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Hargreaves Lansdown’s chief government will give up after six years main the UK’s largest funding platform, as the corporate makes an attempt to persuade buyers it could possibly ship on formidable plans for tech-fuelled progress.
Chris Hill, who has steered the FTSE 100 group since 2017, on Monday mentioned he would step down by November subsequent yr, giving the board time to discover a alternative.
The transfer comes after Hill in February outlined a five-year technique to speculate £175mn in upgrading the funding platform’s system and constructing a tech-led monetary recommendation service, funded partly by slicing dividends. Shares fell on the day of the announcement and are down 45 per cent over the previous 12 months.
“Having began the implementation of the subsequent section of the corporate’s progress, Chris has determined it’s time to move the reins to a brand new chief government to proceed to execute on this technique and construct on our market main proposition,” mentioned Deanna Oppenheimer, chair.
Information of the departure comes at a difficult time for the UK’s main funding platform, with greater than 1.7mn clients. After having fun with a file inflow of latest cash as savers hoarded money within the Covid-19 pandemic, turbulence in monetary markets this yr has weighed on folks’s willingness to speculate.
The corporate additionally faces a £100mn lawsuit filed this week over its promotion of Neil Woodford’s fund previous to the star stockpicker’s collapse in 2019, claims the group has rejected.
“The impression of the difficult macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop on asset values, shopper confidence and propensity to speculate has been seen throughout our trade,” Hill mentioned in a quarterly outcomes assertion on Monday.
Hargreaves Lansdown drew £700mn in web inflows within the third quarter, down by almost half from final yr. Revenues elevated 15 per cent to £163mn because the platform benefited from greater rates of interest on purchasers’ money balances.
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