Interactive Investor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

interactive investor
Interactive Investor Limited
TypePrivate
IndustryFinancial Services
FoundedAugust 1995 (1995-08)
HeadquartersManchester, England, UK
Key people
Richard Wilson, Chief Executive Officer

Barry Bicknell, Chief Financial Officer Libby Jones, Chief People Officer Freddie Gjertson, Chief Commercial Officer Gary Shaw, Director of Operations

John Tumulty, Chief Technology Officer
ProductsExecution-only online trading in UK and international shares, funds, investment trusts and ETFs, ISAs, Junior ISAs and SIPPs (selfinvested personal pensions)
ServicesMarket analysis, tools, virtual and ready-made portfolios.
Number of employees
700+
Websitewww.ii.co.uk Edit this at Wikidata

interactive investor is an online investment service in the United Kingdom, founded in 1995. It provides financial information, as well as investment tools. It is the UK's biggest flat-fee investment platform, with £55 billion of assets under administration,[1] over 400,000 customers and more than one million users. The group is based in Manchester, with offices in London and Leeds.[2]

History[]

Interactive Investor International was founded in 1994 by Sherry Coutu and funded by angel investors Richard Caruso and John Cooper, and the venture capital company, Arts Alliance.

In 1995, Coutu hired Tomas Carruthers from ESI to bring trading capability and equities to supplement the company's fund-management information. Initially launched to provide front-end research to the investment community, it also provided a platform for investors to communicate through discussion boards. The name was changed to Interactive Investor following the company's withdrawal from the South African and Asian markets.

The company has grown to be the UK's second-largest retail investment platform, with more than 300,000 customers and more than 7.4 million unique users per annum.[citation needed]

It was floated on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in February 2000, gaining a first-day valuation of £550m.[3] The company was unprofitable in that year,[4] and by July 2001 its share price had fallen below 25 pence after reaching 415p in March 2000, during the dot-com bubble.[5] Later in 2001, Australian financial services group AMP[6] bought Interactive Investor for a little over £50m, and its investment platform was merged into AMP's Ample brand.[7]

Tomás Carruthers, the company's CEO, was retained by AMP, and in 2003 he regained control through a buy-out.[7] The current interactive investor is a private limited company incorporated in 2003 and majority owned by funds advised by J.C. Flowers & Co, a leading private equity firm.[citation needed] ii first provided a dealing service in 2010, when it joined forces with Halifax Share Dealing, and went on to set up its own dealing function and customer service centre, based in Glasgow, in 2011.

Services and products[]

Through the company's direct-to-customer investing and trading service, investors can manage and trade shares, funds, investment trusts and bonds via trading accounts, ISAs and SIPPs. The platform also offers comprehensive (Level 2) market data.

These services are supported by portfolio-tracking tools, investment filters, the Super 60[8] and ACE 40[9] lists of rated investments and a selection of ready-made investment options, as well as impartial, specialist news and research from a dedicated editorial team.

In January 2020, ii introduced free regular investing[10] and became the first of the big investment platforms to scrap its fee for the service.

Acquisitions[]

ii bought personal finance magazine Moneywise from Reader's Digest in 2004.[11] This was followed by the acquisition of investment magazine Money Observer from Guardian Media Group in 2008.[12] Publication of both titles continued until 2020, when ii decided to focus on its core brand.[13]

The broker joined forces with Motley Fool Share Dealing in 2015, replacing Halifax Share Dealing as the brand's service provider.

In October 2016, ii acquired the European business of TD Direct Investing (branded as TD Waterhouse) from its Canadian parent Toronto-Dominion Bank. With 300,000 UK customers, TD Direct was at the time larger than ii. The acquisition was completed in June 2017 and was financed by J.C. Flowers & Co, which became the majority shareholder in the group.

In October 2018, ii announced a deal to buy Alliance Trust Savings, which was completed in July 2019 and brought together the two largest flat-fee online investment platforms.

In February 2020, ii announced its intention to acquire The Share Centre, an independent retail stockbroker.[14] The acquisition was completed in July 2020.[15]

In March 2021, ii announced the acquisition of the EQi direct-to-customer business from Equiniti Group plc,[16] and 59,000 customers were migrated to the platform in June.[citation needed]

References[]

  1. ^ "Interactive Investor buyout 'strengthens voice' for flat fees". Financial Times.
  2. ^ "About ii - Company History & Ownership - interactive investor". www.ii.co.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  3. ^ Collinson, Patrick (18 February 2000). "Interactive hits the market with a bang". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  4. ^ "Interactive Investor reports £4m loss". BBC News: business. 12 February 2001. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Interactive Investor gets takeover offer". BBC News: Business. 2 July 2001. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  6. ^ Goodley, Simon (2 July 2001). "AMP eyes Interactive Investor". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "Carruthers completes Ample buy-out". Finextra Research. 2 March 2004. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  8. ^ "ii launches Super 60". www.ii.co.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  9. ^ "ii launches UK's first rated list of ethical funds". www.ii.co.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  10. ^ "Interactive Investor scraps regular investing fee". Financial Times.
  11. ^ "Interactive buys Moneywise magazine". Money Marketing. 13 October 2004. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  12. ^ Tryhorn, Chris (22 February 2008). "Guardian News and Media sells Money Observer to Moneywise Publishing". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  13. ^ Twitter, Charlotte Tobitt (17 June 2020). "Money Observer and Moneywise magazines to close in owner restructure". Press Gazette. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  14. ^ "interactive investor agrees terms to acquire The Share Centre". www.ii.co.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  15. ^ "Interactive Investor completes acquisition of The Share Centre". Your Money. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  16. ^ "Interactive Investor to buy EQi in latest acquisition". CityAM. 17 January 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""