St James’s Place has become the latest under fire firm to be accused of a macho culture with several former employees revealing staff attended strip clubs on corporate outings.
The whistleblower has also told the Financial Conduct Authority that SJP used confidential data from Aviva to target potential clients, The Sunday Times has reported.
The woman, 36, was a regulated financial adviser for SJP from December 2018 to September 2019. She worked for one of the firm’s self-employed advisers having gone through the SJP Next Generation Academy.
The woman said she found corporate events “sleazy” and that colleagues would go to lap-dancing clubs.
“They said, ‘You’re going to do really well,’ and, ‘You’re a bit of a pocket rocket,’” she told the newspaper. Her married boss is accused of asking her out for a drink one evening at 11pm and set her password to the SJP computer system as “ilovemyboss”.
Two other sources who were previously employed at SJP also reported staff made frequent trips to strip clubs. Both left the firm around five years ago. Advisers regularly brought escorts to corporate dinners and on the wealth manager’s notorious cruises.
SJP said it takes allegations around sexism or harassment in the workplace “extremely seriously” and would investigate any such allegations thoroughly. It said the other allegations do not reflect its values or culture and that it has policies in place on what constitutes good conduct and behaviour.
It is not the only under-fire firm to face charges of a sexist corporate culture.
Woodford Investment Management has been accused of having a macho environment where “smutty jokes were rife”. One senior investment team member there was reportedly fond of saying: “If trading was easy, birds would do it”.
SJP denies data breaches
The whistleblower is also providing documentary evidence for the FCA that shows her former boss used confidential client data from Aviva, his former employer, to target potential clients for SJP.
She did not feel supported when she raised concerns over the inappropriate behaviour and potential malpractice with SJP, The Sunday Times reported. She was dismissed from the firm after confronting her boss about concerns over data protection breaches.
A separate source said colleagues frequently recruited from banks or insurance firms using their previous employer’s files, which SJP has “categorically rejected”.
The company said the whistleblower had raised concerns after she left the firm and outside the whistleblowing process.
Aviva said it was unable to comment on the specifics of the incident due to a lack of details but said it had robust controls and technical measures in place to protect data.
