UK's Hargreaves Lansdown names digital industry veteran Dan Olley as CEO

(Reuters) - Hargreaves Lansdown named director Dan Olley as its chief executive officer on Thursday, saying the industry veteran will take charge of the British investment platform and digital wealth manager next year.

The appointment comes about two months after the company said current boss Chris Hill would step down after more than five years as CEO, but would be available to allow time for a handover up to November 2023.

Olley, 52, has been on Hargreaves' board as a non-executive director since June 2019 and is currently heading data analytics firm dunnhumby, where he was appointed CEO in January this year.

"His strong transformation leadership across complex scale businesses and experience of driving growth through digital change is a great match for (Hargreaves Lansdown)," chair Deanna Oppenheimer said in a statement.

Hargreaves and other wealth managers saw their assets under management rise after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold as lockdown savings and low interest rates drove up inflows, but are now witnessing a drop in assets on growth concerns due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Olley, who previously had stints in firms such as data group RELX, tech firm IBM and ad agency WPP, would join Hargreaves "once released from current obligations in 2023," the company said.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)