St James’s Place (SJP) added a net £2.4bn to its funds under management in the final quarter of 2019, despite criticism over the perks handed out to its advisers.
Total funds under management climbed 22% to hit a new high of £117bn in 2019, a year in which the wealth manager was blasted for its adviser rewards scheme and pulled £3.5bn in segregated mandates from stricken manager Neil Woodford.
SJP saw £9bn of net inflows throughout the year, representing 9% of opening funds under management. This was down slightly from £10.3bn net inflows recorded in 2018.
Net flows during Q4 of £2.4bn were also slightly down from the £2.6bn in the same quarter of 2018.
It said funds under management in its DFM business, Rowan Dartington, closed the year at £2.89bn, following gross inflows of £560m and outflows of £150m.
SJP said not included within group funds under management is a further £417m in third party funds within its Asia business.
The firm boosted the number of qualified advisers on its books to 4,271 in Q4 2019, up from 3,954 in the same quarter in 2018.
SJP chief executive Andrew Croft (pictured) described the results as “robust” against a backdrop of continued macro-economic and political uncertainty for much of the final quarter.
He said: “Our advisers continued to work hard in supporting clients through a difficult environment, resulting in strong retention of client investments throughout the year and again demonstrating the resilience of our business. This contributed to net inflows of £2.44bn in the final quarter and £8.99bn for the 12 months, equivalent to some 9% of opening funds under management.
“When combined with the impact of positive investment returns, this resulted in closing funds under management of a record £117bn, up 22% since the beginning of the year.”
