Mony Group challenges Hargreaves with new investment platform

Moneysupermarket is moving beyond price comparison to offer users a dedicated investment platform for buying and selling mutual funds and exchange traded funds. The launch represents a significant strategic shift for parent company Mony Group, pitting it directly against established UK wealth managers including Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell and Interactive Investor. It also places the firm in competition with a growing cohort of digital-only wealth startups.

The new service will initially provide access to 40 mutual funds and ETFs, encompassing Vanguard LifeStrategy products, S&P 500 tracker funds, and thematic options like AI and robotics ETFs. Users will be able to hold these assets within either a stocks-and-shares Isa or a general investment account. Mony Group has set a competitive platform fee of 0.34% and will not charge dealing fees on trades.

Chief Executive Peter Duffy framed the move as an effort to demystify investing for the broader public. "Investment is still intimidating for lots of people — 70 per cent of UK adults don't invest. We think there is an opportunity to help customers here," he said. "We have rebuilt our platform. We think we can help people in more ways and the next step of the process is to add investments to that. Customers trust us, the brand is very strong."

Duffy highlighted the integration with the company's existing ecosystem as a key differentiator in a crowded market. "This sits in the app where you do everything else. There is nothing quite like this on the market," he noted. The strategy relies on leveraging the traffic from Moneysupermarket's core comparison business—spanning insurance, mortgages, car hire, TV and broadband—to cross-sell financial products.

The investment rollout follows the February introduction of a savings platform, which offered access to third-party cash Isas and savings products. Duffy rejected the notion that this rapid expansion into savings and investments is a defensive maneuver against artificial intelligence disrupting the price-comparison model. Instead, he characterized it as "the next logical step for us to help our customers more."

For the market, Moneysupermarket's entry adds another aggressive low-cost competitor to the UK platform space, which has seen fees compress steadily in recent years. The zero dealing charge and 0.34% platform fee will apply immediate pressure on incumbents to justify their pricing, particularly for beginner investors seeking simple, app-based fund portfolios. Executives at rival firms will be watching closely to see if Moneysupermarket can successfully convert its vast comparison-site traffic into lucrative, long-term investment assets.