Suspended betting firm releases cash

Marketspreads — the spread-betting firm suspended from trading by the Central Bank last week — has been allowed release cash to clients.

The move could prove a significant step towards the company resuming trading, but could also see anything between €5m and €10m of client cash being returned.

The Central Bank ordered Marketspreads to cease trading last Friday, citing “legacy financial issues” — including proper management of client funds, the firm’s capital adequacy and auditing concerns — as its main concerns. The latter element referred to Marketspreads’ last set of filed accounts, up to the end of 2009, on which the auditors were “unable to express an opinion”.