Hargreaves Lansdown (HL), the UK-based wealth management platform, has strengthened its technology leadership with two senior appointments.
Charles Thompson has been named as chief technology officer and he will be joined by Michael Finnegan as chief transformation officer.
Both have been recruited from Vanguard, the US-based asset manager regarded as one of the largest firms in the market with a focus on retail investors.
Thompson and Finnegan replace Richard Hebdon, chief data and technology officer, and Darren Worth, chief strategy and transformation officer, who are set to leave later this year but will remain for a transition period.
According to HL, the appointments are designed to drive the firm’s technology transformation agenda and both Finnegan and Thompson will bring their experience of the US retail investing market to their new roles.
The appointments also come on the back of a £100 million investment for 2026 with a particular focus on digital capabilities, AI and data infrastructure.
HL claims to be the UK’s largest investment and savings platform with more than two million clients and near £200 billion of assets under management.
The leadership changes come at a time when the UK and Europe are both attempting to develop a retail investment market akin to the US with a greater emphasis on low cost passive vehicles like ETFs and on online investment platforms such as HL.
“The opportunity before us is to combine the best of HL’s scale and market position with lessons from the US market, where technology, product innovation and client engagement have helped more people invest for their future,” said Richard Flint, outgoing CEO and non-executive deputy chair.aster for clients.”
