Hargreaves Lansdown has hired two women to its board, including Legal & General’s former group risk officer, as it looks to tighten up its risk and governance in the year since the Woodford scandal.
Andrea Blance and Moni Mannings will join as independent non-executive directors from 1 September, an RNS filing from the platform group revealed.
Their appointments take the number of women on Hargreaves’ 11-strong board to five.
Blance spent over 13 years at Legal & General where she was a member of the group executive committee and served in a variety of senior roles including group financial controller and group risk officer. She is currently a senior independent director and chair of the remuneration committee at doorstep lender Provident Financial and has previously served on the boards of Scottish Widows, Reassure and Williams & Glyn.
Mannings is currently a non-executive director for Easyjet and Breedon, as well as a senior independent director at Investec Bank. She is a qualified solicitor and former senior partner and board member of law firm Olswang where she specialised in international banking and finance. Mannings is the current deputy chair of children’s charity Barnardo’s.
Both women will join the group board risk committee. Blance will also sit on the audit committee, while Mannings will become chair elect of the remuneration committee from 8 October, subject to regulatory approval.
The NED appointments come as the D2C platform looks to overhaul its risk and governance controls following the Neil Woodford scandal. The implosion of the Woodford Equity Income fund, which remained on Hargreaves’ best buy list up until it was suspended, blocked 133,769 Hargreaves customers, who held the fund directly or via the multi-manager range, from pulling out their money.
Following the debacle Hargreaves scrapped its Wealth 50 buy list in favour of a fund list picked and overseen by an independent panel.
See also: Heightened oversight at Hargreaves must challenge sky-high stakes in individual funds
Commenting on the appointments Hargreaves chair Deanna Oppenheimer said: “I’m delighted to welcome both Andrea and Moni to the group board. Both bring exceptional experience at executive and non-executive director level and will continue to strengthen the skills and diversity of the Group Board. These appointments reinforce the group board’s focus on strong governance and continue to increase the depth of succession planning in place.”
Both Blance and Mannings will seek election at Hargreaves’ upcoming AGM on 8 October. Neither currently own shares in Hargreaves.
