Trading Platform Joins Mobile App Revolution With Apple Watch Agreement

Tom Burroughes

24 April 2015

Online trading platform firm , which provides services such as spread-betting and contracts for difference transactions, has joined the latest trend of launching apps via the new Apple Watch.

The move comes a few weeks after Citi created an app for its clients, part of a trend of financial firms embracing mobile tech so that people can check data and information on the hoof.

IG Group said its new offering will be available immediately after the watch is launched in nine countries today. This is IG's and Apple's first move into wearable technology, IG Group said in a statement yesterday.

In a separate move around apps, real estate platform PropertyGuru has forged a partnership with Maybank in which the former firm provides property content, listings and news to users of Maybank’s Property Finder app.

IG Group said the IG Watch app will automatically install if the iPhone has already been downloaded and clients will be able to access the markets with a one-tap login. Clients can trade any one of IG's 10,000 markets on the app, including over 90 FX pairs and 6000 global shares, as well as options, indices, binaries and commodities. The app is available in 12 languages.

The use of “smart devices” for trading is a growing theme, IG Group said, citing a recent Investment Trends report on retail trading behaviour which was compiled in the last six months to show thatbetween 72 per cent and 88 per cent of traders in Australia , Hong

Kong and Singapore currently use a smart device for trading, with a further 8 per cent to 15 per cent saying they plan to start.

Maybank move
In the Maybank and PropertyGuru app launch, the app “aims to help prospective buyers search for properties either for residential, investment, or business, within their preferred location or price range that suits their financial profile”, a statement from the firms said.

In Asia alone, digital banking consumers are expected to grow from 670 million in 2012 to 1.7 billion in 2020. About 40 per cent of mass affluent customers now prefer online or mobile banking, and among those under 40 years of age, around half prefer digital banking, the firms, citing research, said.