Short bets against Hargreaves Lansdown have reached all-time highs as the UK’s largest fund supermarket continues to be dogged by the turmoil surrounding the sudden closure of Neil Woodford’s struggling equity fund.

Hargreaves, which funnelled more than £1.6bn of investors’ money into Woodford’s now-frozen flagship fund, is under attack from short-sellers following intense criticism of the FTSE 100 company’s decision to continue to promote the highly celebrated asset manager’s £3.7bn fund right up until withdrawals were blocked in June.