Project Tuna! Plan to target wealthy punters

A HIGH-RISK trading firm is running a secret scheme named Project Tuna to lure big fish punters to bet their fortunes away.

Trading firm CMC Markets, run by former Tory party treasurer Peter Cruddas, hopes to win new business as spread betting firms face a crackdown after it was found thousands of ordinary savers were betting on investments they didn’t understand.

So CMC is targeting wealthier clients and Project Tuna – so named because CMC hopes to catch bigger fish – is a drive to boost profits and appears to be paying off. Active customers dropped 2pc to 46,634 in the six months to September 30 compared to a year earlier, but average spend rose 22pc to £1,814. Revenues were up 19pc at £89.6m and profits jumped 58pc to £29.8m.