Strategic report Governance Financial statements Other information CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S REVIEW CONTINUED Hargreaves Lansdown has become the market- Changing demographics Our goal now is to Driving client engagement leading digital wealth management service for a The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the continue to enhance the Clearly, it is not enough to simply add new clients reason. We have captured a 42.9% share of the1 importance of effective savings and the need in record numbers. We have always served an direct to consumer market due to our highly for individuals to be financially resilient. This is UK’s financial resilience, engaged audience with ‘best insight’ and built differentiated service. We have continuously not a new trend and the structural growth building on the work a trusted relationship with our clients. We have advanced our service as client needs have drivers are clear and consistent: enduring low of the last 40 years. continued to invest in both our proposition and changed and always ensure they can access our interest rates over the last decade; greater our service to ensure we adapt to meet the service in the best format for them; and will individual responsibility for retirement saving; varying needs of our expanding client base – continue to do so in the future as the wealth the generational transfer of wealth; and an and add value to them. That has been helped by market continues to broaden and digitise. We increasingly complex savings environment. our unique access to client data and behaviours think deeply about our clients’ lifelong needs, not Each of these are significant societal changes built up over 40 years. just their short-term interests. And we have been underlining the growing importance of the wealth You can see the results in the levels of disciplined in our investment to ensure we deliver management industry. engagement we have seen. We had sustainable growth for our investors. Furthermore, COVID-19 has accelerated these 393 million digital visits in FY21 compared to I would like to thank my colleagues for their hard trends and has driven more people of all ages to 249 million in FY20. What is also welcome is how work and energy over the last year that has engage with their finances. Younger people now our clients are engaging with us: 98% of trades ensured we have been able to provide a market- have a greater appetite for investment. In 2007, are digital; desktop log ins were up by 28% and leading service for even more clients, especially the median age of our client base was 58, by 2014 mobile log ins up 110% over the last year. Overall, given the personal pressures from the COVID-19 this was 54, and in 2021 this is now 46. During these levels of engagement led to a record pandemic on their home lives. I also want to thank FY21, nearly half the clients joining our platform 26.9 million transactions. our clients for their engagement and enthusiasm were in the 30-54 age bracket – one of the key These high levels of engagement were not by as we expand the ways we support them through demographic groups who build wealth over time. accident. We invested in our helpdesk support. their financial lives. Our goal now is to continue to Getting clients onto the platform earlier means We made some clear choices to prioritise our enhance the UK’s financial resilience, building on that we can support them for longer as they grow approach to guidance, our educational tools and the work of the last 40 years – with the leading their wealth. making our platform easy to use. Over the year, digital wealth management service. we had over 3.64 million visitors to HL articles (3.64m prior year), saw 398,000 guide downloads (280,000 prior year), uploaded 1,192 new articles to our website and our Helpdesk received 1.7 million calls (1.3m prior year). 14 Hargreaves Lansdown Report and Financial Statements 2021