key objectives is to maintain market leadership. We are also committed to technological innovation, continued global expansion and maintaining our excellent levels of customer service. You can learn more about our plans for the future on our Strategic Goals page. Key Dates 1974 IG Index is founded, becoming the UK's first financial spread betting company. 1982 We are the first company in the UK to offer spread betting on the FT30. 1995 IG Index becomes the first UK company to allow spread betting on individual shares. 1998 The company becomes the first to launch an online dealing platform for financial spread betting. 2002 IG Markets Australia becomes the country's first CFD provider. 2003 Our product range expands as Binary Betting is introduced. 2006 New offices open in Germany and Singapore. Client website in Russia launched. 2007 Our browser-based trading platform is launched. New offices open in the US, Spain and France. 2008 The Group opens an office in Italy and buys FXOnline, a leading provider of financial derivatives in Japan. The Group launches the UK's first dedicated spread betting software for Apple's iPhone. 2009 Nadex.com is launched in the US. IG Markets introduces PureDMA. Offices open in Sweden and Luxembourg. 2010 New office opens in Portugal. We acquire the Ideal CFDs business in South Africa. iPhone app launched. 2011 New office opens in Netherlands. iPhone app expanded to include DMA. Android and BlackBerry apps launched. 2012 Insight, news and analysis centre launched. IG Markets and IG Index begin trading as IG. 2013 Spread betting and CFD offerings brought together under IG.com. Introduction of forex trading via MetaTrader 4 platform. Terms & Agreements Privacy Any Questions? 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