Strategic report Governance Financial statements Other information ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE GROWTH BUILDING RESILIENCE DURING THE PANDEMIC CONTINUED We are mindful of the part we need to play in our community Our clients Our community and wider society. Although we’ve adapted to a new way of working, Parts of our community have been hit hard some things have not changed. The security of through a lack of financial support, available our service and protecting our clients’ assets and resources, help and expertise, all of which have data is our top priority. Our people, technology created undue stress and hardship. As a and control framework ensure we achieve this responsible business and one which has been in spite of the new configuration of working. fortunate enough to thrive in these uncertain Uncertainty, volatile markets, misinformation times, we have been mindful of the part we need and scams are all unsettling for clients and impact to play in our community and wider society, not their confidence and decision making. We have just today but for the future. focused on delivering the services that are most Our support has spanned high level strategic important to our clients and helping them to involvement with key stakeholders in our home understand the issues they face in order to build city of Bristol, through to targeted initiatives that their financial resilience and achieve their desired allow colleagues to volunteer on specific causes. outcomes. Actions have included: The support is aimed tohelp drive the economic Increased research updates and guidance recovery of communities and businesses and • improve the lives of the people who live and work across funds, shares, personal finance and in the city. ESG matters to support investors; • ‘Hot’ stocks – A focus on the difference Delivering financial education and inclusion is between speculators and investors, and the another area where we have been supporting merits of long-term investing. It was targeted various initiatives, particularly for the younger at clients we suspected had aimed to speculate demographic where we strongly believe it is on short-term share price movements; important to build good financial habits early. • Diversification – explaining the magnitude of its benefits through practical and actionable steps to an investment portfolio. Targeted at clients with concentrated portfolios; and • Risk awareness campaign focused on the benefits and risks of volatility, and why a long-term horizon is essential when investing in markets. Targeted at clients with higher volatility investments. 6 Hargreaves Lansdown Report and Financial Statements 2021