RGL Management Limited has confirmed it will press ahead with a compensation claim against Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) on behalf of investors in the Woodford Equity Income fund (Weif).
The law firm issued a claim against HL in October 2020 for around 3,000 Weif investors, while they are preparing a second claim on behalf of 4,000 more claimants who accessed the fund via HL’s platform.
RGL said its group action claim, which is now fully funded, comes as a result of HL’s conduct in continuing to recommend the Weif up to its collapse in June 2019.
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The litigation specialist has previously argued that the platform was aware of the Weif’s problems as early as November 2017, nearly two years before it collapsed in 2019, but continued to include it on its buy list.
“As well as the balance of capital losses yet to be compensated, RGL Group Action claimants are also claiming damages for the loss of the opportunity of investing in alternative investments that, in contrast to the Weif, would have generated positive returns,” the firm added.
The total value of the RGL Group claim is expected to be in excess of £200m.
Redress scheme
The claim comes despite investors beginning to receive redress from Link Fund Solutions’ scheme of arrangement to compensate those trapped in the fund when it was suspended in 2019.
Michael Green, RGL Management director, said: “RGL Group Action claimants bear no costs for joining the action against Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) and will also not be charged anything as a result of the Link Settlement Scheme.
“RGL’s view is that Weif investors have suffered enough at the hands of Woodford and, more recently, from the derisory Link settlement offered to them, which was supported by the FCA. RGL played no part in the Link Scheme, so considers it fair not to benefit from it.
He added that, now that the Link scheme is in place, court proceedings against HL can move forward over the coming months.
“To date, RGL’s book has over 7,000 claimants, with an average assessed value of £20,000 per claimant. More and more claimants join the RGL Group every week.
“With claims against Link no longer possible, the RGL Group’s claim against HL is now the only route for investors to claim the full redress they are owed.”
HL declined to comment when approached by Portfolio Adviser.
