Hargreaves Lansdown

Founded in Bristol in 1981 by Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown, HL began by providing information on unit trusts and tax planning. It later developed into a major direct-to-consumer investment platform. Following a consortium acquisition, it was delisted from the London Stock Exchange on 25 March 2025 and is now privately owned by entities associated with CVC, Nordic Capital and ADIA.

HL offers retail customers access to stocks and shares ISAs, SIPPs, funds, shares, cash ISAs, savings accounts and other investment products. It combines execution and administration with investor research, educational content, portfolio tools and digital account services rather than operating primarily as a traditional fund manager.

Its main strength is scale in UK retail investing: HL ranked first among direct-to-client platforms by assets under administration in Boring Money's Q3 2025 data and held a 33.6% share of that market by AUA. For students, the firm is relevant to careers in product, technology, operations, customer experience, investment research, risk and regulated financial services.