Hargreaves Lansdown (LON: HL) announced on Monday the decision of its CEO and Executive Director, Chris Hill to retire. The company is now actively looking for a successor as the handover period has been set for November 2023.
Hill is leaving a significant mark on the British financial service company as he has led the company through the pandemic-induced crisis and implemented new strategies. In addition, the official announcement highlighted “significant growth in assets under administration and client numbers” under his leadership.
However, the revenue of the company in the first four months of 2022 dropped from £233.2 million to £196.5 million. The year-to-date client growth of 90,000 came in line with pre-covid levels, while the client retention rate reached 92.4 percent.
“Chris has successfully led the company through a period of significant change,” said Deanna Oppenheimer, Hargreaves Lansdown’s Chair. “He is leaving HL as a stronger company, with a clearly defined strategy that the Board fully supports.”
“Having started the implementation of the next phase of the company's growth, Chris has decided it is time to pass the reins to a new CEO to continue to execute on this strategy and build on our market-leading proposition.”
A Financial Industry Veteran
Hill joined Bristol-headquartered Hargreaves Lansdown in February 2016 as the Chief Financial Officer. He was promoted to Deputy CEO a year later and then became the CEO, now holding that apex role for almost six years.
Moreover, he is a financial industry veteran, having spent three decades in total with various companies in executive roles.
Before Hargreaves Lansdown, Hill was the CFO at IG Group, London’s largest CFDs trading platform , between April 2011 and October 2015. Furthermore, he spent more than four years at Travelex, first as the Group Financial Controller and then as the CFO.
“I have been privileged to lead the Company over the last six years through a period of growth and also an unprecedented time of change,” Hill said referring to his tenure as CEO at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“I set in train a comprehensive strategy to ensure the company remains at the forefront of wealth management, including providing clients with the best digital tools. Having put in place strong foundations that are already delivering results, including an exceptional leadership team, it will be time after a thoughtful transition to hand over to my successor to take the company through the next phase of embedding this strategy.”
