There is a wave of important announcements from IG Group Holdings plc (LON:IGG), the expert in online trading, today, including a set of robust annual metrics, as well as the news of the retirement of CEO Tim Howkins.
The next announcement in line concerns the lineup of trading instruments for IG clients. IG Group has just announced it will offer its clients a range of exchange traded fund-based investment portfolios through IG Group’s stockbroking platform. This is part of a wider offering from IG Group that includes stockbroking, contracts for difference (CFD) trading and spread betting.
IG’s stockbroking clients will have the option to choose from a variety of ETF-based investment portfolios constructed by IG Group using Model Portfolios from BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK), a leading provider of ETFs globally with its iShares ETFs.
The future launch reiterates IG Group’s commitment to broadening its offering to appeal to sophisticated investors and active traders.
The plan is to launch the increased offering in 2016, and initially to make it available to UK clients.
Ian Peacock, Head of UK and Ireland at IG Group, comments: “The launch of our stockbroking platform last year provided our clients with the latest in data, pricing and trading technology and the launch of these ETF portfolios is a natural progression in our commitment to provide our clients with an increasingly comprehensive offering. Portfolios composed of passive instruments, such as ETFs, have the potential to disrupt the investment management industry, challenging the traditional high-fee approach to asset management.
“ETFs have become much more mainstream in the UK and Europe, and providing ETF-based portfolios will help to significantly broaden our reach as investor demand for these products continues to grow. As the clear market leader in the ETF market, BlackRock is a natural choice to provide expertise. This initiative will include marketing and educational efforts to raise awareness and understanding of ETFs, and we consider this to be a significant long-term opportunity.”
Michael Gruener, Co-head of Sales for iShares EMEA at BlackRock, commented:
“The global ETF market is currently growing at a rate of 20% per annum and while this growth has traditionally been driven by the use of ETFs as individual building blocks, we are seeing a growing number of integrated ETF-based model portfolios that provide investors with a low cost, transparent, and flexible way to invest. While the availability of ETFs and ETF-based portfolios through platforms is still limited in the UK compared to many other European countries, solutions like the IG Model Portfolios are instrumental to raising awareness and understanding of ETFs within the market.”