According to The Lang Cat, Hargreaves Lansdown controls around a third of direct platform assets (£52.4bn) and has more than 700,000 active clients. However, both surveys point out that the king of direct investing is not perfect, being relatively expensive and having a charging structure that is difficult to understand.
Investors still need to check if they can get a better deal elsewhere. Mark Polson, principal at The Lang Cat, said: "The UK platform market offers a bewildering amount of choice for direct investors and the best platform will depend on a range of things, including how much you have to invest, what you want to invest in and how much help and support you want to have along the way. These factors all have a bearing on the price you pay for the service."