St James’s Place to overhaul fee structure

Wealth manager and adviser St James’s Place (STJ) has unveiled plans to change its fee structure, following reports that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was pushing for an overhaul. 

From the second half of 2025, the manager will scrap its exit fees on the “vast majority” of new investment bonds and pensions. It will also “rebalance” its fee structure, resulting in reduced overall ongoing charges for existing clients.

Fees will also be disclosed in a more transparent way, separating them into components such as advice, investment management and product administration, rather than being provided on an “all-inclusive” basis. 

SJP is known for the high cost of its services and strong customer retention. Last week, the company's share price tumbled after the Financial Times reported that the FCA was pushing for more action from SJP following the rollout of the new Consumer Duty requirements. This new set of regulations requires financial firms to put consumers’ interests first. In today’s announcement, the manager said that the changes “have naturally involved engagement with our key regulators”.

SJP had already brought in changes this year in response to the new rules, which alongside the announcement of weaker inflows in the first half, drove a share price drop in July. It said the changes and associated results would reduce the company’s underlying cash over the next few years, “before growth accelerates over the medium term and beyond”. Shares were slightly up this morning following the announcement, but are still down 38 per cent in the year to date. 

This morning the firm also reported its Q3 inflows. At £0.91bn, net inflows were down 58 per cent on the same period last year (£2.19bn). Chief executive Andrew Croft recognised that “client capacity and confidence to commit to long-term investment continues to be impacted by an environment characterised by higher interest rates, stubbornly high inflation and short-term alternatives in the form of cash”.