JP Morgan sells some UK clients to Hargreaves
HARGREAVES Lansdown will acquire 7,000 customers from JP Morgan Asset Management (JPAM), after the US investment house decided to stop offering rival retail investment products to customers.
Around £370m of assets – about six per cent of JPAM’s assets – will transfer over to Hargreaves, which administers £55bn of funds, on 25 September.
JPAM customers will have a choice of picking another funds administrator instead of Hargreaves ahead of the funds moving outside of the company. Customers can also redeem their cash.
JPAM selected Hargreaves’ Vantage platform to take over the accounts after a selection process.
“While we remain fully committed to providing excellent service to our existing direct clients, this transition reflects our decision to focus on our core strength in fund management,” JPAM UK funds head Jasper Berens said yesterday.
JPAM will only offer its own range of investment trusts and unit trusts to customers from now on, after it stopped selling self invested personal pensions (Sipps) and cash Isas.
It will also stop offering equities, and investment trusts, gilts, bonds and exchange traded funds on offer from rival companies.
JPAM will see client numbers fall from 126,000 to 119,000 after the transition but the business said it will be able to focus on delivering its trusts range to customers.
Hargreaves currently has about 675,000 customers, and adds around 10,000 customers a month based on its last set of quarterly results.
“The breadth of Hargreaves Lansdown’s service means we are able to accommodate the full range of investments that these clients currently hold,” Hargreaves boss Ian Gorham said.
“We are pleased to support JP Morgan Asset Management’s decision and look forward to welcoming these new clients to the Hargreaves Lansdown service.”
Customers will not be charged for moving across to Hargreaves.