On December 31st 2012, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) – now the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – introduced ‘adviser charging’ to abolish anti-competitive commission rates.
The aim of this change was for clients to pay for the advice they received, rather than the products their advisers recommended. These charges are deducted annually from clients’ investment pots to pay for the advice provided.
In early 2024, wealth management company, St James’s Place (SJP), announced that it was ring-fencing £426 million to cover expected client complaints relating to hidden adviser fees, among other complaints.
It is claimed that SJP clients paid for an ‘all-inclusive’ fee package without being informed of the individual components the package would cover, including a 0.5% annual adviser charge. This means that for an SJP client with a £500,000 pot with the firm, they would be looking at an annual charge of £2,500.
If you have held investments with St James’s Place and have paid the 0.5% annual charge for ongoing advice and reviews that you have not received, you may be eligible for compensation.