Tech veteran Dan Olley appointed new boss of Hargreaves Lansdown

Hargreaves Lansdown has appointed a new boss as it gears up to tackle the fallout from the Neil Woodford saga.

The investment platform announced that Dan Olley, a technology industry veteran, will succeed Chris Hill, who announced his resignation in October.

It comes as Hargreaves tries to bolster its business, with a focus on improving IT systems and online sites.

Tough test: industry veteran Dan Olley, left, must tackle the fallout from the Neil Woodford scandal

But Olley will take the reins at a tough time, as the firm faces lawsuits and the result of a regulatory probe relating to its conduct leading up to the downfall of Woodford’s investment empire.

Olley, 52, originally joined the board as a non-executive director in 2019.

He said: ‘This is a company with an exceptional track record, a strong strategic position and a formidable brand. I am tremendously excited at the opportunity to lead the business through its digital transformation and into its next stage of growth.’

Earlier this year, Hargreaves revealed it was investing almost £200million in boosting its technology, which dealt a blow to the shares. 

Bosses claimed this would take it to the ‘next phase’ of growth but Ben Yearsley, director at Shore Financial Planning, said: ‘Hill’s downfall was that he had to announce a £200million spend on tech which made it look like they had been underspending for years.’

Yearsley said he had not heard much about Olley, the former chief executive of market research firm Dunnhumby and a former executive at data analytics firm Relx, but that his appointment was an ‘interesting move’.

Hill resigned just weeks after litigation company RGL Management filed a claim against Hargreaves in the High Court on behalf of 3,200 investors caught up in the Woodford implosion. Hargreaves has denied any wrongdoing.

The investment platform was one of the first businesses to come under scrutiny when the Woodford Equity Income fund was suspended in 2019. 

Hargreaves recommended the troubled fund to customers through its so-called ‘best buy’ list right up until it was suspended in June 2019.

Around 133,000 Hargreaves customers were directly invested in the fund, many of whom blamed it for promoting Woodford after they suffered heavy losses.

Just weeks before the fund was shuttered, Hargreaves’ now-retired research boss Mark Dampier told customers: ‘We think [Woodford’s] still got the skill to deliver excellent long term performance.’

But thousands more were also indirectly exposed because they invested in Hargreaves’ ‘multi-manager funds’ – pots of money it managed which spread cash across a variety of funds.

In total, it is thought around 300,000 Hargreaves customers might have been exposed to Woodford’s investment empire.

Experts criticised Hargreaves, founded in 1981 by entrepreneurs Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown, for recommending the fund for as long as they did. 

For several months in the run-up to its collapse, its performance had been poor – and there were signs that Woodford was starting to alter his strategy to invest in riskier, earlier-stage companies.

When the fund was closed down, Hill was forced to apologise to Hargreaves customers. Its conduct will be under the microscope in the lawsuit brought by RGL, which is also targeting Link Fund Solutions, the business which was supposed to be supervising Woodford’s management of the fund. Hill was boss for just under six years. Yearsley described his tenure as a ‘total disaster’.

While investment platforms benefited during the pandemic, as households looked to invest extra savings they built up, they have been weighed down by the cost-of-living and fears that the weakening global economy will damage companies’ growth prospects.

Yesterday, Hargreaves shares edged up 1.8 per cent or 15.4p to 850.4p.

Olley takes over from Hill in November next year.