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Hargreaves Lansdown IT outage halts customer trades and transactions. 20th March By PA News Agency One of the UK's biggest retail investment platforms has apologised to customers over IT issues which have left people unable to access their accounts during a period of heightened volatility in the financial markets. Hargreaves Lansdown said it was experiencing technical issues that were affecting some parts of its website and app. This was leaving clients unable to log in to their accounts and therefore see and make any transactions, or access its services. By late afternoon on Friday, Hargreaves said the problem had been fixed and people could get back into their accounts and make transactions as normal. Hargreaves assured people that there was no evidence of a cyber incident or a data breach and that all customers' assets and data was secure. "We're sorry for the inconvenience we know this will have caused and thank you for your patience," the company told customers. Service monitoring website Downdetector showed a spike in problems being reported on Thursday evening and Friday morning, with thousands of reports over that time. The outage meant some services were unavailable, including placing trades or adding or withdrawing money from accounts. Hargreaves Lansdown is the UK's biggest DIY investment platform, offering services including investment and savings ISAs and pension accounts. It comes less than two weeks before the financial year draws to a close at the end of March. The issues are also occurring in the context of heightened volatility in the world's financial markets, with oil and gas prices rising and falling sharply in response to developments to the conflict in the Middle East. Stocks and shares have also had a rollercoaster week with the UK's FTSE 100 dropping to a more than three-month low on Thursday, before recovering some of the losses on Friday. More Stories

HL to appoint new head of workplace as Lefley steps down from role. Hargreaves Lansdown director of workplace Stephen Lefley has confirmed he will leave the business at the end of this year, after almost a decade in the role. Hargreaves Lansdown said it had already started the process to appoint a successor, which will be led by the firm's newly appointed chief product officer, Doug Abbott. Abbott says Hargreaves Lansdown "remains committed to the workplace pensions market", nd highlighted its recent multi million pound technology investment into this part of the business, through a partnership with Keystone, part of Smart Group. This partnership will open up the full range of HL's investment platform to workplace clients, as well as enhancing their digital experience. In total Hargreaves Lansdown has £9bn of assets under administration in its workplace offering. This comes at a time when there is increasing regulatory pressure to meet new scale tests to reach £10bn by 2030, with credible plans to reach £25bn by 2035. Abbott has joined HL in December, having worked for 15 years at Schroders and more recently at Vanguard. He has experience of delivering significant growth through product transformation and client-centric innovation. Abbott, says: "HL's Workplace brings the best of our insight, products and service to our clients, now with seamless access to the whole platform. Our recent investment with technology partner, Keystone, will see this going from strength to strength and represents our firm commitment to Workplace." HL provides the workplace pensions to over 520 employers, covering more than 200,000 employees. Abbost says that HL's commitment to supporting engagement and financial wellbeing is reflected in the fact that over 20 per cent of workplace clients invest outside the default, compared to around 5 per cent across the industry as a whole. HL's director of workplace solutions Stephen Lefley says: "I'm proud of what we have achieved in workplace in the last nine years, firmly holding onto our unique combination of choice, functionality and flexibility, all of which contributes to greater financial resilience and wellbeing."

Savings platform Flagstone launches cash Isa to rival Hargreaves Lansdown: is it a good deal? Updated: 02:00 EST, 7 March 2026 Products featured in this article are independently selected by This is Money's specialist journalists. If you open an account using links which have an asterisk, This is Money will earn an affiliate commission. We do not allow this to affect our editorial independence. The savings platform Flagstone has launched a cash Isa, giving savers more choice over how to make the most of their money. You can manage multiple savings accounts through a savings platform. With a host of options available through one provider, they aim to make it easier for you to compare accounts and switch when better rates become available. But it's uncommon for savings platforms to offer tax-free accounts, with most providing just regular savings accounts or fixed-rate bonds. Hargreaves Lansdown is the only other major provider to do so. With Flagstone saying it's setting a 'new standard' for flexible tax-free saving, how does its cash Isa work - and how do the two major options compare? Stand off: Flagstone's cash Isa goes up against a similar product from Hargreaves Lansdown How does Flagstone's cash Isa work? Savings platforms let you manage what's essentially a savings portfolio from one account, and spread your funds across several accounts. You can monitor your money in one place and move it within the platform itself when you want to switch. It's less common for savings platforms to offer cash Isas, with both Hargreaves Lansdown and Flagstone being the two major providers to do so. Cash Isas must stay separate from other accounts, so you'll probably end up with two accounts on the savings platform - one for normal savings accounts with no tax-free wrapper, the other for cash Isas. The benefits of the cash Isa element remain the same. You can compare options quickly then easily spread your money and switch between them. Flagstone only offers easy-access cash Isas currently, while Hargreaves Lansdown also has fixed-rate Isas - though fixes still need to end before you can move your money between accounts. How do the two providers compare? Flagstone's cash Isa is initially bare bones compared with Hargreaves Lansdown's. The big catch is on what matters most - the rate. Flagstone's best rate is 3.6 per cent variable, on an easy-access Isa through LHV. Hargreaves Lansdown is currently offering 4.3 per cent variable*, on its own easy-access Isa provided in partnership with Shawbrook Bank. Flagstone also only has six accounts available, which are all easy-access options. But it's still early days for the platform, which says it will have more easy-access options to choose from by 5 April with fixed-rate accounts coming later in the year. Hargreaves Lansdown has nearly 30 cash Isa accounts available, covering both easy-access and fixed-rate deals. On the other hand, Flagstone does compare well on flexibility. It's possible to transfer Isas directly to Flagstone, while Hargreaves Lansdown has a quirk that requires you to transfer to its stocks and shares Isa first before moving money to the cash counterpart. Flagstone's Isa is also flexible, meaning you can withdraw money in the same tax year and replace it without affecting your Isa allowance. At Hargreaves Lansdown, any withdrawals reduce your allowance. Hargreaves Lansdown does win on the low £1 minimum deposit - Flagstone is asking for a large £10,000 to get started. Read our Hargreaves Lansdown review to find out how it performs as an investment platform. Is a savings platform worth it? Whether you plump for a savings platform like Flagstone or Hargreaves Lansdown at all depends on whether you like the convenience of managing multiple cash accounts on one platform, or whether you're happy to keep on top of accounts directly with providers. You can get higher rates directly through Prosper (4.5 per cent)*, Trading 212 (4.54 per cent)* and Etoro (4.59 per cent)*, although keep in mind these include 12-month boosts so your rate will drop after the year. Save money, make money. 4.54% cash Isa. Trading 212: 0.94% fixed 12-month bonus £100 cashback. Transfer or fund at least £10,000 with Prosper 4.61% cash Isa. Includes 12-month boost for new customers £3,000 cashback. 1% cashback up to £3,000 when transferring Earn up to £3,000. £100-£3,000 cashback for joining Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence. Terms and conditions apply on all offers. Somerset Boy, United Kingdom, 20 minutes ago You are hardly going to get rich quick on a paltry return of 3.6%! Not worth the bother of filling in the application form. The opinions and views expressed in the comments section are solely those of the individual users and do not represent or reflect the opinions, views, or positions of Daily Mail. Daily Mail does not endorse, support, or verify the accuracy of any user-generated content. More top stories. Best buy savings tables. FREE SAVINGS ALERTS The best rates straight to your inbox How this is Money can help. Don't miss. This is Money podcast. Inside saving & banking. 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