Chair of Hargreaves Lansdown, Deanna Oppenheimer, to step down, according to Sky News.

According to Sky News, Deanna Oppenheimer, the chairwoman of Hargreaves Lansdown, will be stepping down following harsh criticism from one of the company’s founders regarding her leadership.

Oppenheimer has held the position at the FTSE 100 company during a particularly turbulent period for the UK’s financial markets over the past five-and-a-half years.

Last October, Peter Hargreaves, co-founder and largest shareholder of Hargreaves Lansdown, called for Oppenheimer’s resignation, accusing her of overseeing a “diabolical” performance at the company.

Leader: Deanna Oppenheimer has chaired Bristol-based Hargreaves Lansdown for the last five-and-a-half years amidst a particularly turbulent period for the UK’s financial markets

During Oppenheimer’s tenure as chair, Hargreaves Lansdown has experienced significant growth in assets, customer levels, and turnover. However, its share price has more than halved.

The company benefited from a surge of retail investors, including many young first-time traders, during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. However, trade slowed as lockdown restrictions eased and people spent more time outdoors and in the office.

Hargreaves Lansdown also faced the aftermath of the collapse of the Woodford Equity Income Fund, which the company heavily promoted before its collapse in 2019, resulting in significant losses for thousands of investors.

Sky News reported that Oppenheimer’s departure announcement is expected soon, and the search for her successor is already underway.

Oppenheimer, who is American-born, also serves as the chair of Intercontinental Hotels Group and holds non-executive directorships at Thomson Reuters and Slalom. She has previously held board positions at Tesco, Whitbread, and Worldpay, as well as senior roles at Barclays and founded the advisory firm CameoWorks.

Chris Hill, the current CEO of Hargreaves Lansdown, is also planning to step aside next month and will be replaced by Dan Olley.

In February 2022, Hill announced a growth strategy that included investing £175 million in the company’s technology platform and launching a new financial advice service. However, Peter Hargreaves heavily criticized the plan, calling the proposed service “completely unnecessary” and urging the group to implement significant cost-cutting measures instead.

This Is Money reached out to Hargreaves Lansdown for a response but did not receive a reply.

Hargreaves Lansdown shares closed 0.8% down at 832.8p on Monday.