Hargreaves Lansdown Slashes Fees Amid Market Shakeup

Hargreaves Lansdown, the United Kingdom’s largest consumer investment platform, has announced a sweeping overhaul of its fees that will reshape the cost of investing for millions of Britons. The changes, which take effect on March 1, 2026, are the first major revision to the company’s pricing since 2014 and come at a time of fierce competition in the UK’s DIY investment market.

The headline change is a significant reduction in the main account fee, which will drop from 0.45% to 0.35%. This new rate applies to both Stocks and Shares ISAs and Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs), affecting all investments under £250,000. Hargreaves Lansdown is also introducing a new £1.95 charge for each fund trade—a move that reflects a shift in client behavior towards more frequent fund trading. Regular contributions and automatic dividend reinvestment, however, will remain free of trading charges.

Dealing charges for shares, including investment trusts, ETFs, and bonds, will fall sharply from £11.95 to £6.95 per trade—a 41% reduction. At the same time, a new 0.35% custody fee for holding these assets will be introduced, capped at £150 per year for each account. For ISAs, this is a notable change, as the annual cap will increase from £45 to £150, while the SIPP cap remains at £200 per year.

According to Financial Times and other financial news outlets, these changes are part of a broader strategy to make Hargreaves Lansdown more competitive in a market increasingly crowded by app-based brokers and digital-first rivals like AJ Bell, Vanguard, and Fidelity. These competitors have attracted attention by offering lower fees and, in some cases, free trades—forcing established players to respond.

Richard Flint, Hargreaves Lansdown’s interim CEO, emphasized the company’s commitment to value and accessibility in a statement: “These changes will see HL become even better value for our clients and make investing simpler and more accessible. This investment in value comes alongside recent upgrades to our app, new products and partnerships.” He added, “We remain focused on helping clients achieve their goals, and we look forward to continuing to invest in our technology, our people, and our services in the years ahead as we keep raising standards across our platform.”

The fee overhaul follows the completion of a private equity consortium’s takeover of Hargreaves Lansdown in March 2025. Since then, the company has been under pressure to modernize its offerings and respond to evolving customer demands. The decision to invest “tens of millions of pounds” in lowering fees—according to company statements—underscores the scale of this commitment.

For most clients, the news is positive. Research by Boring Money, an investment research and publishing house, found that eight in ten existing customers will benefit from the changes. CEO Holly Mackay explained, “It’s broadly pretty good news for Hargreaves customers – around eight in 10 existing customers will be better off as the main administration fee falls from the too-expensive 0.45% to a more palatable 0.35%.” She added that the reductions “really set the cost cat among the pigeons with particular implications for many robo-advisers who now look comparatively expensive.”

However, there are some trade-offs. Customers holding a mixture of funds and individual stocks, particularly those with portfolios exceeding £100,000, may see their overall costs rise due to the higher custody fee cap. Boring Money’s analysis suggests that while Hargreaves Lansdown’s ready-made pension products will become some of the cheapest on the market, investors with large, diversified portfolios might pay more than before, especially compared to rivals like interactive investor, which still offers lower costs for high-balance accounts.

The Ready-Made Pension Plan, a relatively new offering from Hargreaves Lansdown, will see its account fee reduced from 0.45% to 0.15%, while the underlying fund charge remains at 0.30%. This brings the total cost to 0.45%, which the company claims is cheaper than most workplace pensions and among the lowest-cost outsourced pension solutions available. Since its launch in 2023, the plan has attracted more than 36,000 clients and £680 million in assets—one in three new SIPP clients has opted for it.

Simon Belsham, Hargreaves Lansdown’s Chief Client Officer, highlighted the company’s long-term adaptability: “Over the past four decades, we’ve consistently adapted to meet the changing needs of UK savers and investors, and today’s fee changes are a continuation of that commitment.” The company serves over two million clients, and all changes will be applied automatically, with an online calculator available to help customers assess the impact on their portfolios.

The competitive landscape is shifting quickly. Vanguard, for instance, recently cut fees on several equity and fixed income ETFs, moves that are expected to save investors millions annually. JP Morgan Chase is preparing to launch its own DIY investment platform in the UK, following its rebranding of Nutmeg in late 2025. As competition heats up, established players like Hargreaves Lansdown are under mounting pressure to justify their fees and retain customer loyalty.

Hargreaves Lansdown’s fee changes are not just a response to rivals—they also reflect broader changes in investor behavior. The company noted that clients are trading funds far more frequently than they did a decade ago, prompting the introduction of the new fund trading charge. At the same time, the decision to keep regular investing and dividend reinvestment free is a nod to the importance of long-term, disciplined investing—something financial advisers have long championed.

For many retail investors, the new fees will make Hargreaves Lansdown a more attractive option, particularly for those who favor funds or ready-made pension solutions. For others, particularly those with large, mixed portfolios, the changes may prompt a closer look at the competition. As always, the devil is in the details, and investors are encouraged to use the platform’s calculator to understand exactly how the new charges will affect them.

With the UK DIY investment market more dynamic than ever, Hargreaves Lansdown’s overhaul signals not just a new era for the company, but a broader evolution in how Britons invest for their futures. Whether these changes will be enough to maintain its market-leading position remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: the race to offer better value to investors is far from over.