Peter Cruddas, 2007 richest selfmade man in the City and U.K entrepreneur of the year

Born in 1953, Peter Crudas is the son of a Smithfield meat-market porter and a cleaner. He left school at 15. After starting out as a Western Union telex operator, he ended up in a bank dealing room’, again operating a telex machine, and discovered finance. He worked his way up very fast to become a trader on the foreign exchange (forex), holding positions in several financial london-based institutions.

This experience will enable him, at 35, to stand on its own two feet as a foreign exchange market specialist. In 1989 he launched his company, Currency Management Consultants Ltd. now known under the name CMC Markets PLC, with an initial capital of 10 000 pounds.

He hit the big time when the first Gulf War came and he was asked by Arab banks to act as a middleman with Western institutions, sourcing foreign exchange for them. Indeed, at the time most institution were reluctant to deal with banks from the Middle East. Also, he was quick to realise that the Internet would prove key in the company’s success. He then decide to design a software system that enable real time trading over the internet.

In 1996, CMC branched out from traditional broking into online trading of currencies. He innovates by launching new products. In 2000 Peter introduced the Contracts for Difference (CFDs) and Spread Betting the following year. Both products now account for most of the activity of CMC Markets which has experienced strong growth from 2002 to 2007, notably through the opening of several offices around the world.

Peter Cruddas has built one of the world leaders in online trading with over 700 employees in 17 offices across 4 continents. Today, CMC Markets allows investors to trade virtually any financial product available to an individual investor: currencies, equities, commodities, derivatives or interest rate for example.

Despite the financial crisis, Peter Cruddas is still one of the richest men in the City. The value of CMC Markets is valued at approximately one billion pounds sterling. He still holds 90% stake. As a proof of the value of the model, in 2007, Goldman Sachs acquired a 10% stake in CMC Markets for 140 million pounds sterling.

A few years ago, Peter Cruddas decided to establish a foundation, "The Peter Cruddas Foundation", which has given or pledged more than £ 10 million to various charitable organizations.