IG GroupHoldings (LSE: IGG)grabbed attention last month with record revenue of £1.12 billion and a board-led strategic review that may result in a New Yorkrelisting. But the full annual report for the seven-month period ended December31, 2025, published this week, runsto 166 pages, and several of the most interesting disclosures sit wellbelow the headline numbers.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)IG Is Deliberately Takingon More Trading RiskBuried inthe principal risks section, the company stated that it "increased ourrisk appetite in respect of market risk," supported by improvements to itsrisk measurement capabilities, according to the filing.The numbersconfirm the shift. Average daily market risk exposure, measured by Value atRisk at a 99% confidence level, rose from £3.5 million in the year to May 2025to £4.5 million in the seven months to December 2025, the report showed. Themaximum single-day exposure hit £7.6 million, up from £5.9 million in the priorperiod.For acompany whose core OTC derivatives business is built on internalizing clienttrades and hedging excess exposure, a deliberate increase in the amount ofunhedged risk it is willing to carry is a notable change in posture. IG has historically positioned itself as running a low-risk market-makingmodel, the kind of framing that helped it earn a BBB credit rating from Fitch.Theelevated risk appetite comes at the same time IG is expanding into cryptoproducts, where volatility and liquidity gaps are materially different from itstraditional FX and equity index markets.£55.4 Million in IlliquidKraken Parent SharesWhen IG sold Small Exchange to Kraken for $101.5 million in October 2025,$67.5 million of the consideration came not in cash but in shares of PaywardInc., Kraken's parent company. Those shares now sit on IG's balance sheet at£55.4 million and are classified as Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy, theleast liquid and hardest-to-value category, according to the financialstatements.The fairvalue is determined using "a market approach based on recent equityfunding transactions," the report stated, meaning IG is marking theposition to Kraken's most recent private funding round. The company alreadybooked a £4.1 million gain on the holding during the period.If Kraken'svaluation declines, or if an IPO prices below the most recent round, IG wouldneed to write down the position. The report also disclosed that IG retained a"contingent revenue participation arrangement entitling the Group to ashare of future revenues for a two-year period" from the Small Exchangesale, essentially a royalty on Kraken's derivatives volumes. Neither of thesedetails featured in IG's March results announcement.Separately,the notes reveal that IG holds a board seat at Zero Hash, a cryptocurrencytrading platform accounted for as an associate, giving it influence over yetanother piece of crypto infrastructure.Employee Sentiment HasTurned NegativeIG'semployee Net Promoter Score fell to -0.3 for the period ended December 2025,the report disclosed, down from +0.2 in the prior year. The financial servicesindustry benchmark is +29, according to the filing.The companyacknowledged the figure is "below where we'd like it" and attributedthe decline to "the significant cultural change we've been driving."That cultural change has included a decentralized operating modelintroduced in 2024,workforce reductions from operational exits, and what the report called a"stronger focus on meritocracy."Over 300new employees have joined since June 2025 from external organizations. Averageheadcount excluding Freetrade fell 12% year-on-year. IG said it would introducemonthly pulse surveys from January 2026 to get "real-time insights intocolleague sentiment."For acompany that repeatedly describes a "high-performance culture" as acompetitive advantage, and where CEO Breon Corcoran earned a bonus at 89.7% ofmaximum, the gap between management's self-assessment and staff sentiment isworth watching.LTIP Targets ImplyAmbitions Well Above Public GuidanceTheremuneration section contains long-term incentive plan targets for the threeyears ending December 2028 that appear to go well beyond what IG hascommunicated publicly. CEO Corcoran and CFO Clifford Abrahams were grantedfixed share awards in September 2025, with vesting tied to revenue and earningsper share performance.For maximumpayout, IG would need to reach £1.51 billion in revenue by 2028, the reportshowed. That implies a compound annual growth rate of 11.4%, roughly double the"mid-to-high single-digit" organic revenue growth that management hasguided for 2026.These arestretch targets by design, and the threshold for any vesting at all is £1,226million, still a 9% jump from the CY25 base. But they reveal how aggressivelythe board has calibrated executive incentives, and they put a concrete numberon what "step change in value creation," a phrase used repeatedly inthe report, actually means in IG's internal planning.Independent Reserve: 88%Goodwill on an Unproven AcquisitionThefinancial notes disclosed that IG's acquisition of Independent Reserve, the Australian crypto exchange,generated provisional goodwill of £59.7 million on total consideration of £67.7million. That means roughly 88% of the purchase price was allocated to goodwillrather than identifiable assets, the report showed.Theidentifiable intangible assets included customer relationships valued at £18.5million, a trade name at £6.3 million, internally developed software at £7.9million and cryptocurrency holdings at £7.9 million, all provisional. Theremaining 30% equity interest held by Independent Reserve's management issubject to a put-call arrangement based on performance in FY27 and FY28, with aseparate contingent payment of A$15 million tied to FY26 revenue.If cryptotrading volumes in Asia-Pacific decline or the exchange fails to scale as IGexpects, the goodwill position would face impairment testing. IG plans to launch crypto products in Singapore, Australia and the UAEthrough Independent Reserve in the second half of 2026, but those products arestill subject to regulatory approval.This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.