Established in 1974, IG Index was the world's first financial spread betting company. Today, as part of the global IG Group, it is the leading operation of its type in the world.
IgIndex Timeline
- 1974
- Investors Gold Index, later to become IG Index, is founded.
- 1982
- IG Index is the first company in the UK to start taking spread bets on the share prices of FT 30 companies.
- 1995
- The company is the first to start taking spread bets on all publicly traded companies in the UK.
- 1998
- IG Index is the first company in the UK to launch an online dealing platform for financial spread betting products.
- 20000
- IG Group is floated for the first time and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
- 2002
- IG Group expands into Australia and becomes the country's first CFD provider.
- 2007
- The award-winning PureDeal dealing platform is unveiled. IG Index also introduces Bungee Bets.
- 2008
- IG Index brings PureDeal to the iPhone. Trailing Stops and DealThru Charts are introduced. IG Group acquires FXOnline in Japan.
- 2009
- IG Index website is overhauled. IG Group launches Nadex.com in the US, and relaunches sports offering extrabet.com.
Pioneers of spread betting
IG Index was initially established to give investors the opportunity to bet on movements in the price of gold, without having to actually buy or sell the physical commodity in the market. When founder Stuart Wheeler hit upon the idea of trading the price of gold as an index, IG Index was born, laying the groundwork for financial spread betting as we now know it in the UK.
The new and exciting concept of spread betting, compared with traditional commodity trading, quickly became apparent. Since those early days in the mid-1970s financial spread betting has grown exponentially, particularly in the last decade, offering traders and investors a unique combination of flexibility, speed of execution and tax-free* profits.
Developing new markets
IG Index expanded rapidly throughout the 1990s. In 1995 IG Index extended its spread betting offering to include individual publicly traded shares; a first in the UK.
Then, in 1998, IG Index launched an online dealing platform specifically designed for financial spread betting; another first in the UK.
The company continued to expand, widening its operations to include foreign exchange dealing, Contracts for Difference (CFD) and sports spread betting, under the IG Group banner.
To find out about CFD trading visit www.igmarkets.co.uk and for more about sports spread betting visit www.extrabet.com.
Product innovation
Today it is possible to spread bet with IG Index on a huge range of markets; including stock indices, forex, shares, house prices, options, interest rates and, of course, commodities.
IG Index has also been responsible for pioneering several types of financial spread betting products, including the innovative Binary and Bungee Bets, which offer clients exciting yes/no and bounce-back propositions. All this is available on our advanced, award-winning PureDeal trading platform which features our revolutionary Price Improvement technology and one-click dealing. You can also operate your financial spread betting account via mobile phone and iPhone.
*Tax law can be changed or may differ depending on your personal circumstances
IG Index today
IG Index is part of IG Group Holdings plc, a UK company listed on the London Stock Exchange, and a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The Group is headquartered in London while the IG Group also has offices in America, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Luxembourg.
The IG Group has over 100,000 clients worldwide, making more than one million transactions per month. In the year to May 2009, the Group achieved a turnover of £257m (up 40%), and generated a record profit before tax of £131m (up 33%). The Group's financial businesses opened more than 74,000 accounts during the year (up 74%), with over 90% of all client trades are conducted online via our PureDeal dealing platform.
For more information please visit the IG Group website, www.iggroup.com.
Key dates
1974
Investors Gold Index, later to become IG Index, is founded.
1982
IG Index is the first company in the UK to start taking spread bets on the share prices of FT 30 companies.
1995
The company is the first to start taking spread bets on all publicly traded companies in the UK.
1998
IG Index is the first company in the UK to launch an online dealing platform for financial spread betting products.
2000
IG Group is floated for the first time and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
2002
IG Group expands into Australia and becomes the country's first CFD provider.
2007
The award-winning PureDeal dealing platform is unveiled. IG Index also introduces Bungee Bets.
2008
IG Index brings PureDeal to the iPhone. Trailing Stops and DealThru Charts are introduced. IG Group acquires FXOnline in Japan.
2009
IG Index confirmed as UK market leader by Investment Trends survey, with one in three spread betting clients holding an account with us.
Regulation
IG Index and IG Markets are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
In respect of Binary Bets, IG Index Ltd is licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission. License number 066-002628-R-103649-002.