IG Group, Europe’s largest online trading platform, has promoted its long-serving executive, Niamh Byrne to take on an expanded role as the firm’s Head of UK B2B2C Sales.
Niamh told Finance Magnates that her role is essentially to head IG’s partner business, so she will operate under IG Prime, but will be focused on driving revenue for the B2B2C segment.
Byrne has been with the FCA-regulated broker since 2009, based out of its offices in London. She has spent nearly 12 years there and rose through the ranks with the firm, culminating with the position of Senior Institutional Sales & Client Manager.
During this long stint, Byrne was responsible for marketing IG’s products and services to institutions in order to generate new business. Additionally, she was tasked with managing a number of existing institutional relationships, covering a client segment that includes hedge funds/investment managers, financial institutions, banks/brokers and white label partners.
Prior to IG, Byrne worked at RBC Investor & Treasury Services, a provider of asset services, custody, Payments and treasury services for financial and other institutional investors worldwide. This was preceded by a two-year tenure at wealth management and capital markets firm, Davy Group.
The move to promote Niamh is clearly intended to boost bottom-line sales and expand the reach of IG Group operations in the prime brokerage field. The UK spread better targets mid-sized hedge funds and family offices with a dedicated institutional offering that IG expects to yield a potential market opportunity of around £500 million.
Britain’s biggest player in the spread betting sector, which has a 40 percent share of the market, has undergone several management changes over the last few months.
IG Group and other brokerage platforms established or expanded their European bases ahead of the UK’s departure from the bloc. The Brexit is expected to cause substantial changes in Europe’s regulatory environment, particularly the restrictions that will be placed on FCA regulated firms to passport into Europe.
