CMC Markets plc (LON:CMCX) Founder and Chief Executive Officer Lord Peter Cruddas caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss the company’s evolution into a diversified financial services firm, with a focus on its expanding B2B partnerships and innovative technology platforms.
Q1: Peter, why is CMC Markets different from perceived competitors and why should it be re-rated?
A1: I guess it depends who you think our competitors are because we have 12 offices around the world. When we listed in 2016, we were put in the category of spread CFD provider, which was probably right then but now the business has changed so much. Back then in 2016, there were only two other publicly listed companies, Plus500 and IG, and both companies and ourselves were classified as spread CFD providers, which was probably fair at the time, although we were on this path to change the business through technology.
If you ask me who our competitors are in Australia, it’s neither of those companies because we own the second largest stockbroker in Australia. After we complete the Westpac deal, which we announced at our year-end six-month update, we’ll have AU$150 billion of client share assets under administration, we’ll have approximately three million accounts and, globally, worldwide, we have about 200 white label, grey label partnerships around the world.
So, we’re not just a B2C business, we’re a B2B business as well but we get classed and valued as a B2C business, which I think is unfair and completely undermines and undervalues who we are as a company. For example, we signed a technology deal with Revolut. We were up against 20, I think, in total, and we won that transaction based purely on technology. None of our competitors in different parts of the world were at those meetings.
So, that’s why I think we should be classed differently, because we have a whole host of business that isn’t B2C.
Q2: What have been the key developments through 2025 that have propelled CMC to where it is today?
A2: These are quite generic questions, really. CMC is not a generic type company. We’re a dynamic company, and there’s always opportunities coming our way. For example, bizarrely for some people, not for us, we signed a partnership deal with Currys. Now that’s not going to turn the dial financially, but it shows the diversity of this business in terms of, we have a completely different type of operator, a high street retail operator, coming to us for treasury management services and we’re going to do that all through technology.
So, as a dynamic business and with superb technology that is completely not valued by the markets, I think, because we tend to be valued at 10 times our earnings. Now, granted, the bulk of those earnings are coming through our B2C business, but when you sign up hundreds and hundreds of thousands of clients through our B2B business, they’re not our clients, they belong to our partners. It just shows the scale and diversity of the business.
In 2025, developing our B2B business, signed the Westpac deal, Revolut deal is really taking off, signed the Currys deal. We’re going to announce in the next month or two a partnership with a major international bank and we’re talking every day, every week to different opportunities.
B2C business is great, it’s more profitable, the profit margins are much higher but there’s not that much scale in that type of business. I’m hoping and we’re on a trajectory that our B2B business will overtake our B2C business. I think it’s about 60/40 at the moment, but it went from 90/10, 80/20, 70/30 but there’s no doubt that a B2B business will be the driving force of this company based on superb technology.
Q3: As you look ahead, what do you see as key milestones for CMC Markets in 2026?
A3: Well, delivering some of the fantastic projects that we have in the pipeline.
We have to deliver on the Westpac deal. Westpac are Australia’s second largest bank but the potential there to really expand that business into their private wealth division, that’s a big opportunity for us.
To launch our project with ASB Bank in New Zealand, that’s Auckland Securities Broker, we’ve got to get that live. This is all water off a duck’s back to us; sign, announce the international bank.
Develop our tokenisation programme, where we’re going to deliver multi-asset wallets, expand tokenisation so keeping up with the changes in the financial markets. It’s non-stop round here, I have to say, but exciting opportunities.
What I would say about this company is that there are a lot of opportunities coming our way now. I think people are seeing us in a different light, where we’re able to write technology for other people like Currys, like ANZ, and that brings scale to this business. It’s very exciting times for us.
Q4: Where do you see the biggest opportunities for growth over the coming year?
A4: It’s an interesting question and it’s not easy to answer these questions when the company is doing so much.
I think the Middle East is going to be very interesting. There’s an awful lot of money and inward investment going into the Middle East and quite frankly, it’s a lot easier to do business in the Middle East than it is in the UK.
So, I think our hub in the Middle East, we’re going to look at expanding that and then more of our B2B partnerships. They’re really starting to stretch and they’re getting more demanding because we’re getting partners coming to us not even wanting to deal directly with us, but they want to deal with their clients using our technology and then dealing with us as well.
I think the big opportunity is probably in the Middle East. It’s fantastic, it’s thriving out there.
Q5: 2026 looks to be a major year for partnerships with Westpac and ASB coming online alongside continued growth in API relationships. How do you see that developing over the next 12 months?
A5: We’ve got to deliver those projects and we’ve done it before, this is BAU for us. The way these relationships work is that a bank or a broker, comes to you and says, right, we need stockbroking. We have a stockbroking platform, but we haven’t invested or we’ve got other things to do but we want to offer our service, a service to our clients.
So, typically it starts off as a stockbroking type business or in Revolut’s case, a CFD business, but then when you start working with these partners, they start asking for different things. I’m always pointing out to partners and my staff; we are not a software house; we don’t have a rate card. We write technology for other people in return for business, for floats or transactional income. That’s the point about these relationships as they develop because you start to do other things for them.
We’re very excited about a Westpac deal. It’s potentially the biggest deal we’ve done, although Revolut’s opening up hundreds of thousands of accounts and the rest of our B2B businesses. We think the value of that transaction when we start to help them take technology into their private wealth division for their high valued clients as well, we think there’s opportunities there. But that’s all for the future. We just keep working with our partners, they don’t have to worry about technology.
One of the pitches we gave recently to a large institution was we said to them, look, you will never have to tell us about what’s topical, what products are coming through because we have such a great partnership B2B network. We can tell you what the market is looking to do, and we’ll tell you what products that you need to be getting into, and we can deliver them for you. So, it’s the added value as well that we bring with our B2B partnerships.
Q6: Finally, is there anything that you’d like to share with clients and partners as we head into the new year?
A6: Not really, other than to say that I continue to be very committed to this business. I love this company; I have no plans to retire. We have some very exciting projects. I think the thing I want to talk about most in the next six months is about why we should be re-rated and I want to try to get the market to understand who we are as a company.
Now, I was at a function not so long ago when somebody said, yes, but you’ve got to get your message out, and I said, I’ve been talking about this. If you go back to 2016, when we became a public company, I talked about five pillars for growth and why investors should invest in us; and we smashed every pillar. We’ve had record profits, record turnovers, we’ve signed the ANZ deal, we’ve signed the Revolut deal.
I can’t keep talking about what we’re doing because I don’t think the market’s listening. I think the market has categorised us and said, you’re a spread bet CFD provider, let’s ignore all the technology deals you do. Let’s ignore the fact that you have a massive stockbroking business in Australia where you’re the number two stockbroker and you were the number 60th stockbroker in Australia but technology has driven that business forward.
I really want the markets in the next 6-12 months to understand the power of this company. The fact that we are able to do technology deals on the other side of the planet in New Zealand and Australia. The fact that we can pitch hard against 20 other competitors to win the Revolut deal.
I think the market needs to understand that and I’m going to do my best to keep banging the drum, beating the drum and one day the market will wake up to that and that’s when I think you’ll see some interesting movements on our share price. We’ll see.
