Hargreaves Lansdown

How ethical and sustainable is the pension provider, Hargreaves Lansdown?

Hargreaves Lansdown is a pension provider that appears in The Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Pensions Ratings Table.

Although Hargreaves Lansdown has not yet met our Ethical Benchmark, we hope to see the brand make progress in the future.

We would have extra confidence in this brand if it submitted itself to apply for Ethical Accreditation, whereby The Good Shopping Guide would make further detailed assessments and recommendations for ethical improvement.

For more detailed research and reporting on the Ethical Pensions sector, our in-depth editorial provides more information on the ethical issues this sector must deal with in order to lessen its impact on the Environment, Animals, and People.

What does Hargreaves Lansdown do?

On July 1st, 1981, Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown established the business. At first, Hargreaves Lansdown informed investors about unit trusts and tax planning issues. The business, which is now one of Bristol’s biggest, is situated at One College Square, Harbourside.

When the company was initially listed on the London Stock Exchange in May 2007, its two founders collectively owned 80% of the company. Lansdown reduced his ownership to 22.9% in April 2009 by selling a 4.7% stake for a total of £47.2 million to help pay for the construction of Bristol City FC’s new football stadium.

When trading in the Woodford Investing Management fund, which Hargreaves Lansdown had been pushing through its Wealth 50 list despite concerns about the fund’s investment philosophy and underperformance, was banned on June 4, 2019, Hargreaves Lansdown suffered reputational harm in 2019.

For which criteria does Hargreaves Lansdown perform poorly?

Hargreaves Lansdown was marked down under our criteria for its Environmental Report and Carbon Disclosure & Reduction Targets; for both of these research criteria, Hargreaves Lansdown receives only a middle rating.

Additionally, Hargreaves Lansdown received a middle rating for Other Criticisms, due to its involvement in the Woodford Equity Fund scandal.

In what areas does Hargreaves Lansdown score well for its ethics?

Hargreaves Lansdown was marked up under our criteria for Environmental Destruction and Political Donations, due to a lack of negative records in these categories.

How can Hargreaves Lansdown brand improve its ethical rating?

The Good Shopping Guide score results from multiple ethical criteria, and Hargreaves Lansdown’s score has been calculated from these criteria.

To reach our minimum Ethical Benchmark and qualify for Ethical Accreditation, Hargreaves Lansdown has some issues to resolve. The categories which require improvement are: Environmental Report, Carbon Disclosure & Reduction Targets, Responsible Investment Policy and Other Criticisms.

To find out more about Ethical Accreditation for your brand, get in touch with The Good Shopping Guide or see our Ethical Accreditation Application page to begin the process.