St. James’s Place has said work to review its ongoing advice charges is “progressing as planned”.
It gave the update in its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2024, which were published today (30 January).
In February last year, the FCA wrote to 20 of the UK’s biggest advice firms requesting information about their delivery of ongoing services to clients.
In the same month, the wealth manager said it needed to set aside £426m in case it had to refund clients for an ongoing service that has not been evidenced.
This followed a “marked increase” in clients registering complaints in late 2023.
The announcement hit the company’s share price, which plunged to its lowest level in 11 years and caused it to temporarily drop out of the FTSE 100.
SJP also said work to change its fee structures “remains on track for delivery” by the second half of 2025.
Despite a rocky year for the firm, its results show a strong final quarter for SJP.
It attracted £5.5bn of new client investments to the business, bringing annual gross inflows to £18.4bn, up 20% compared to 2023.
Annual retention of client investments stayed high, with an improvement in net inflows to £1.5bn for the final quarter.
This brought the total to £4.3bn for the year.
Another year of net inflows drove funds under management (FUM) to a record £190.2bn at 31 December 2024.
SJP chief executive officer Mark FitzPatrick said: “Client engagement levels were high throughout the quarter as our advisers provided support, reassurance and invaluable advice that helped clients navigate the uncertainty and safeguard their long-term financial futures.
“SJP has had a successful year. We have increased our client and adviser numbers, sustained net inflows and achieved record FUM.
“Looking forward, we see a growing need for trusted financial advice, and I am confident in our ability to capture this and deliver great outcomes for clients and all our stakeholders.”
No mention of how many advisers have been terminated as a result of the ongoing service review.
The FCA register shows that over the past 12 months about 360 AR firms and introducers have severed their ties with SJP, though the reasons why aren’t shown.
But notwithstanding it would seem that their AUM keeps growing – I wonder how that is possible?? Are there so many mugs?
All the new inflows must be from “mugs”? And the “clever marketing”? Surely not that maybe they are doing some things right to help people.