City's new investors are betting on CMC

FINANCIAL spread betting company CMC Markets has seen the number of clients signing up for accounts in the Capital double its targets.

The company, which opened its first Scottish office at 40 Princes Street in January, said around 60 people a month were attending introductory stock market sessions held in its office.

The firm, part of a global company that last year had a turnover of £110.5 million, estimates that there are around 25,000 "active" investors in Scotland who take a regular hands-on approach to trading in money markets.

And it said its Edinburgh office has benefited from growing interest among investors in hedging against their exposure to current market volatility.

Mike McCudden, CMC's Edinburgh manager, said: "Our growth has well exceeded expectations and client feedback has been very positive. We are extremely committed to the Scottish market – that's why we signed a ten-year lease.

"In the south-east of England, spread betting is very popular and people even talk about it in the pub. Edinburgh is the second financial city in the UK and a market we can benefit from."

The company offers the training sessions to open up the seemingly mysterious world of financial spread betting and trading Contracts for Difference (CFDs).

Both are ways of investing, in which individuals speculate on whether prices of the likes of shares or oil will go up or down.

It holds free evening training sessions in its office in a bid to educate people about the markets before they decide to sign up. It is also to introduce lunchtime sessions that allow business people to learn the basics over a buffet lunch within one hour.

The company said that its client base was predominantly around the 45-65 age group.

"A lot of the new clients have higher disposable incomes, and they usually have a pension," said Mr McCudden. "They've also often got an underlying portfolio of shares and they are seeing the market volatility and want to use spread betting to hedge against their exposure through their underlying portfolio."

Mr McCudden said he expected the growth of the market to continue throughout the year.