She has replaced Deanna Oppenheimer who unexpectedly quit in November after activist investors had threatened to vote against her re-appointment at the December AGM.

Some investors had been unhappy with the firm’s share price performance in recent years, including founder Peter Hargreaves.

Deanna Oppenheimer served as chair for six years during which the share price fell from a peak of 2,419p in May 2019 to 706p by the time she quit.

New chair Alison Platt has leadership experience across both private and listed companies in the healthcare, financial services, retail and property, and regulated sectors.

She currently holds chair positions at Dechra Pharmaceuticals, a FTSE100 specialist veterinary products business, and insurance company Ageas UK. She has also been a non-executive director of Tesco Plc since 2016.

She was chief executive of Countrywide between 2014-2018 and before that she held several senior roles at BUPA, including as managing director of its international development markets business.

She was previously a non-executive director of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a member of Hampton-Alexander review steering group advising on diversity and inclusion and Chair of Opportunity Now.

On her appointment in November Ms Platt said: "I am delighted to be joining the HL board and excited by the opportunity to work with Dan and the team as HL continues its critical work in supporting clients to make savings and investment decisions with confidence. I look forward to working closely with my new board colleagues to guide HL's next phase of growth."