IG Tops CFD Market in Australia for Fifth Year Running

MELBOURNE, Australia, September 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

• IG increases primary market share to 38%
• IG also number one choice for new clients, switchers and active traders*
• Australians have a huge appetite for mobile trading

An independent survey of Australia's CFD market has named IG as the number one choice for CFD traders, with 38% using IG as their main provider. This puts IG 20% ahead of its closest competitor and is the fifth year in a row that IG has taken the number one spot.  

The ranking comes at a time where there has been increased interest in foreign exchange. This is as a result of volatile markets in the US, Asia and emerging markets, with traders looking for opportunities to trade products offering global exposure. The 8th annual June 2013 CFD Report by Investment Trends, a leading research agency for FX, CFDs and Online Broking, found that the number of CFD traders in Australia had fallen by 7% in the past year to 41,000.

The report showed that not only did IG have the largest proportion of traders by primary account, IG also was the number one choice for new traders, those switching between providers and active traders*, with an eight percentage point increase to 34%.

The report also highlighted the huge appetite Australian traders had for mobile trading - 70% of traders use a phone or tablet in relation to trading - interestingly, the highest level of all countries examined by Investment Trends globally.

As the CFD industry is fiercely competitive, it is imperative that providers constantly innovate and evolve to give them an edge. Mr Tamas Szabo, IG's Head of Asia Pacific, said, "We have built a solid and trusted brand through consistency and listening to and meeting our client demands. While we command a dominant market position, we do understand what it takes to keep growing our market share by being real specialists in what we offer."

"The last year saw further investment in mobile and app trading technology. We also launched our unique insight news and analysis centre, where each market page is a complete trading hub providing all the raw data and expert analysis you need to make efficient, accurate trading decisions. Plus you can view client sentiment data and client positioning for each market."

"Recently we just added the MT4 platform to our forex offering, enabling traders to use this popular platform but with the backing of a world-leading, secure provider."

"IG continues to lobby for full protection of client money, a process which we've been actively involved in since 2008 - now setting the benchmark for treatment of funds for all reputable CFD and FX providers in the market."

"IG has also put significant effort into our growing institutional and premium client offerings and it is encouraging that we have shown significant growth year-on-year in the most active segment of the market."

Notes to Editors

IG Markets is part of IG Group, a FTSE 250 company with 1000 staff and offices in 16 countries across five continents.

A CFD (or Contract for Difference) is an agreement to exchange the difference in value of a particular asset between the time at which a contract is opened and the time at which it is closed.

IG Markets advises that trading CFDs may not be suitable for everyone, since CFDs are a geared product and can result in losses that exceed an initial deposit, and that product disclosure statements are available from http://www.ig.com/au

* Traders who place 15+ CFD trades per month

ISSUED FOR: IG

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
MR CHRIS WESTON, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST
TEL +61-(03)9860-1758 OR +61-0416-548-119