Is IG regulated?
Yes, and better than most brands we cover. IG Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has been around since 1974 and holds top-tier licences in the UK, Australia, Japan, Singapore and elsewhere. What matters for you is which IG company opens your account, and that depends on where you live.
In Singapore it’s IG Asia Pte Ltd, which holds a Capital Markets Services licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). In the UAE it has been IG Limited, licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority since 2015. IG’s own UAE pages now say those accounts “will move” to IG International Limited, licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, without giving a date. Bermuda is also where IG puts clients in countries where it has no local licence.
IG in your country
- Singapore: IG Asia Pte Ltd, MAS-licensed. Retail forex leverage is capped at 20:1, as MAS rules require.
- UAE: IG Limited (DFSA) for now, with a stated move to IG International (Bermuda).
- Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Malaysia: IG doesn’t say whether it accepts residents or which company would serve them. If it does, expect the Bermuda company. Check the sign-up form.
- India: IG Markets is on the RBI Alert List of unauthorised forex platforms.
We score the company that serves most of our readers, which is IG International in Bermuda. We treat the Bermuda Monetary Authority as a tier-2 regulator, the same as Cayman’s CIMA.
Fees and account types
IG builds its forex costs into the spread, with no separate commission except on share CFDs and its direct market access option. Its international help pages give EUR/USD averages of 0.6 to 0.86 points, but those figures date from 2020, so treat them as a guide. Spot gold is quoted from 0.3 points on the standard contract.
We found no inactivity fee on IG’s current pages. Watch the extras instead: card deposits carry a 2% processing fee in Singapore and 2.3% elsewhere, and trading in a currency other than your base currency costs 0.7% (Singapore) or 1.0% (international) on conversion.
Deposits and withdrawals
Singapore funding is the strongest part of IG’s offer. You can deposit by PayNow, FAST, internet banking, digital banks such as Trust and GXS, or card, and transfers made between 8am and 11pm usually land the same business day. IG doesn’t take e-wallets like PayLah or Wise in Singapore.
IG charges no withdrawal fee. It quotes 2 to 5 days back to a card and same day to 3 days by bank transfer.
Platforms
IG’s own web platform and app are the centre of the offer, with MT4, TradingView, ProRealTime, L2 Dealer and APIs alongside. MT5 is available on the international account but not in Singapore. IG publishes execution statistics for Singapore, including fill rates of around 98% and slippage figures for EUR/USD, which few brokers bother to do.
Is IG safe?
For Singapore residents, yes: a MAS licence, segregated client money and a listed parent with audited accounts. For Gulf traders the protection is thinner. The Bermuda company holds client money in trust, but we found no negative balance protection and no compensation scheme for it.
IG’s regulatory record is clean by industry standards. The most recent fine we found is from 2018, when France’s AMF fined its French branch EUR 500,000 over misleading marketing. One gap matters for this region: we found no Islamic (swap-free) account.
Who IG suits
Singapore residents who want a long-established, MAS-licensed broker with fast SGD funding and a big market range. Gulf traders get a strong brand, but on a Bermuda licence and without a swap-free account, so they’re giving up two things many of them care about.