Hargreaves Lansdown investors urged to vote against chair re-election

The non-executive chair of Hargreaves Lansdown, Deanna Oppenheimer, is expected to face a shareholder backlash at the financial services company's annual general meeting (AGM) in December.

According to Sky News, proxy voting firm Glass Lewis is recommending shareholders to vote against her re-election when they meet on 8 December, which would mark her sixth AGM as chair of the board.

In a letter to clients obtained by Sky News, Glass Lewis said it was "concerned with the paucity of disclosure surrounding the significant level of dissent to the re-election of directors".

The rumours follow reports in the summer regarding co-founder Peter Hargreaves' public disappointment with Oppenheimer's performance, which led the company to publish a statement saying it had "commenced an exercise to determine the attributes of any successor chair candidates".

The co-founder was quoted by Sky News as saying Oppenheimer's five-year tenure had been a "disaster", with the share price having tanked 60% during the period.

Then, at the company's last AGM in October 2022, 33.53% of voting shareholders voted against the re-election of Oppenheimer.

Shares in Hargreaves Lansdown, which is set to be demoted from the FTSE 100 in the latest quarterly reshuffle, were 1% lower at 700.6p by 1039 GMT.