Britain | Deplatforming

The woes of Hargreaves Lansdown, Britain’s DIY-investing titan

A 17-year stint on the London Stock Exchange may soon come to an end

The Hargreaves Lansdown Head Office at night in Bristol.
On the road to private ownershipPhotograph: Alamy

On the face of it, Hargreaves Lansdown is still mightily successful. The financial-services firm enables British savers to buy shares, bonds and funds directly, as well as invest in tax-free vehicles and manage their pensions. A business that began with a borrowed typewriter in a spare bedroom in 1981 now has 1.8m clients, many of them wealthy baby-boomers. It boasts a 36% share of Britain’s do-it-yourself investment market and manages £142.2bn ($180bn) in assets under administration, dwarfing rivals such as AJ Bell, which oversees £80.3bn.

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Deplatforming”

From the July 6th 2024 edition

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