DIY investor platforms accused of bending legislation

Britain’s big DIY investment platforms have been accused by politicians of a ‘Kafkaesque distortion’ of consumer rules.

The allegations centre on the treatment of investment trusts – large, stock market-listed firms which buy a range of assets including shares, property and infrastructure.

The trusts scored a victory this year when the Government scrapped old EU rules which made them seem more costly to investors than was the case.

But despite this, Baroness Ros Altmann has accused investment platforms including the UK’s largest, Hargreaves Lansdown, of forcing investment trusts to continue obeying the old rules or risk being kicked off their websites.

‘Kafkaesque distortion’: The allegations centre on the treatment of investment trusts – large, stock market-listed firms which buy a range of assets including shares, property and infrastructure

Altmann, a former pensions minister, said the platforms were ‘putting themselves above the law’ and using ‘self-interest to deny customers access to undervalued investments’. She added: ‘Threatening to bar access to retail investors, unless a company acquiesces to providing misleading or false information, is a Kafkaesque distortion of consumer duty.’

She was backed by Lib Dem Baroness Sharon Bowles, who said investment trusts were ‘bullied into providing conflicting and confusing information’ to investors.

Hargreaves Lansdown was approached for comment.