Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI) intends to withdraw from offering Individual Savings Accounts (ISA) and investment accounts and has chosen to work with Hargreaves Lansdown to provide retail investors with an option to transfer their holdings free of exit charges onto the Hargreaves Lansdown investment service.
After careful consideration and feedback from customers, and against a backdrop of significant technological innovations, OMGI has concluded that its current service in relation to ISAs and investment accounts no longer meets the expectations of its investors. For example, investors now reasonably expect to be able to have online access to their investments, and this is something that is not available via the existing OMGI service.
OMGI has decided to withdraw its administration service for ISAs with effect from 27 February 2018 and intends to carry out a bulk transfer of its ISA customers to Hargreaves Lansdown with effect from 24 February 2018.
OMGI is also offering investors the option to move investment accounts to Hargreaves Lansdown so that they can hold all their investments in one place, and benefit from the enhanced services (such as online access). This cannot be done by bulk transfer.
OMGI will continue to manage the underlying investment funds held by investors.
Following a comprehensive due diligence process, OMGI chose Hargreaves Lansdown on the basis that they offer award-winning, direct to consumer service, online account management and dealing, as well as the option to manage investments by telephone and post. Hargreaves Lansdown has also committed significant investment into the growth of their platform in recent years.
Warren Tonkinson, managing director, OMGI:
“At OMGI, we are dedicated to ensuring investors’ best interests are at the heart of any service we offer. Therefore, following careful consideration, we have decided that our ISA investors will be best served by moving their holdings to a direct-to-consumer platform that can provide an up-to-date, online service.
“We believe Hargreaves Lansdown, with its customer-centric approach and user-friendly technology, will meet our investors’ needs going forward and we look forward to working with them on the smooth transfer of these assets.
“OMGI’s focus remains on offering flexible investment funds that deliver market-beating returns and we will continue to manage the clients’ underlying investments.”
Chris Hill, Chief Executive Officer, Hargreaves Lansdown:
“Investor digital trends are moving rapidly with mobile access and functionality now an expectation rather than a nice to have. We are pleased to support OMGI’s decision and look forward to welcoming these new clients to the Hargreaves Lansdown investment service.”
There will be no exit charges levied by OMGI or HL when investors are transferred to the HL investment service.
This is the sixth transaction of its type (the previous 5 were with: RIT, Legg Mason, JP Morgan, Jupiter, Blackrock).
The terms of the transaction will not be disclosed.
