SJP

The St. James’s Place (SJP) Group was originally founded in 1991 by Sir Mark Weinberg, Mike Wilson and Lord Rothschild under the name of the J. Rothschild Assurance Group. Originally it was a life company selling products such as critical illness, income protection and personal retirement plans before shifting into the wealth management arena.

SJP has a number of different business within the SJP Wealth Management Group: SJP Wealth Management is responsible for advice provided by SJP’s partners; SJP UK plc is responsible for the administration of life assurance, pension and investment products; and SJP Investment Administration looks after the administration of Isa and unit trust products. The SJP Academy offers a career development programme for expert wealth management trainees.

In July 2017, Money Marketing reported that SJP had spent £143.3m on a platform upgrade with technology provider IFDS.

In October 2017, SJP made significant changes to its fund range: it launched a Japan fund, managed by Yoshihiko Ito of Nippon Value Investors, based in Tokyo. It also launched a global growth fund made up of the investment strategies of managers from Magellan, Edge Point, Sands Capital and Select Equity Group.

Money Marketing reported in January 2018 that SJP was approaching the £100bn mark in assets under management (AUM), driven by strong inflows to its pension business. It was also announced in January 2018 that SJP was replacing Axa Investment Management as the manager of its £3bn Balanced Managed Unit Trust.

In the 12 months to December 2017, the firm had grown its number of advisers to 3,661, an increase of 7 per cent, within its 2,415 partner businesses. The company saw net inflows of over £2.8bn in the final quarter and £9.5bn overall for 2017.

In February 2018, Money Marketing reported that a majority of reviews on job satisfaction site Glassdoor paint a positive picture of SJP, averaging 3.6 out of 5 on a site known for attracting negative comments from ex-employees. The pay of directors at SJP had increased by 20 per cent over 2017. CEO Andrew Croft also announced plans to boost adviser numbers within the SJP Academy by 250 in 2018.