Hargreaves Lansdown is looking to launch a discretionary direct-to-consumer service later this year, in order to “plug a gap” in their service proposition for smaller-pot clients.
The firm already has a full discretionary service, which charges around 2 per cent for clients with over £150,000, but Danny Cox head of financial planning at Hargreaves, told FTAdviser that it is responding to customer requests for a portfolio management service without advice.
The direct-to-consumer discretionary proposition is likely to offer a self-selected risk-rated model portfolio service run by the in-house investment research team, with an investment level of no more than £10,000.
Mr Cox mentioned that the move was partly to do with Financial Conduct Authority’s guidance last month on what constitutes advice across different investment advice models.
This morning (3 September) Hargreaves Lansdown reported operating profits up by 8 per cent to £208m in its preliminary results and total assets under administration up 29 per cent at £46.9bn.
Earlier this month the firm’s share price dipped close to 3 per cent after a UBS report questioned the its ability to cash in on the ‘advice gap’ and questioning its dominance among the major direct-to-consumer platforms.
