St James’s Place ditches glitzy get-togethers in bid to improve image

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The UK’s biggest wealth manager St James’s Place is abandoning its ritzy annual staff gatherings in London as well as a spring sports break at the luxury Gleneagles hotel in Scotland as it seeks to repair its corporate image.

SJP will hold its annual company meeting virtually instead of at the O2 arena in January, according to people familiar with its plans.

The London get-togethers, organised for staff and SJP’s 5,000 self-employed financial advisers, became a symbol of the company’s opulent sales-driven corporate culture.

Top-performing advisers would be paraded onstage to huge cheers from their colleagues. Guest speakers included global stars such as Bill Clinton and David Beckham and there was a glitzy dinner in the evening. One person who previously attended called it a “lavish” event.

Although the London meeting has been toned down since 2020, and perks such as cruises to reward top-selling advisers have been axed, a person close to the process said stopping the events altogether would help repair SJP’s reputation, which had become tainted with a perception of excessive rewards for aggressive sales tactics.

The person added that managers were drawing up plans to give advisers opportunities to meet at alternative events such as smaller local dinners across the country.

SJP said: “We have been evolving how we engage with the [financial adviser] Partnership over several years as part of our continuous efforts to update and improve how we do business.

“As part of that evolution, our Annual Company Meeting will take on a new format in 2025. The focus will be on smaller gatherings that allow us to come together as a community to collaborate, recognise outstanding achievements and learn together.”

 SJP has more than £184bn in assets under management and has just re-entered the FTSE 100 after a turbulent period.

It has been under scrutiny for its charging structure for a number of years. According to critics both inside and outside the company, its fees were both opaque and expensive. It announced last year that it would overhaul its charges and drop exit fees on certain products from the middle of next year.

It has also set aside £426mn for potential customer compensation related to historic problems with record keeping. For many customers, there is no evidence they received the regular advice they had been paying for.

Chief executive Mark FitzPatrick, who joined the company last year from insurer Prudential, is attempting to cut costs, improve SJP’s image and increase profitability, hoping to double underlying cash profit by 2030.

FitzPatrick said in July that he was aiming to cut £100mn of expenses a year from the business by 2027 and wanted to make cumulative savings of about £500mn by 2030, half of which would be reinvested in the company.

Earlier this month, the company told its 3,200 employees that it would cut 500 jobs, launching a consultation process to determine which roles will go. Because they are self-employed, financial advisers will not be affected.