Andy Bell to step down from his investment platform after 27 years

Andy Bell, the entrepreneur who built the online stock brokerage firm he founded into one of the UK’s largest investment platforms, will step down as chief executive later this year.

AJ Bell on Thursday announced Bell would step back from running the company in October and be replaced by deputy chief executive Michael Summersgill.

The departure of the co-founder from AJ Bell’s day-to-day operations after more than two decades in charge marks a major transition for the FTSE 250 group.

AJ Bell is already dealing with a pullback in investment after the Covid-19 boom in retail trading and preparing to venture into no-fee mobile stock broking for the first time.

“I would like to thank our people, past and present, for helping to grow AJ Bell into the business it is today. It has been a fantastic journey so far and I am as excited as ever about the prospects for the AJ Bell,” said Bell, 56, who will remain on the board as non-executive deputy chair.

Born in Liverpool and an actuary by training, Bell founded AJ Bell in Manchester in 1995 during the early days of the internet. The company, which offers online platforms for do-it-yourself investors and financial advisers to manage investments, now has £74.1bn in clients assets.

The group went public in London in 2018 and is valued at £1.1bn; the shares are up more than two-thirds from their flotation price but have fallen more than a third in the past 12 months.

Summersgill, who had served as chief financial officer for a decade before becoming Bell’s deputy last year, said: “My focus will be on continuing to evolve our platform propositions and service capabilities to meet the ever-changing needs of advisers and customers.”

Helena Morrissey, chair of the board, said the change of leadership came after a years-long succession process. She said Bell “has built AJ Bell into one of the UK’s leading investment platforms and will remain an important member of the board”.

Investment platforms, including rival Hargreaves Lansdown, enjoyed a bumper year in 2021 as investors surfed buoyant markets and deployed pent-up pandemic savings. They now face a more difficult environment as households trim investments to cope with the cost of living, and a downturn in markets has discouraged trading this year.