Danny Cox of Hargreaves Lansdown being pulled apart on Radio 4 Moneybox over new fees

Rollinghome

Very funny interview with Danny Cox of HL being pulled apart by Paul Lewis and Justin Modray. on Radio4 Moneybox now.

Edit. Now ended - to be repeated tomorrow 9.00 pm Sunday 19th and on iPlayer soon.

Danny Cox came on calmly with Hargreaves Lansdown "cutting prices" spin and thought he was going to get away with it. His voice then got faster and faster and higher as Lewis and Modray took him apart. Good fun.

SnowMan

Danny Cox sounded quite agitated didn't he

Well done Justin :T

jimjames

Listening now. Good to hear that someone didnt fall for the HL press release line

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q4mm3

System

Just listened, very entertaining - thanks for that rollinghome.

I liked Danny Cox's end remark about return of your money is more important than return on your money. i.e. yes we charge more than competitors, but we are a lot safer.

I'm sorry Mr Cox, but return on my investments is extremely important, otherwise why are we investing? Yes of course I want my capital back, but if that was my only concern, I'll just stick up to 85k in Halifax and get my 1% (or stash it under the bed!).

Glen_Clark

teepee83 wrote: »

I liked Danny Cox's end remark about return of your money is more important than return on your money. i.e. yes we charge more than competitors, but we are a lot safer.

What did he mean by that?
Is he suggesting his competitors platforms aren't safe?
Astonishingly the interview ended as soon as he had said it.

Rollinghome

Glen_Clark wrote: »

What did he mean by that?
Is he suggesting his competitors platforms aren't safe?
Astonishingly the interview ended as soon as he had said it.

I think he was, seems to be latest wheeze from their department for misinformation.

They seem to be trying to mislead people into thinking that now they are a FTSE 100 company that they are more secure. But companies enter the FTSE on the basis of their share price, not on their assets. If the share price falls, they get kicked out again, as of course happens to companies all the time.

In terms of assets under management they are third or fourth behind outfits like Cofunds which is fully owned by L&G and the platform being used by the likes of Interactive Investor, Charles Stanley and many more.

The danger for Hargreaves Lansdown could be that they are extremely narrowly based compared to competitors, entirely dependent on the DIY investment market (unlike Cofunds etc.) with very high costs, and would have serious problems if DIY investors fell out of love with them

cepheus

I recall something in the programme about HL clients have until June to move without increased fees.

organic_wanabe

Unbelievable! I have been with HL for years and now realise what an uninformed idiot I have been. Do they really believe that they will keep the majority of their clients?

masonic

organic_wanabe wrote: »

Unbelievable! I have been with HL for years and now realise what an uninformed idiot I have been. Do they really believe that they will keep the majority of their clients?

Sadly I am sure they will keep the majority of their clients, but I think they will lose more than they anticipated. The worst part is they sneakily introduced a hike in exit fees about a year ago ahead of these changes so they'll be able to hit those people who do leave in the wallet unless we are able to get those exit charges overturned.

dunstonh

Danny Cox's opening line that they are starting a price war is a joke. You dont start a price war by coming in with some of the highest prices going.

Justin Modray was a little off with his sneaky charges comment. It was suggested that new charges mean they were sneaky charges. It did sound like a bit like they were trying to point score against each other. The process is to remove sneaky pricing.

Did feel that the point was missed about the reasons why it was happening. That may have allowed HL a bit off the hook but you cannot blame HL for that. Part of the reason of the platform review is to remove bias.

jimjames

dunstonh wrote: »

Danny Cox's opening line that they are starting a price war is a joke. You dont start a price war by coming in with some of the highest prices going.

Justin Modray was a little off with his sneaky charges comment. It was suggested that new charges mean they were sneaky charges. It did sound like a bit like they were trying to point score against each other. The process is to remove sneaky pricing.

Did feel that the point was missed about the reasons why it was happening. That may have allowed HL a bit off the hook but you cannot blame HL for that. Part of the reason of the platform review is to remove bias.

I did think he missed an opportunity to explain the pricing for those losing out and your previous explanation of cross subsidy. Maybe a complex thing to explain but would have helped show why 1 in 5 of HL customers will be worse off.