IG Group Plans Hundreds of Job Cuts Across a 2,300 Person Workforce in 11 Countries

The online trading firm IG Group is preparing to cut hundreds of jobs, and Finance Magnates reports the plans affect a workforce that numbered about 2,300 at the end of June. Redundancy consultations have already started in the UK, with ten other countries expected to follow during September. At Metaintro we watch how restructuring inside large financial firms reshapes the roles underneath, and this one is unusually legible because the company published the org chart before it published the cuts.

What Exactly Is IG Group Cutting and Why Now?

The reduction is the staffing consequence of a reorganisation announced in July. Finance Magnates reports that IG is combining its UK and Ireland, European, and Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern commercial divisions into a single unit called IG Consumer, pulling customer-facing technology teams, operations, Freetrade and the Independent Reserve cryptocurrency business into the same division, while North America and the institutional business stay separate.

That merger is what generates the job losses. Three regional divisions each carried their own management layer, their own operations function and their own customer support structure. Fold them into one and the duplicate roles become visible immediately, which is why the cuts arrive weeks after the structure rather than years later.

The newly appointed chief executive of the consumer division told staff that "everyone whose role is affected in whatever way, for whatever reason, will be treated fairly, lawfully, with respect, and with dignity", according to LeapRate's account of the internal memo.

The geography is staged rather than simultaneous. FX News Group lists the countries still waiting as Poland, France, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Bermuda, the UAE and India, with discussions there most likely beginning during September and some UK conversations having already taken place last month.

The corporate backdrop matters for reading the decision. LeapRate reports the cuts come just weeks after a 1.3 billion dollar deal to buy Underdog, a United States fantasy sports and prediction markets operator, and describes a source calling this the biggest round of cuts at the company since 2023. FX News Group notes the share price has fallen about 21 percent since that deal was announced, from 17.06 pounds to 13.54.

Where Does the Coverage Agree and Where Does It Split?

The facts hold steady across outlets. the Finance Magnates report, FX News Group, LeapRate and Global Banking and Finance Review all report the same 2,300 headcount, the same consumer division merger, the same staged country timetable and the same origin in an internal memo.

What no outlet has is the number. Finance Magnates is explicit that the company did not disclose the roles involved, the expected savings or the restructuring costs. Every figure in circulation is therefore a floor, not a total, and "hundreds" out of a workforce of about 2,300 covers everything from a painful trim to a fifth of the company. If you work there, the honest position is that nobody outside the consultation currently knows the scale.

There is one flat denial worth recording. LeapRate reports the company told Sky News that no European offices would close entirely. That is a meaningful commitment, because a site closure and a distributed reduction produce very different outcomes for the same headcount. It also narrows the likely shape of the cuts toward duplicated head office and management functions rather than whole country teams.

The company's own numbers add context nobody else supplies. IG Group's corporate site lists 2,416 staff globally as of May 2025, across nineteen countries and five continents, alongside 820,000 active clients and total revenue of 1,123.4 million pounds. Set that against the 2,300 reported for the end of June this year and the workforce had already drifted down by roughly a hundred before this round began. That is a slow contraction becoming a fast one, which is a different story from a company reacting to a sudden shock.

The official guidance on redundancy in the UK sets out entitlements to redundancy pay, a notice period, a consultation, the option to move into a different job and time off to look for work.

One more number deserves attention because it frames the risk for everyone still inside. IG Group reports 820,000 active clients and revenue of 1,123.4 million pounds against a staff base of roughly 2,300. That is a very high revenue per employee, which is normal for an online broker and which cuts both ways for the workforce. It means the business can absorb a significant reduction without the customer noticing, and it means headcount is one of the few large costs available to management when it wants to fund something else.

The framing split is the interesting one. The company describes the exercise as refreshing its organisational model to serve customers and operate efficiently. The reporting frames it against a share price down a fifth and shareholder unease about a large acquisition. Both are true at once, and the reconciliation is straightforward. A company that has just committed 1.3 billion dollars to an acquisition has a powerful reason to find savings in the business it already owns, and merging three divisions is the least disruptive place to look.

Wondering What This Means for Your Job Search?

The single most useful thing to establish is which wave you are in. Consultations have opened in the UK while ten other countries wait for September, and that gap is weeks of preparation time for anyone outside the first group. Treat the earliest plausible date as your own, because the alternative is discovering the timetable when it reaches you.

Know the floor before you are offered anything. The UK guidance on redundancy rights confirms entitlements to redundancy pay, notice, consultation, the option of a different role and paid time off to job hunt, and it is explicit that selection must be fair and cannot rest on age, gender, disability or pregnancy. Free advice is available from Acas and the Citizens Advice service, and using it before you sign is worth more than negotiating after. In a multi-country process the rules differ sharply by jurisdiction, so a colleague in Germany or India is not a reliable guide to what you are owed.

The option to move into a different job is the underused clause in that list. A merger of three divisions into one destroys duplicate roles and simultaneously creates a smaller number of consolidated ones, and the people who land those are usually the ones who asked early rather than the ones who waited to be offered. If your function survives in the new structure even in reduced form, the conversation to have this week is about redeployment, not exit terms.

For where the skills go next, be specific about what you actually did rather than who you worked for. Regulated trading operations, client onboarding, market risk, compliance and platform support are transferable across brokers, banks, payment firms and exchanges, and the demand pattern is visible in hiring data. Banks have been posting large volumes of AI skill roles even while overall finance payrolls fell, which tells you the sector is not hiring less so much as hiring differently. Santander's Asia restructuring produced a similar reshuffle of banking roles and perks and is worth reading for the shape of what follows a division merger.

One caution on timing for anyone job hunting in Britain. UK job vacancies have been sitting at a five year low, and employer costs have been under pressure from changes to National Insurance that feed directly into hiring and redundancy decisions. That does not mean you will not find work. It means the search will take longer than it would have two years ago, so starting during your notice period rather than after it is the difference that matters most.

There is a practical sequencing point that people in staged, multi-country processes get wrong. The first wave sets the template for everything that follows, so what the UK group is offered now is the best available forecast of what lands in Warsaw or Mumbai in a few weeks. If you are in a later wave, the most valuable thing you can do this week is talk to somebody in the first one and find out what the package actually contained, what the redeployment conversation looked like, and whether anyone successfully negotiated a change to it.

Rehearse the story before you need it, too. A reorganisation is one of the easiest redundancies to explain to a future employer, because the reason sits in the structure rather than in your performance. The sentence you want is short and factual, naming the merger of three divisions into one and the duplicate role that removed, and then moving straight to what you did there. Candidates who sound defensive about a restructuring invite a question that the facts do not warrant.

My argument on the wider read is that a division merger is a better employer to be leaving than a company in genuine distress. The business is buying rather than selling, it is keeping its offices open, and the roles being removed are duplicates created by structure rather than functions the market no longer wants. That is a much easier story to tell in an interview than a redundancy from a shrinking firm, and telling it clearly is worth rehearsing before the first conversation.

One last thought for anyone reading this from outside the company. A merger of regional divisions into a single global unit is one of the most predictable generators of job losses in corporate life, and the announcement of the structure almost always precedes the announcement of the cuts by a matter of weeks. If your employer publishes a new organisational chart that collapses several regions into one, the duplicate roles created by that chart are visible immediately to anyone willing to look, and your own function is usually easy to place on it. That gap between the two announcements is the most useful preparation time you will ever get, and most people spend it waiting rather than acting.

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People Also Asked

Q: How many jobs is IG Group cutting?

A: The company has not said. Finance Magnates reports that the exact reduction has not been disclosed, along with no disclosure of the roles involved, expected savings or restructuring costs, and describes the plans as affecting a workforce of about 2,300 at the end of June. LeapRate reports a source calling it the biggest round of cuts at the company since 2023.

Q: Which countries are affected and when?

A: FX News Group reports that some UK discussions took place last month, with Poland, France, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Bermuda, the UAE and India expected to begin most likely during September. LeapRate reports the company denied that any European offices would close entirely.

Q: What am I entitled to if I am made redundant in the UK?

A: The official guidance lists redundancy pay, a notice period, a consultation with your employer, the option to move into a different job and time off to find new work, and states that selection must be fair and cannot be based on age, gender, disability or pregnancy. Free advice is available from Acas and the Citizens Advice service. Entitlements differ by country, so staff outside Britain should check local rules.

Looking for your next opportunity? Regulated trading, compliance, operations and platform experience travels well across brokers, banks and payment firms, and the people who start before their notice period ends reach hiring managers first. Metaintro matches financial services talent to employers hiring right now. Create a free profile and start mapping your next move today.