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St. James's Place plc

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St. James's Place plc
FormerlySt. James's Place Capital plc
J. Rothschild Assurance
Company typePublic limited company
LSE: STJ
FTSE 100 Component
IndustryWealth management
Founded1991; 33 years ago (1991)
FoundersMike Wilson
Mark Weinberg
Jacob Rothschild
HeadquartersCirencester, England, UK
Key people
Paul Manduca (chairperson)[1][2]
Mark FitzPatrick (CEO)[3]
ProductsWealth Management
RevenueIncrease £2,788.9 million (2023)[4]
Increase £439.6 million (2023)[4]
Decrease £(9.9) million (2023)[4]
AUMIncrease £184 billion (Dec 2024)
Number of employees
3,200 (Dec 2024)
Websitewww.sjp.co.uk

St. James's Place plc, formerly St. James's Place Capital plc, is a British financial advice company. The head office is in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, and there are over twenty other offices in the United Kingdom.[5] It is a combined adviser, fund manager and life insurance business.[6] It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. As of December 2024, the company has £184 billion worth of assets under management (AUM).[7] It is known for its high fees and aggressive sales tactics, and has been fined on numerous occasions.[8][9][10]

History

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The business has its origins in an entity founded by Mark Weinberg and Mike Wilson in 1991. It secured the financial backing of Jacob Rothschild and became known as J. Rothschild Assurance.[11]

In 1997 J. Rothschild Assurance merged with – and took on the name of – a much smaller entity, St. James's Place Capital.[12]

The business was restructured and transferred to a new legal entity in 2000, when Halifax plc (formerly the Halifax Building Society) took a 60 per cent shareholding for £760 million.[13]

In 2001 Halifax merged with the Bank of Scotland to form HBOS, which in 2009 was bought by the Lloyds Banking Group, which thus acquired a majority holding in St. James's Place Capital.[14] In March 2013 Lloyds sold 20% of its holding to institutional investors,[15] and in December that year sold its remaining holding by private placement for £670m.[16]

In 2014 the company bought Henley Group, a financial adviser with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, and renamed it St. James's Place Asia.[17][18] It bought Rowan Dartington, a discretionary fund manager, for £34.2m in 2015,[19] and Technical Connection, a financial consultancy, in 2016.[20]

In July 2017 an investigation by Which? accused St James's Place of misleading customers on charges. Tom Wilson, author of the article, writes, "There are legitimate reasons why costs might vary – SJP's recommended funds have different charges, so the actual fees will depend on which funds you end up with." The findings of the investigation were sent to the Financial Conduct Authority.[21] The firm continues to have permission to provide regulated products and services.[22]

In January 2018 Andrew Croft replaced David Bellamy as chief executive, after thirteen years as chief financial officer.[23][24]

In July 2019, the Financial Ombudsman Service raised "serious concerns", after a client had been persuaded to transfer more than £60,000 to the company, over claims that St. James's Place had "doctored" documents with "forged" signatures to hide the advice allegedly given by the company to the client.[25]

In November 2019 fourteen former footballers sued St James's Place for £15m, alleging that they had received poor advice concerning tax avoidance regarding film and overseas property investment schemes.[26] A spokesman for St James's Place said the partner was not authorised to direct investors to the plan, and that the proposal was not approved by St James's. The St James's Place spokesman also said the partner had retired when many of the investments were made, and that other investments were placed through a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) by a third party. The spokesman also said the statute of limitations on the claims had expired because the investments had been made more than 10 years before.[27]

Paul Manduca replaced Iain Cornish as chairman of the firm after the annual general meeting in May 2021.[1]

In May 2023, SJP opened an office in Dubai's International Financial Centre after receiving approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority.[28]

In September 2023, the company announced that Andrew Croft would be stepping down as CEO after five years in the role. It was also announced that Mark FitzPatrick would be his replacement with effect from 1 December 2023.[3]

In July 2024, SJP announced a company restructure to save £100 million from the business by 2027.[7] As part of the restructure, the company announced plans to reduce its headcount by 500 jobs in December 2024.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b Darbyshire, Madison (17 December 2020). "St James's Place appoints Paul Manduca as next chairman". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  2. ^ "Funds veteran Paul Manduca to chair SJP". Citywirte. 17 December 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b "St James's Place appoints Mark FitzPatrick as CEO". The Business Magazine. 14 September 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "Preliminary Results 2022" (PDF). St. James's Place plc. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Locations". St. James’s Place. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Flat is good at St James's Place". Investors Chronicle. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Dunkley, Emma (2 December 2024). "St James's Place to cut 500 jobs". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  8. ^ Dunkley, Emma; Livsey, Alan (8 December 2024). "St James's Place ditches glitzy get-togethers in bid to improve image".
  9. ^ Hickey, Sally (2 March 2024). "The fee fiasco weighing on St James's Place". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  10. ^ English, Simon (28 February 2024). "St James's Place sets aside £426m for client refunds as shares crash". The Standard. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  11. ^ "Meet the newest grandees in town". The Guardian. 24 June 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  12. ^ Davis, Jonathan (2013). Money Makers: The Stock Market Secrets of Britain's Top Professional Investment Managers. ISBN 9780857191434.
  13. ^ Jones, Rupert (23 March 2000). "Halifax buys into St James's Place". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Lloyds to keep St James's Place stake". Reuters. 28 July 2010. Archived from the original on 15 October 2010. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  15. ^ "St. James's Place PLC (SJP.L)". Reuters. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  16. ^ "Lloyds sells St James's Place stake for £670m". Financial Times. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  17. ^ Thomson, Grant (16 June 2014). "St James's Place completes Henley Group deal". International Adviser. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  18. ^ "St. James's Place Wealth Management | Asia". www.sjp.asia. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  19. ^ Dakers, Marion (29 July 2015). "St James's Place buys discretionary fund manager". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  20. ^ "St James's Place acquires Technical Connection". Wealth Manager. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  21. ^ "Exclusive: wealth manager St James's Place misleading customers on charges". Which. 17 July 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  22. ^ "Financial Conduct Authority". register.fca.org.uk. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  23. ^ "St. James's Place says CEO Bellamy to step down, shares lower". Reuters. 28 February 2017. Archived from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  24. ^ "St James's Place's new boss takes the reins". City Wire. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  25. ^ "Forgery and mis-selling allegation rocks advice giant St James's Place". The Sunday Times. 21 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  26. ^ "SJP sued by ex-football stars over tax avoidance schemes". Wealth Manager. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  27. ^ "Andy Townsend among sports stars suing over tax advice". The Irish Times. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  28. ^ Dey, Paromita (30 May 2023). "UK wealth manager expands presence in the Middle East". City Wire Middle East. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
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