
End of an era as Andy Bell steps down as CEO of the company he co-founded and led for 27 years
One of the most well-known and respected figures in the D2C investing market is stepping down from the firm that bears his name. Andy Bell has somewhat unexpectedly decided to step down as CEO of AJ Bell, the business he co-founded in 1995, and which grew into one of the largest retail investment platforms in

City Index has a new look, introduces Playmaker plus adds more options and extended trading hours on US stocks
City Index, one of the most established spread betting and margin trading brokers, has revamped its branding and services. The new-look moves the firm away from its distinctive yellow and black colour scheme and logo, to something more subtle. However, it’s the new services that accompany the re-branding that are likely to be of most

CMC Markets full year 2022 earnings fall short of the mark
CMC Markets has published results for the year ending 31 March 2022 What did the CMC Markets earnings release tell us about the company’s performance? The full-year numbers show a sharp decline in net operating income, which fell by -31.0% to £281.90 million. Down from last year’s £409.80 million, reflecting the slowdown in activity that

Hargreaves Lansdown adds Santander to its Active Savings service
Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s largest investment and savings platform, has added Santander International to its Active Savings lineup. Santander International is the trading name for the Jersey and Isle of Man branches of Santander Financial Services plc, which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santander UK Group Holdings plc, which itself is part of

Interactive Brokers launches fractional trading in European stocks and ETFs
Interactive Brokers, one of America’s leading online brokerages has launched fractional trading in European stocks and ETFs. The latest service to be introduced to Interactive Brokers’ UK and European customers is fractional share trading over European stocks and ETFs. Which are being added to the existing US fractional share trading facilities offered by the broker.

Increased investment means lower margins at AJ Bell
D2C investment platform operator AJ Bell published its interim results for the period ending the 31st of March 2022, this week. Total customer numbers rose to just over 418,000 the firm added +35,555 new clients in the period and had a customer retention rate of 95.40%, which is just ahead of the comparable number for

Interactive Brokers gets a new TradingView
Interactive Brokers founded in 1977 as one of the pioneers of online trading, is now available on TradingView having become a partner of the charting and market information service that’s used by more than 30 million traders around the globe each month, and which by some measures is the world’s most used financial website. Interactive

Interactive Brokers expands carbon offset facility to Western Europe and Asia.
Interactive Brokers the US-based online trading giant is extending its carbon offsetting service outside of the US. Interactive Brokers carbon offset facility Interactive Brokers is launching its carbon offset facility in Western Europe and Asia. As we reported in early April see this link the carbon offset facility allows individual investors to calculate and offset their

Peter Hetherington joins Capital.com & Currency.com as group CEO
Last week we reported on the departure of Jon Squires from Capital.com and speculated that his replacement would a financial service insider, somebody with plenty of operational and hands-on experience in the sector, on their CV. We were spot on as Capital.com has signed Peter Hetherington as their new Group CEO. Mr Hetherington is best

Markets.com withdraws its strategy builder tool
Markets.com, the retail arm of prime broking, clearing and liquidity provider Finlato, will no longer offer its Investment Strategy Builder service to its customers. The strategy builder tool allowed clients to design and build their own bespoke investing and trading strategies, or to select from a series of pre-built portfolios that offered exposure to a

Viktor Prokopenya takes over as interim CEO as Jon Squires leaves Capital.com
Capital.com the FCA, ASIC, and CYSEC regulated, forex trading platform, which was founded by Belarusian entrepreneur Viktor Prokopenya, has unexpectedly lost a key member of staff. Capital.com’s CEO Jon Squires has resigned from the broker and its sister company, crypto exchange Currency.com. The resignation comes as something of a surprise given that Capital.com had been

IBKR relaunches Covestor as Interactive Advisors
Back in April 2015 online trading giant Interactive Brokers acquired a Boston-based startup called Covestor. And after seven years of incubation and development, it’s been reincarnated under the brand of Interactive Advisors. What is Interactive Advisors? Interactive Advisors is a Roboadvisor that uses modern technology to help clients meet their investing goals. The investment platform

City Index parent company StoneX unearths rock solid earnings
StoneX Group, the owner of Gain Capital and forex broker City Index, updated the market on its recent performance this week, with the release of its Q2 2022 results, a period which ended on March 31st. Quarterly operating revenues rose by +16.0% to $544.70 million whilst net income for the quarter came in at $64.0

IG makes single stock equity options available online as a spread bet or CFD
IG Group, one of the UK’s largest CFD trding platforms and Spread Betting brokers, is to start offering single stock options on its MyIG dealing platform. The broker will initially offer options with weekly and monthly expires, over a range of 12 US equities, that includes Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Tesla and Nvidia. IG has a

Plus500 experiences some AGM turbulence over senior bonuses
Israeli based and London listed CFD trading platform, Plus500 experienced some turbulence at its recent AGM. What happened at the AGM? Plus500 held its AGM or Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, and the group provided investors with a trading update ahead of the meeting. The statement was upbeat, with management saying that the firm was

IG Group to split investment and trading accounts into separate entities
IG Group has written to its investing and share dealing customers regarding a change of entity, under which the business that houses and administrates unleveraged investment and share trading activities, will change from IG Markets to a newly formed, but wholly-owned subsidiary of IG Group, called IG Trading and Investment Limited. IG Trading and Investment

AJ Bell reduces fund costs & attracts £1.5 billion new inflow
Investment account and share dealing platform AJ Bell’s Q2 trading update contained details of client flows in the firm’s second quarter of trading, which amounted to a net inflow of £1.50 billion. £700 million was picked up by the retail investor division with £900 million flowing into the firm’s advisory business. The rounding item was a

2022 Good Money Guide Award Winners
We are delighted to announce the winners of the fifth annual Good Money Guide Awards. Winners were chosen based on the responses in our awards survey from over 7,000 votes, professional account testing and data and pricing analysis. Investing Account Winners Best Investment Account – Interactive Investor Best Investing App – Hargreaves Lansdown Best Stock