JPMorgan takes on Hargreaves Lansdown in the UK with ‘DIY’ investment push

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JPMorgan Chase is gearing up to launch its own “DIY” investment service in the UK, moving into a market led by Hargreaves Lansdown, amid a push to get more British savers to invest.

The US banking group plans to roll out a service next year that will allow investors to buy and sell shares, bonds, funds and other assets directly.

The move forms part of a broader push into Britain’s consumer investment market through the launch of JPMorgan Personal Investing in November.

The new service, which will target consumers under the JPMorgan brand for the first time in the UK, will offer financial planning tools and advice, as well as the “DIY” investment site next year.

The move comes as the UK government and regulators attempt to encourage savers to invest, boosting both retirement outcomes and the domestic stock market. Britons have an estimated £600bn of excess cash.

James McManus, chief investment officer of JPMorgan Personal Investing, told the Financial Times that the lender aimed to become a “major player” in the UK market.

The new venture will include the existing Nutmeg business, the wealth manager it acquired in 2021 offering low-cost funds run by managers and financial advisers, but ditch the Nutmeg brand.

The service will include new features from next month such as a “wealth planner”, providing customers with digital tools to help them invest, and tailored suggestions for how they could move closer to their financial goals.

It will also offer relationship managers for customers with more than £250,000 to invest to provide them with financial advice.

JPMorgan Personal Investing will be available through an app as well as Chase, the digital retail bank it launched in 2021 as part of its broader strategy to grow in the UK market. It will manage the £8.5bn of customer assets that sat with Nutmeg, having grown the wealth manager’s assets from £3.5bn since acquiring the business.

The DIY brokerage will mark a significant push into Britain’s retail investment industry, which is dominated by Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor.

Hargreaves Lansdown has more than £150bn of customers’ assets under administration and 28 per cent of the market, followed by Interactive Investor on about 13 per cent, according to consultancy firm Platforum.

The Financial Conduct Authority earlier this year announced sweeping changes to allow companies to provide individuals with generic investment support without having to meet all the costly restrictions involved in offering personalised financial advice. The move paves the way for more entrants into the retail investment market.

Nutmeg’s fee income in 2024 amounted to £39.3mn, while operating costs were £81.1mn. “For Nutmeg, confirmation of this year’s losses means collective losses of £230mn since year end of 2011,” said consultancy The Lang Cat.