Hargreaves Lansdown is one of the UK’s largest direct investment platform and offers a good range of US, Canadian and European stocks in addition to London-listed shares, bonds and a very extensive range of funds. The firm is consistently praised for high standard of customer service, which is a strong selling point for less experienced investors in particular.
International trades are placed via UK-based market makers (such as Winterflood Securities) and the foreign currency share price is converted to sterling each time with a mark up of up to 1%. This becomes costly for very frequent traders – who could look at firms such as Interactive Brokers or Saxo Markets where you can hold and settle in foreign currencies – but is less of an overhead for long-term investors.
Its nearest rival is probably AJ Bell Youinvest. Like Youinvest, Hargreaves Lansdown’s SIPP is set up to receive US dividends with no withholding tax deducted (and reduced tax on Canadian dividends), which is useful for income investors.
| Online trading | Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA |
| Telephone trading | As above |
| Typical online | £11.95 |
| Online details | 1-9 deals per month £11.95;
10-19 deals per month £8.95;
20+ deals per month £5.95 |
| Typical telephone | min £20 |
| Telephone details | 1% (min £20, max £50) |
| Account fees and inactivity fees | None |
| Custody charges for stocks | Dealing account: no charge;
ISA: 0.45% per year capped at £45;
SIPP: 0.45% per year capped at £200 |
| Dividend charges | None |
| Corporate action charges | None |
| Currency conversion charges | 1% on first £5,000 1%;
0.75% on next £5,000;
0.5% on next £10,000;
0.25% above £20,000;
1% when converting foreign currency dividends to GBP |
| Hold cash in foreign currencies | No |
| Currencies allowed | GBP |
| Tax-advantaged accounts | ISA, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA, SIPP |
| Other products and services | Bonds, funds |
| Minimum account size | None |
| Company location | UK |
| Further information | Go to the Hargreaves Lansdown website |
Compare Hargreaves Lansdown with another broker