IG Group Chairman Andy Green to leave the company
Andy Green prepares to leave IG Group, citing regulatory challenges. There must be more to it, however.
Evergreen retail electronic trading stalwart IG Group has undergone some tremendous changes of corporate direction during the past year, representing a diversion from its very steady path in which very little changes.
Today, another step in the direction of senior leadership changes has taken place as the company’s Chairman Andy Green prepares to step down from his position.
Andy Green
Mr Green has a very interesting skillset, having spent most of his executive career in the Telecoms, IT and Technology world with many years of boardroom experience in the UK, US, Europe and Asia.
He has a fascination with, and a unique perspective on, the impact of the Digital Age on business strategy across all sectors of the economy. He is a trusted advisor to companies and governments and his not for profit work is focussed on helping develop a vibrant sustainable UK economy for the next generation, and supporting the development of the poorest in the world whilst restoring nature.
Mr Green joined IG Group as Chairman in October 2014, a position that he assumed alongside current senior directorship positions at Australia’s LINK Group, position as Commissioner at the National Infrastructure Commission and a Chairman post at Digital Catapult.
Having joined IG Group as Chairman during the halcyon days of Peter Hetherington’s leadership of IG Group, the firm was in a very strong position having benefited from Mr Hetherington’s unique management style, along with CFO Tim Howkins and COO Arman Tahmassebi, the three of which have now left the firm, Mr Hetherington having waved goodbye in September 2018 after 24 years at the company.
Mr Hetherington, whose accurate and focused demeanor has been an attribute that I have long admired, was instrumental in working closely with senior executives of British and European brokerages in putting a case to the regulatory authorities to work closely with the firms that have built this industry from the ground up in coming to a reasonable conclusion with regard to CFD and FX rulings.
It is very common practice for industry leaders to work closely with rule makers in any business environment, this way the sensible consult with the experienced, and a good quality sustainable outcome is achieved.
Applauding Mr Hetherington’s prowess as a CEO is certainly a very poignant thing that we can pretty much all do whilst looking back at his steering of the company as it goes from strength to strength. IG Group is a tour de force in Britain. It has 80% of its customers on the British Isles, has never been the subject of any complaints of any significance, generated a revenue of 517 million GBP in 2017, has always been very favorable towards shareholders and is up there with Hargreaves Lansdown as one of Britain’s largest household names in the modern retail financial sector.
The mainstream line is that Mr Green’s departure is a direct result of IG Group needing to reshapes its business in the wake of regulatory changes, which appears far too generic however it is FinanceFeeds opinion that Mr Hetherington left his position as CEO in part due to his efforts to stem the onslaught that the OTC derivatives sector faces from regulators despite lobbying efforts, and the might and regulatory influence of the exchange sector which wants to gain more than a foothold in the retail market, its inefficiency being the OTC derivatives sector’s advantage.
Why would the regulators attempt to attack it when the same regulators allow villainous payday loan firms to flagrantly rip off unsuspecting and economically immobile people with vast advertising campaigns all over the internet and television?
These vagabonds in suits belong in Dickensian East London, not in today’s civilized financial sector yet the regulators seek to clip the wings of the most polished firms in Britain.
There can only really be one explanation and that is lobbying from the exchanges. EUREX and LSE have massive power. I really hope that this was not a catalyst in Mr Hetherington’s decision, because we have just waved goodbye to one of the most astute executives in the entire business.
Mr Green’s departure follows IG’s appointment of June Felix as chief executive in October. She replaced Peter Hetherington, who spent 25 years at the London-headquartered company.
