Hargreaves Lansdown chairman to step down; AUA up 10% to £77bn

Financial advising firm Hargreaves Lansdown said assets under administration rose 10% to £77bn as it reported a trading update for the four months to April 30 and announced that chairman Mike Evans was stepping down.

Evans said he would leave HL once a successor was found.

HL said net new business for the period came in at £3.3bn, with year to date net new business at £5.6bn, driven by a recovery in investor confidence ahead of the end of the tax year, new product launches, higher annual ISA allowance and the launch of Lifetime ISA.

Year-to-date total net revenue rose 17% to £315.7m.

“The group's flows have also benefited from its increased digital marketing presence, including the launch of our new smart phone apps, and transfer activity as our clients continue to consolidate their wealth onto our platform. We welcomed 56,000 new clients in the period, taking active client numbers to 932,000,” HL said.

Hargreaves shares were hit hard on Tuesday (May 16) as rival Vanguard launched a low-cost direct-to-consumer service with an annual account fee of 0.15%. Hargreaves charges 0.45% per cent of invested wealth for a tax-efficient ISA account on top of fees charged by the fund managers.