Hargreaves Lansdown to launch P2P offering

In its H1 results, published today, Hargreaves Lansdown said that following the implementation of RDR, the company was now looking at developing new cash and peer-to-peer lending services to clients.

Having successfully absorbed 2014’s regulatory changes, particularly the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), we have been able to deploy staff and

Additionally, Hargreaves said that once it has evaluated the success of its new Portfolio+ service, it will "consider whether to further expand our stable of simple online investing tools, sometimes referred to as “robo-advice.”

In H1, Hargreaves Lansdown's Assets Under Administration rose 18% to £55.2 billion, and the firm reported 736,000 active clients, an increase of 84,000 in the year.

However profit before tax dipped by 5% to £199 million, impacted by "known headwinds", including its decision to reduce charges for clients, lower interest margins on client cash, an unexpected temporary hiatus in foreign exchange trading income, and a charge for a contribution to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The firm has also seen £1.6 billion of net new pension business in the six months to 30 June 2015, a 33% rise on the same period for 2014.

Ian Gorham, Chief Executive, commented:

“We are delighted with another year of great growth for Hargreaves Lansdown, against a backdrop of stock market angst and low investor confidence. The new freedoms have put pensions back on the public’s radar and helped us to a further 13% growth in clients and 18% in assets during the year; assets have now passed £55 billion and client numbers are now approaching 750,000. Hargreaves Lansdown remains the clear market leader in personal investing in the UK, and we thank all our clients for their continued support.”