Hargreaves to launch new advice offering, as looks to "redefine" digital wealth

"There is nobody better to redefine the digital wealth market than us," said the CEO of Hargreaves Lansdown today, as the company outlined plans to shell out £175m over the next five years to bolster its tech platform and build a new digital wealth advice offering.

Hargreaves Lansdown CEO Chris Hill laid out the investment platform's five-year strategy, which looks to "redefine wealth management".

Britain's largest retail investment firm is placing a big bet on digital investment in a bid to wrestle market share from fintech upstarts like Nutmeg.

The disclosure of its five-year strategy comes as Hargreaves Lansdown reported a fall in profits in the first half of the year.

The retail investment platform posted pre-tax profits of £151.2m, down from £188.4m the year previous year when it was boosted by heavy retail trading during lockdown.

Today, it unveiled its five-year strategy, but said it didn't amount to a "big bang" change but "small, incremental steps".

Central to its strategy is "redefining wealth management".

It said: "Hargreaves Lansdown was the original disruptor and successfully established the D2C market. 

"The evolvement of our proposition and strategy means now is the right time to target the broader wealth management market and rethink how we set a new standard for how the UK saves and invests."

Hargreaves Lansdown's new digital wealth advice offering will launch in 2024, helped by access to open finance.

"We will build a new omnichannel advice proposition that combines the best of human interaction and our 40 years of insight into clients' needs, augmented by better data analytics and digital capabilities to provide a game-changing proposition," it said.

It said it wanted the new proposition to "bridge the gap from D2C to advice", offering an "integrated service".

It added: "This expansion will lead to a higher share of wallet as clients consolidate their savings and investments with us and increase retention as more choose to build lifelong relationships because we can help at all the key financial moments that matter."

Hargreaves Lansdown also disclosed an overhaul of its platform, shelling out £175m on new technology over the next five years, including a migration of client data to the cloud.

The new strategy also includes a renewed push for Hargreaves Lansdown's own in-house funds, with 19 new funds launched by 2024.