St James’s Place facing humiliating exit from FTSE 100

Britain’s biggest wealth manager faces a humiliating exit from the FTSE 100 index of top companies.

Shares in St James’s Place (SJP) have fallen by almost 60 per cent in the last year amid growing concerns about its complicated fee structure and a ‘cruises and cufflinks’ culture among its army of financial advisers. 

At 477p, they are worth £2.6 billion – putting SJP at the foot of the FTSE 100 table and well below the likely cut-off for inclusion in the blue-chip index when its membership is reviewed next month. 

SJP recently set aside £426 million to cover the likely cost of compensating tens of thousands of clients for annual reviews they never received, sending the shares to record lows.

The firm recently bowed to pressure to offer better deals under consumer duty rules that oblige financial firms to focus on ‘fair value’ and ‘good outcomes’ for customers. Controversial early withdrawal charges on all new products will be scrapped in the second half of 2025.

But Mail on Sunday analysis found new pension fund customers would soon pay more – and continue to do so for up to 17 years. Former SJP board member and Baroness Morrissey said she hadn’t met anyone who could explain the firm’s fee structure ‘in a sentence’. 

Also under threat of FTSE 100 relegation are Ocado and Frasers Group. Likely replacements are builder Vistry, property firm LondonMetric and broker Hargreaves Lansdown.