IG Group appointed Max Hayden as its new Global Head of Institutional Sales on January 23, 2020. The London-based role was created to strengthen IG’s institutional business, with Hayden reporting to Fouad Bajjali, then CEO of IG Bank SA and the executive leading IG’s global institutional operation.
The appointment was part of IG’s broader investment-for-growth strategy. The company said Hayden would lead a growing sales team covering the UK, Switzerland, the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia-Pacific, with a focus on hedge funds and family offices.
Who is Max Hayden?
Hayden joined IG with more than 30 years of prime-brokerage experience. Before moving to IG, he was CEO of ITI Capital for about two years. IG described ITI Capital as a private-equity-owned brokerage serving institutional and retail clients in global market execution.
Before ITI Capital, Hayden spent three years at BCS Global Markets, where he was a managing director responsible for developing the firm’s prime-brokerage business. Earlier in his career, he spent most of his time at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was responsible for the international prime-brokerage product.
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| Career stage | Role or responsibility |
|---|---|
| IG Group | Global Head of Institutional Sales, appointed in January 2020 |
| ITI Capital | CEO for approximately two years |
| BCS Global Markets | Managing director developing the prime-brokerage business for three years |
| Bank of America Merrill Lynch | Responsibility for international prime brokerage |
Why the appointment mattered to IG
IG placed its institutional offering in its “Significant Opportunities” portfolio. The company was seeking to diversify its business beyond its established retail trading operations and build a larger institutional presence.
In its January 2020 announcement, IG estimated that its addressable market included roughly 8,000 hedge funds and family offices with less than US$200 million in assets under management. It also estimated the potential opportunity for its institutional business at approximately £500 million.
Those figures were management estimates published in 2020. They should not be treated as current market-size data or as a present-day forecast.
At the time, IG also referred to a goal of 30% revenue growth by financial year 2022. That was a historical strategic target, not current guidance.
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Hayden’s role and the markets it covered
Hayden was based at IG’s London offices. His team was expected to develop relationships with professional trading firms across four broad regions:
- The United Kingdom
- Switzerland
- The Middle East and North Africa
- Asia-Pacific
The target audience was primarily hedge funds and family offices. For these clients, an institutional brokerage relationship can involve more than simple trade execution. Services may include financing, margining, reporting, access to multiple asset classes, and technology for managing trading activity.
How the role developed into IG Prime
IG launched IG Prime in March 2020, shortly after Hayden’s appointment. The business was presented as an institutional prime-brokerage service for start-up and multi-prime hedge funds, family offices, and other professional trading entities.
The initial proposition combined trading and financing services with web-based trading, real-time reporting, and global client support. It also used IG’s existing technology and infrastructure rather than positioning the service as a conventional full-service investment bank.
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Public launch materials identified Hayden as Global Head of Prime Brokerage Sales. Later industry coverage generally referred to him as Global Head of Prime Brokerage Sales or Global Head of Prime Brokerage at IG Prime, rather than consistently using his original title of Global Head of Institutional Sales.
What “synthetic prime brokerage” means here
In a May 2020 interview, Hayden described IG Prime’s initial model as a synthetic prime-brokerage service. That distinction is important.
A traditional cash prime broker may provide a broad package of services involving securities borrowing, custody, clearing, financing, and other infrastructure. A synthetic prime-brokerage model typically gives clients exposure to financial markets through contracts and financing arrangements rather than replicating every function of a traditional bank-style cash prime broker.
According to Hayden’s description, IG Prime’s offering included:
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- Multi-asset market access
- Synthetic financing
- Margining
- Custody
- Trading through voice, direct market access, and electronic channels
That means IG Prime should not be described without qualification as a conventional bank-style cash prime broker. Its offering combined prime-brokerage services with IG’s technology-led execution model.
What the appointment means for ordinary IG customers
Hayden’s appointment concerned IG’s institutional business, not the management of individual retail accounts. The announcement focused on hedge funds, family offices, and other professional trading clients.
For a typical retail customer, the appointment did not by itself change account terms, spreads, leverage limits, client-money protections, or platform access. Those matters are set by the relevant IG entity, regulator, product terms, and customer agreement.
The broader strategic significance was that IG was trying to build another revenue stream. Institutional clients can bring different trading volumes, financing requirements, and technology needs from retail customers. Expanding into that market could therefore support diversification, although the appointment alone did not guarantee that the strategy would succeed.
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Is Max Hayden still Global Head of Institutional Sales?
The wording needs to be dated carefully. IG announced him as Global Head of Institutional Sales in January 2020, but later public material more commonly identified him with IG Prime as Global Head of Prime Brokerage Sales or Global Head of Prime Brokerage.
A 2025 IG Prime-sponsored report identified Max Hayden as Global Head of Prime Brokerage at IG Prime. This is the latest public evidence referenced here linking him to the business, but it does not independently confirm that he currently holds the exact original title of Global Head of Institutional Sales.
IG also announced in September 2025 that IG Prime had launched an institutional white-label solution with an international banking group. The arrangement gives the partner’s institutional hedge-fund clients access to IG’s multi-asset trading platform under the partner’s branding. The announcement does not say that Hayden was responsible for that launch.
Key dates
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| January 23, 2020 | IG announces Hayden as Global Head of Institutional Sales. |
| March 2020 | IG launches IG Prime for institutional clients. |
| May 2020 | Hayden describes IG Prime’s initial synthetic prime-brokerage model in an industry interview. |
| 2025 | Public IG Prime material identifies Hayden as Global Head of Prime Brokerage at IG Prime. |
| September 2025 | IG announces an institutional white-label offering from IG Prime. |
FAQ
When did IG Group appoint Max Hayden?
IG Group announced Max Hayden’s appointment on January 23, 2020. He joined as Global Head of Institutional Sales, based at IG’s London offices.
What was Max Hayden hired to do at IG?
He was hired to strengthen IG’s institutional business and manage a growing sales team covering the UK, Switzerland, MENA, and Asia-Pacific. The team focused on hedge funds and family offices.
What is IG Prime?
IG Prime is IG’s institutional prime-brokerage business, launched in March 2020. Its initial offering combined multi-asset trading access, financing, margining, custody, reporting, and client support.
Is IG Prime a traditional cash prime broker?
Not exactly. Hayden described its initial model as synthetic prime brokerage. It offered financing, margining, custody, and trading services, but it should not automatically be treated as equivalent to a conventional bank-style cash prime-brokerage operation.
Is Max Hayden currently Global Head of Institutional Sales?
The original appointment title dates from January 2020. Later public material, including a 2025 IG Prime-sponsored report, identified him as Global Head of Prime Brokerage at IG Prime. The available evidence does not independently confirm that he currently uses the exact original title.
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Max Hayden’s appointment was an important 2020 step in IG Group’s effort to expand beyond its retail trading base and build an institutional prime-brokerage business. His background in prime brokerage matched the company’s focus on hedge funds and family offices, and his remit was subsequently associated publicly with IG Prime. The appointment is historical: current claims about his title, IG’s market opportunity, or its revenue targets should be checked against the latest company disclosures rather than carried forward from the 2020 announcement.
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