The chief executive of Hargreaves Lansdown has announced he will step down as investors continue to flee the UK’s biggest investment platform and as the company faces a multi-billion pound lawsuit over its fund promotion directed by Neil Woodford.
Chris Hill, who has led the FTSE 100 company since 2017, said he will step down in November next year.
News of his departure comes days after Hargreaves was hit with a multi-million pound lawsuit on behalf of thousands of investors for promoting former star stockbroker Neil Woodford’s capital income fund .
The lawsuit alleged that Hargreaves continued to promote the previous star fund manager’s LF Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) until its collapse in 2019. Hargreaves did this despite admitting it was aware of the fund’s problems since 2017, RGL said. Hargreaves denies the allegations.
Hill’s departure also comes after a tumultuous 12 months for Hargreaves.
Shares in the do-it-yourself investment platform have fallen more than 50% in the past year as the war in Ukraine and a deteriorating economic environment stifle clients’ willingness to invest.
Assets under administration fell to £122.7 billion at the end of September, down from £123.8 billion at the end of June. This time last year, assets stood at £138 billion.
New business is also slowing. Next to the news of the expected departure of Mr. Hill, Hargreaves said net new customer numbers and net new business for its first trading quarter were down. New business fell to £700m, down from £1.3bn a year ago.
However, total revenue rose 15% thanks to higher interest rates.