Platforms · Software · Providers · Markets
IG Group has applied for a UK gambling licence to offer prediction markets, while Plus500 has conditionally agreed to buy Brazilian broker Guru Corretora de Títulos e Valores Mobiliários Ltd. The moves put new product permissions and local market access on the agenda for firms managing trading, compliance and onboarding systems.
Other developments include Google changing where it permits CFD advertising, Kalshi pursuing brokerage distribution for event contracts, and Capital.com reporting a sharp rise in UAE trading. The week also brought a prop-firm rebrand and new figures on tokenised assets, broker marketing costs and financial-sector salaries.
Changes to products and ownership
IG submitted its application through London subsidiary IG View Limited. The Gambling Commission register lists the applicant under the trading name ig prediction markets, but the application remains under review and no licence has been issued.
IG is targeting a launch in early 2027 for contracts covering sports, politics and entertainment. It also plans to make financial event contracts available to UK professional clients in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The UK plans sit alongside IG's agreement to acquire US fantasy sports and prediction markets operator Underdog for up to approximately $1.3 billion. The transaction is expected to close in late 2026 or early 2027. Separately, Plus500 says it will finance its proposed purchase of Guru from existing cash, which exceeded $860 million. The Brazilian broker's licences from Brazil's Securities and Exchange Commission and Central Bank of Brazil would let Plus500 add fixed-income securities, options, futures and Brazilian shares to its local offering. Plus500 Chief Executive David Zruia said the transaction provides the regulatory framework, local team and permissions the group needs to operate in Brazil. Plus500's earlier acquisition of US broker-dealer Hedge is intended to support its planned US multi-asset platform.
Hantec Trader has adopted the RZR Funded name, with its operating company renamed from Hantec Trader Limited to RZR Funded Limited. The prop business remains within Hantec Group and continues to use Hantec Markets Mauritius, the group's retail broker arm regulated by the Financial Services Commission.
Director Bashaar Gokal said the firm is adding to its executive team and preparing further asset classes and trading tools. He said traders should not expect immediate operational changes from the rebrand.
Kalshi is pursuing distribution through broker platforms, arguing that firms can connect to its existing venue and shared order book instead of creating exchange and clearing infrastructure of their own. The exchange has an API-based service with Apex Fintech Solutions; Tastytrade was the first broker to go live.
Andy Ross, Kalshi's Head of Institutional, said firms that are onboarding or already trading with the exchange collectively manage more than $1 trillion in assets. Kalshi is also preparing perpetual futures tied to foreign exchange markets and sells market data to firms that do not directly trade its contracts.
Tokenised real-world assets show a different infrastructure gap: ownership is increasing, but secondary trading is thin across much of the market. Pantera Capital's September 2026 report covered 671 assets valued at $331.8 billion. Permissioned products represented 59% of market capitalisation but only 0.2% of spot volume, and more than half of the market analysed had no meaningful secondary activity. BNB Chain passed two million RWA holder addresses in early October, while only 29 of 110 major products met basic liquidity and distribution thresholds. Monthly turnover was 204.6% for tokenised stocks and 0.1% for tokenised rate products. Anndy Lian points to market makers, regulatory clarity and connected venues as requirements for more sustained activity.
Who qualifies, and when
Google's revised policy permits advertising for CFDs, rolling spot forex and similar products in Denmark and Chile from an unspecified date in October. Danish advertisers need authorisation from the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority.
In Chile, providers must be registered with and authorised by the Financial Market Commission or the Central Bank of Chile, depending on the products. Advertisers also need Google certification and must meet local legal requirements. Google said it would give a warning at least seven days before suspending an account for a policy breach.
Capital.com's H1 2026 Pulse Report put UAE client trading at $1.06 trillion in the first half of 2026, more than two-fifths of the company's $2.45 trillion total. UAE volume was up 27.7% against the second half of 2025, and closed trades rose 48% to 80.9 million.
Only 18.3% of UAE trades had a stop-loss set, the lowest share among seven markets. Germany led at 34.1%, followed by the Netherlands at 32.8%. Across the broker, 22.4% of closed trades had a stop-loss set at entry. Trades closed after a stop-loss trigger had 39% lower average losses, which the report presented as a correlation, not proof of cause and effect.
FinTop Consulting's 2026 salary surveys put Dubai Chief Compliance Officer pay at $310,000 to $425,000 a year. The lower figure matched the top benchmark for Chief Technology Officers. London Heads of Compliance can earn up to $251,000, while regulatory specialists with additional duties receive premiums of 10% to 20%.
Cyprus FX and fintech salaries grew 14% annually, compared with approximately 4% across UAE financial services. Dubai compliance pay also exceeded several commercial executive roles, although some technology and risk jobs had higher maximum salaries.
Broker acquisition economics were another focus in reporting first covered by Finance Magnates. Anish Lal, Chief Business Development Officer at BlackBull Markets, said a broker may pay $800 to acquire a client who deposits $400 to $500 initially.
Recovering that cost depends on further deposits and trading over six to 12 months; a client leaving after one or two months makes the acquisition loss-making. Lal said faster reporting, dependable monthly payments, dedicated support and retention can give brokers alternatives to paying the highest CPA rates to attract introducing brokers.
Alexandru Badea, Senior Regional Director at NAGA, said changing marketing staff may not fix falling first-time deposits and rising acquisition costs if firms still rely on incomplete data and outdated assumptions. He pointed to changes in Google, Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn algorithms, and said brokers should connect campaign data with onboarding, verification, deposits and retention. Comparing acquisition channels by the quality and longevity of the clients they bring can separate low-cost registrations from customers with greater value.
The integration question
For brokers assessing these developments, the operational questions are specific: what licensing evidence and product controls will be needed before advertising in Denmark or Chile, and what changes would a prediction-market or event-contract launch require across onboarding, trading and compliance workflows? Firms considering a connection to Kalshi can ask what their API integration would need to cover, including access to the shared order book and the handling of market data.
For market entry or acquisition projects, operators can check which local permissions, teams and instruments will move into their systems, and how those changes affect reporting and reconciliation. The available figures also leave practical questions: can campaign reporting be connected to verification, deposits and retention, and what safeguards and market-making arrangements would support secondary trading in tokenised products? The source reporting does not specify those implementation details.
