The boss of the UK’s biggest spread-betting company, IG Group, has quit only months after the firm was shaken by the Swiss National Bank’s bombshell in currency markets.
Chief executive Tim Howkins will retire at the firm’s annual general meeting in October after nine years in charge, and seven years before that as chief financial officer.
He leaves without a golden goodbye but with shares in the company worth around £13 million.
The announcement of his departure comes six months after the SNB dramatically scrapped its €1.20 cap for the Swiss franc against euro — sending the value of the franc soaring and leaving hundreds of its clients betting on a weaker franc painfully exposed.
IG racked up £12 million in lost revenues and a further £15 million in bad debts. “Probably not a huge proportion” of these debts will be recovered, Howkins said.
On his departure he insisted: “Absolutely this is my choice and nobody else’s. I think shareholders have been very supportive of the way we handled the Swiss franc incident.”
He added: “I think I’m leaving on a high.”
The shock hit the results as pre-tax profits fell 13% to £169.5 million in the year to 31 May. Revenues — dented by the Swiss franc — crawled 5% ahead to £388 million.
The City marked the shares down 6% or 52.25p to 754.75p.
The debacle also cost IG’s staff and board a total of £3.6 million in lost bonuses and share incentives.
Howkins said the group now stress-tested for more “extreme” market moves, but warned the company would not let its debtors off the hook as it would set a “terrible precedent”.
He added: “We have a group of five clients we believe are financially sophisticated and absolutely have the means to pay their debts, trying to drum up media attention in the hope that we will stop pursuing them for those debts.”
IG’s chief operating officer Peter Hetherington will take over as interim chief executive following the AGM and is also a candidate for the job full time.