As we have a large number of active Financial Adviser and Pension claims against St James’s Place we recently received the below update in relation to the new St James’s Place fee structure.
As most people reading this don’t work in the industry here is some background.
SJP are not independent financial advisers. The people who work for SJP only sell SJP products and services.
SJP have enjoyed huge success recruiting and training advisers to work under the banner.
Advisers of SJP have always been content to stay at SJP as their marketing made the product a relatively easy sell.
In reality SJP have for a long time been able to do things other Financial Advisers couldn’t such as charging 5 year redemption penalties on their pensions, to lock clients in and be able to advance fees (Pay up front commission to their advisers).
Many SJP funds have been in the bottom 25% in terms of fund performance consistently for a number of years, add into that their charges are also significantly higher than other financial advisers means that clients who transferred pensions in to SJP from other schemes can now be tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds worse off!
This year SJP announced they had put 430 million pounds aside to pay back clients who have been paying for annual fees but have not been getting annual review. However, this goes no way towards addressing the true losses that many clients will have suffered as a result of moving existing pensions, investments or ISA’s to SJP.
Now SJP are on a complete revamp of their products and services. The new proposed fee structure is part of that mission however many would argue it’s a reaction to their current predicament and not a genuine interest in creating positive client outcomes.
Our assesment (in the article below) gives our view on the wider reaching implications.
As regulated solicitors, it isn’t our job to pass judgment but simply to make sure that any client or former client of SJP, particularly those who were convinced to transfer into SJP from existing Pensions, Investments or ISAs, carry out a review and find out how much money they could actually be due.
Not all SJP clients have lost money and some SJP advisers provide fantastic service. We simply want to find out if you have lost money and if so, help you pursue a claim through the financial ombudsman or by issuing legal proceedings if necessary to put you back to the position you would have been in had you not been advised by SJP.
You can start your claim online today or for more information, why not book an appointment with on of our SJP experts.
Read – St. James’s Place (SJP) Unveils First Look at New Fee Structure for Financial Advice
