Hargreaves Lansdown eyes further price cuts this year

The chief executive of Hargreaves Lansdown has said the group is considering cutting charges later this year following a surge of activity across the platform sector.

Hargreaves, the country’s largest D2C platform, was one of the first to announce its new, commission-free pricing ahead of the regulator’s April deadline. It opted for an annual fee of 0.45% for clients with less than £250,000 in their portfolios, covering the vast majority of its client base. Rivals such as Fidelity’s personal investing platform have since undercut Hargreaves on headline charges, with Fidelity introducing an AMC of 0.35%. While charges are hard to compare in the sector given a number of add-on costs for trading, exiting and switching, rival platforms have nonethel...