Customers have responded with concern to news that Hargreaves Lansdown is to introduce new platform fees on some of its funds.

The investment supermarket has said that as of 31 December this year, the 0.5 per cent annual charge will be replaced with a flat platform fee of £1 or £2 per holding, per month and that this will affect mostly tracker funds.

Clients with small holdings in a few low-cost funds are expected to be most affected by the change from a percentage to a flat fee.

Danny Cox, head of advice, admitted to WhatInvestment.co.uk that some of its customers were ‘unhappy’ with the charge but added that the company would monitor client responses closely.

He explained, ‘In some cases where people aren’t being charged a flat platform fee, for example if they have one of the HSBC trackers, they will be charged a fee going forward.

‘Those are funds we have been offering for a long period of time and they have been cross-subsidised by other parts of the group. So we’ve been meeting costs because they don’t generate sufficient revenue for us.’

One customer, who left a comment on Citywire.co.uk, said they were now faced with paying £2 charges on each £50 invested, and added, ‘Will be writing to HL and no doubt will arrange something with charges of less than 4 per cent with another company’.

Cox claimed that the platform fee was fair and that it would allow the company to be able to introduce a new range of low cost passive funds to its clients.

He argued, ‘We don’t charge any transaction costs. There are some brokers who charge dealing fees, whether online or over the phone.’

Where a fund currently attracts a fee of 0.5 per cent a year in the ISA and SIPP (self-invested personal pension), the platform fee will be £2 per month, per holding and will apply to the Vantage ISA, SIPP and Fund & Share Account.

It outlined the amendments in its latest Investment Times newsletter, and confirmed that it will remain free to hold over 2,400 funds, which equates to 97.3 per cent of the funds held by clients.

The charges, where applicable, for shares, investment trusts, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), bonds and gilts will remain unchanged.

Main funds with a monthly platform fee:

Tracker funds
Fidelity MoneyBuilder UK Index - £2
Henderson UK Index - £1
HSBC American Index - £2
HSBC European Index - £2
HSBC FTSE 100 Index - £2
HSBC FTSE 250 Index - £2
HSBC FTSE All-Share Index - £2
HSBC Japan Index - £2
HSBC Pacific Index - £2
Legal & General All Stocks Gilt Index Trust - £2
Legal & General European Index (Class R) - £1
Legal & General Global Emerging Mkts Index - £1
Legal & General International Index Trust (R) - £1
Legal & General Japan Index (Class R) - £1
Legal & General Pacific Index (Class R) - £1
Legal & General UK 100 Index (Class R) - £1
Legal & General UK Index (Class R) - £2
Legal & General US Index (Class R) - £1
M&G European Index Tracker (Class A) - £2
M&G Index Tracker (Class A) - £2

Other funds
Aviva Inv Higher Income Plus (Class 1) - £1
HSBC Gilt & Fixed Interest - £1
IFDS Brown Shipley Sterling Bond - £1
Legal & General All Stocks Index Linked Gilt - £2
Legal & General Fixed Interest (Class R) - £1
Legal & General Managed Income (Class R) - £1
M&G Gilt & Fixed Interest (Class A) - £2
M&G Index Linked Bond (Class A) - £2
Royal London Index Linked Gilt - £1
Templeton Global Total Return Bond (A GBP) - £1