One of the most interesting and perhaps overlooked aspects of Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) is the background of its chief executive Dan Olley. He spent 17 years at Relx (RELX), the hugely successful business information and analytics giant. He jumped ship in 2022 for a brief stint as CEO at Dunnhumby (pioneers of the Tesco Clubcard and specialists in customer knowledge and engagement), before joining Hargreaves in August 2023.
Why is this relevant? Because it provides a good indication of the future direction of the investment platform. Add to the mix the customer base of 1.8m people, with a vast treasure trove of data on these people growing larger day by day, throw in developments in artificial intelligence and you get a business with tremendous potential to transform how people invest, particularly in the direct-to-consumer, execution-only market.
But it is not there yet.