Hargreaves Lansdown at a glance
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) is a UK investment platform founded in 1981. It provides stocks and shares ISAs, SIPPs, pensions, dealing accounts, funds, shares, ETFs, investment trusts, gilts, bonds and savings products. The group had more than 2 million clients and £172.7 billion in assets under administration in its 2025 financial reporting, and reported 2.094 million active clients and £190 billion AuA in its FY26 interim report.
Hargreaves Lansdown reports a founding year of 1981 and a head office in Bristol, United Kingdom. It lists 1 regulator and 4 trading platforms.
BrokerBazaar verdict
Hargreaves Lansdown is an established UK investment platform with a history dating to 1981 and a substantial regulated operating structure. Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Limited is FCA authorised under FRN 115248, while three other group companies also hold FCA authorisations or registrations for advisory, fund-management and savings activities. The business is fundamentally an investment and savings platform rather than a leveraged trading broker. Its product range covers shares, funds, ETFs, investment trusts, gilts, bonds, ISAs, SIPPs and savings products. The principal risk considerations relate to normal investment-market risk and platform/product charges rather than leveraged trading exposure. Investors should also distinguish the genuine FCA-authorised HL entities from clone firms that have appeared in FCA warnings.
Legal entities, regulation and licences
Hargreaves Lansdown operates through 4 legal entities, each supervised separately. Your account is with one specific entity, so the protections you receive depend on which one onboards you, not on the group's strongest licence. Overall, the group is supervised by no regulator we could map to a public register.
Licence check: Not independently checked. This broker has submitted its details. BrokerBazaar has not yet independently checked them. A company registration or general business licence is not permission to offer regulated brokerage services; only the register entries linked in the table count.
Countries accepted and restricted
Hargreaves Lansdown states that it accepts clients from United Kingdom. Availability is decided per entity and can change without notice; residents of jurisdictions such as the USA, and often the EU and UK, are frequently excluded from offshore entities.
Trading products, platforms and account types
Instruments: Shares, ETFs, Investment Trusts, Funds, Gilts, Bonds, VCTs, Cash Savings. Platforms: Web platform, iOS app, Android app, Share dealing platform. Account types: Stocks & Shares ISA, SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension), General Investment Account (GIA), Junior ISA, Fund account, Wealth/Advisory accounts.
Best-for tags assigned by our team: UK investors, ISA investors, SIPP/pension savers, Long-term investors, Fund investors, Beginners.
Minimum deposit, spreads, commissions and other charges
The minimum deposit is No general minimum required to open an HL investment account. Fund investments can start from £25 by Direct Debit or £100 as a lump sum.. Spreads start from N/A — conventional securit… and commission is Online share, ETF, investment…. Maximum leverage is N/A — HL does not offer le…, subject to the cap of the entity that holds your account.
Swap-free / Islamic account: not specified. Swap type: not specified. Headline spreads are usually quoted for the most expensive account tier's cheapest instrument; compare total cost for your typical trade.
Deposits and withdrawals
Deposit methods: Bank transfer (Faster Payments), Debit card, Direct debit (for regular contributions). Withdrawal methods: Bank transfer (Bacs/Faster Payments).
Withdrawal speed and fees are set by the entity and payment provider. Withdrawal delays are the most common complaint category on BrokerBazaar across all brokers; keep identity documents current and withdraw to the same method you deposited with where required by anti-money-laundering rules.
Execution model, negative balance protection and client money
Negative balance protection: Not specified. Scalping allowed: Not specified. Algorithmic trading allowed: Not specified. News trading allowed: Not specified. Hedging: not specified.
Client-money rules follow the regulator of the entity that holds your account. Check that regulator's rules on its register.
Complaints and dispute process
Formal complaints: complaints@hl.co.uk. Phone: +44 117 900 9000. Complaints can be submitted through HL's online complaint form, secure messaging, email, telephone or post. HL states that its FCA-regulated entities follow FCA complaints-handling requirements. Eligible unresolved complaints can subsequently be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
If the broker does not resolve a complaint, escalate to the ombudsman or regulator of the entity that holds your account. BrokerBazaar's Dispute Support Desk can help you document and escalate a case.
Strengths and limitations
- Strength: Founded in 1981
- Strength: Long-established UK investment platform
- Strength: FCA-regulated principal investment entity
- Strength: Multiple FCA-regulated group companies
- Strength: More than 2 million clients
- Strength: Broad range of investment products
- Strength: Stocks and Shares ISA
- Strength: SIPP and pension services
- Strength: Large fund selection
- Strength: Shares, ETFs, investment trusts, gilts and bonds
- Strength: Strong customer support infrastructure
- Strength: Mobile app and online platform
- Strength: No account-opening fee
- Strength: No inactivity fee
- Strength: Regular investing available
- Strength: FSCS protection applicable to eligible assets and circumstances
- Limitation: No forex or CFD trading
- Limitation: No leverage
- Limitation: No MT4 or MT5
- Limitation: Primarily UK-focused
- Limitation: Platform charges apply to investments
- Limitation: Share dealing charges are not zero-commission
- Limitation: Overseas share dealing carries additional FX charges
- Limitation: Investment choice is not equivalent to a global multi-market trading broker
- Limitation: Some account charges are percentage-based
- Limitation: Not designed primarily for high-frequency leveraged traders
Who this broker suits, and who it does not
Hargreaves Lansdown is most relevant to traders looking for: UK investors, ISA investors, SIPP/pension savers, Long-term investors, Fund investors, Beginners.
It is less suitable for anyone who needs a strict-tier regulator in their own country of residence, for residents of restricted jurisdictions, and for beginners who have not yet understood leverage and margin. Nothing on this page is personal financial advice.
Hargreaves Lansdown change history
Every published fact change, with the previous value and the date it took effect. Each entry says whether the broker made the change itself or our editors checked it against an official source. Regulation and licence claims are always checked by an editor.
No fact changes recorded for Hargreaves Lansdown yet. Changes appear here as soon as the broker updates its profile or our editors confirm a change.
Frequently asked questions about Hargreaves Lansdown
Data sources. Broker submission, the regulator registers linked above, web-archive and domain records, and third-party traffic data. No independent licence check date is recorded yet. External ratings: Trustpilot 4.2/5; Smart Money People 4.29/5; WikiFX 2.09/10; Apple App Store 4.7/5; Google Play Store 4.8/5.
Commercial disclosure. BrokerBazaar is independent and not owned by any broker. We may receive a referral fee if you open an account with Hargreaves Lansdown through our links; this never affects scores or verification. How we make money. Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of loss.