IG (share dealing / stockbroking): what the sources say

The questions, with sources

"Not verified" means we could not confirm it from a source we could read. Check the entity and rules for your own country. Education only, not investment advice.

How the points add up

• Regulation 20 of 20. Licensed by a major financial regulator (see the broker page for the register entry)
• Client protection 20 of 20. Investor compensation scheme applies: FSCS (UK entities); EdW (IG Europe GmbH); Esisuisse (IG Bank); none for Australia, US, South Africa per IG international page; Client assets held separately from the broker's own (stated in its documents)
• Transparency 10 of 10. Annual financial statements are public (listed parent or published report)
• Security record 6 of 15. Worst incident in the last five years scored: 6 of 15
• Compliance record 25 of 25. No regulator or court action found in our search
• Costs 10 of 10. Buying 1,000 USD of a US stock or ETF: 0% commission at the published base tier (FX and spread not included)

Points earned of points available. A criterion we could not verify is left out and lowers the evidence share. See how we score.

Security incidents

• 2026-08-24 Login failures on IG web and mobile apps shortly before the US open; clients in UK, Ireland, Singapore, Australia and other regions affected; some reported being unable to close positions. Customer funds lost: no. Outcome: IG status page said investigating 'with the highest priority', advised phone closures; access restored later in the session; no cause or compensation reported (press: Finance Magnates; FastBull https://www.fastbull.com/brokersview/news/ig-trading-platform-hit-by-global-login-outage-ahead-of-us-market-open-326176). source
• 2026-04 IG Japan reported potential data exposure of about 163,000 clients (headline: no external leak confirmed). Customer funds lost: not verified. Outcome: Press headline only; article page returned errors on two fetch attempts, details unverified. source
• 2024-04-26 IT glitch in settling some share trades caused duplicate credits and debits on a number of UK ISA accounts; money wrongly removed and not refunded more than a week later; about 50 clients per IG. Customer funds lost: not verified. Outcome: IG said it was manually refunding affected clients and in contact with them (press: Alliance News via Morningstar, reporting a Financial Times story). source
• 2020-05-21 Outage of web platform, mobile apps and APIs for about 1h12m (14:15-15:27 UTC); clients could not log in (pre-window item). Customer funds lost: no. Outcome: IG apologised, said services back to normal; cause not disclosed; no compensation mentioned (press). source older than 5 years

Regulator and court actions

• 2018-06-25 AMF (France): EUR 500,000 fine on IG Markets Limited for misleading CFD/binary-options information, unclear sourcing of recommendations, insufficient cooperation (outside 5-year window) Outcome: Press (Finance Magnates) source older than 5 years
• 2019-08 English court (London): IG Markets Ltd sued to stop an investor client pursuing damages for trading losses under a trading contract; case settled, proceedings stayed (outside 5-year window; press, paywalled). Outcome: Settlement, terms not disclosed (press: Law360). source older than 5 years

Actions reported by press only are shown and not scored.

Key facts in five lines

• IG's UK client-funds page states that share dealing is provided by IG Trading and Investments Ltd, that IG is FCA-authorised, that client money is held in segregated trust accounts at regulated banks under CASS rules, and that FSCS covers a shortfall up to GBP 85,000. [source 9]
• IG's UK costs page lists US and UK share commission as free with instant FX conversion (0.7% FX fee), 3c/share min USD 15 with manual conversion, and custody, inactivity and withdrawal fees as free. [source 10]
• IG Group Holdings plc (LSE: IGG) reported FY25 (to 31 May 2025) revenue of GBP 1,075.9m and profit after tax of GBP 380.4m. [source 11]
• Incidents since Oct 2021 found in press: an ISA refunding glitch affecting about 50 clients (Apr 2024), a potential data exposure at IG Japan (Apr 2026, unverified), and a login outage on 24 Aug 2026. [source 13]
• No regulator fine or court judgment against IG dated within the last 5 years was found in three searches; the AMF fine (EUR 500,000, 2018) and a 2019 settled court case are outside the window. [source 5]

Questions about IG (share dealing / stockbroking)

Is IG (share dealing / stockbroking) safe?

We do not give a yes or no. We record its regulation (FCA, BaFin / Bundesbank), whether an investor compensation scheme applies, and what we found about incidents and regulator actions. Read the sections above, and check which entity holds your account.

Does IG (share dealing / stockbroking) charge commission on US stocks?

IG UK costs-fees page (read 2026-10-11): US shares commission 'Free' with instant currency conversion (0.7% FX fee); switching to manual conversion removes commission-free trading: 3c/share, min USD 15. UK shares free (GBP 3 with manual conversion). Help article 682832 adds: up to GBP 25,000 trade consideration, phone dealing GBP 50.

Where this comes from

• [1] FirmTracer FCA register mirror IG Markets (third-party) accessed 2026-10-11
• [2] IG international offering (money protection and regulation) accessed 2026-10-11
• [3] IG UK help: share dealing and ISA charges accessed 2026-10-11
• [4] Finance Magnates: IG login failures (Aug 2026) accessed 2026-10-11
• [5] Finance Magnates: AMF fine EUR 500,000 (2018) accessed 2026-10-11
• [6] IG client money page (dated) accessed 2026-10-11
• [7] CoinSpectator: IG Japan data exposure headline accessed 2026-10-11
• [8] FSCS 2019 limits accessed 2026-10-11
• [9] IG UK: What we do with your money (client funds) accessed 2026-10-11
• [10] IG UK share dealing costs and fees accessed 2026-10-11
• [11] IG Group Holdings plc FY25 results RNS (Investegate) accessed 2026-10-11
• [12] Companies House: IG Markets Limited 04008957 accessed 2026-10-11
• [13] Morningstar/Alliance News: IG refunding errors (Apr 2024) accessed 2026-10-11
• [14] FinanceFeeds: IG major outage (May 2020) accessed 2026-10-11
• [15] Law360: IG Markets settles suit with investor (2019) accessed 2026-10-11
• [16] IG UK help 682994: how IG keeps money and assets safe accessed 2026-10-11
• [17] Finance Magnates: three IG Group subsidiaries FY2023 results accessed 2026-10-11

Not verified: Official FCA register page not surfaced by search and not opened (FRN 195355 rests on a third-party mirror; IG Trading and Investments Ltd FRN not found). ASIC/MAS/FINMA/BaFin registers not opened. FSCS/EdW/Esisuisse limits read on IG's pages, not on the schemes' own pages. IG Japan data-exposure article could not be read (server errors); details unverified. Annual report itself not opened (FY25 results RNS used). Group founding year, fractional shares and full market list not verified. Three incident and three legal searches performed; no regulator enforcement action against IG in the 5-year window was found, but absence in search results is not proof of absence.

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