Interactive Brokers UK Record Profit on Surging Client Growth

Interactive Brokers UK doubles pre-tax profit to £34 million in 2025, driven by strong client growth and higher interest income.

Key Points

• Interactive Brokers UK more than doubled its pre-tax profit to £34 million in 2025, up from £13.6 million the prior year.
• Despite a narrowing operating loss and strong revenue growth, the UK unit continues to rely heavily on finance income. 

Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited more than doubled its pre-tax profit in 2025, posting £34 million for the year ended December 31, a sharp climb from the £13.6 million it recorded a year earlier. The FCA-regulated brokerage achieved these results by growing its client base at a steady pace while generating higher commission and interest income, according to a filing submitted to Companies House.

After-tax profit rose to £26 million from £10.5 million, while turnover, derived entirely from commissions on order execution, climbed to £46.2 million from £36 million in the prior year. It is worth noting that these figures reflect only the UK subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Interactive Brokers Group, which continues to report its consolidated results separately.

At the parent level, the group closed the fourth quarter of 2025 with revenue of $1.64 billion and earnings per share of $0.65, surpassing analyst expectations and reinforcing the strength of its broader global operations.

Client Base Expands 35%, Though Pace Eases From Prior Year

The company carried 86,798 client accounts at year-end, representing a 35% increase from 64,146 in 2024. While that growth remains firmly in double digits, it marks a notable deceleration from the extraordinary 142% jump the firm recorded the year before, when accounts more than doubled from a smaller base.

In line with the expanding account count, net commissions, the company’s sole reported revenue line, rose proportionately. Nevertheless, the real driver of the firm’s profitability continued to be finance income rather than trading fees alone.

Finance Income Carries the Profitability Story

Administrative expenses increased to £67 million from £59.4 million, while other operating income reached £10.8 million. As a result, the firm still recorded an operating loss of £9.96 million, though that figure improved meaningfully compared with the £16.2 million operating loss in 2024.

To bridge this gap, Interactive Brokers UK relies primarily on finance income, that is, interest earned on client balances and margin lending. Finance income reached £147.6 million in 2025, comprising £51.5 million from bank deposits, £47.9 million from interest on client balances, and £48.2 million from intercompany balances. Of the client balance interest, £34.2 million came from margin lending alone. Finance costs, meanwhile, edged up marginally to £103.6 million.

UK Retail Brokers Show a Wide Performance Gap

Interactive Brokers UK released its results into a competitive domestic market, where peers operating under different business models have posted varying levels of success. IG Group, listed on the FTSE 100, reported record total revenue of £1.12 billion for calendar year 2025 on a comparable basis and simultaneously launched a strategic review that could reshape its corporate structure.

CMC Markets, another London-listed peer, closed its fiscal 2025 with net operating income of £340.1 million and a 33% jump in pre-tax profit to £84.5 million. Against this backdrop, Interactive Brokers UK saw its balance sheet assets rise to £1.22 billion from £896.6 million, underlining its growing footprint in the British market.

Beyond traditional brokerage, the firm has also broadened its product range into cryptocurrency trading through a partnership with Paxos, and more recently began allowing clients to transfer existing crypto holdings directly into linked accounts, a move that signals its ambitions to compete across an increasingly diverse financial landscape.

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