St James’s Place

BelleHelen

Has anyone who has invested in St James Place in last 10 years pursued them for fees etc.

gm0

You need to be clear "why" you would pursue them. 

Them being an expensive option doesn't cut it. So are many others.  Contract freely entered into.

Not having (yet) removed exit fees (early redemption charges or other sophistry) for existing customers as well as for new.  Again.  Doesn't cut it.   Awkward conversations about this are of course ongoing for many many customers including in our family. All should apply more pressure until this anachronism goes away.

Retrospective fund performances vs alternatives in hindsight - also doesn't cut it.

But if your small firm tied agent SJP adviser has not offered and done their annual reviews since they became mandatory - then you have grounds for a complaint.  Be careful of course with your recall and evidence around emails and letters, phone calls etc.  Not providing the ongoing service according to a) the contract b) the conduct of business mandated by the FCA should not be charging the fee.  It's the FCA bit that is catching them some of them out.

Mothership SJP used a distribution model with independent small businesses who were not fully command and control in the traditional corporate sense.  This is now coming home to roost as liability for bad practice seeks a home.  It helped them grow on the way up.  A source of liabilities now.   What a shame.

FCA conduct of business sets up rules which apply to any complacent or lazy FA or IFA giving regulated advice without following the market rules on what to produce and when.  The insurers of lifetime liability for suitable advice are generally the ones applying pressure on practitioners to do it (or at least to evidence having done something like it) better.

A small but irresponsible SJP sales outfit with poor record keeping should be a good prospect for a "did not do and cannot evidence" shakedown.

Check your own records and go and see how you get on. 

Mis-selling is another topic.  But there is such a range of behaviour and evidence trails over many years - good and bad - that it is difficult to generalise about that.

dunstonh

BelleHelen said:

Has anyone who has invested in St James Place in last 10 years pursued them for fees etc.

Yes, they have.   However, some have been successful. Some haven't.  And it is not all the fees.  Just a small proportion of (about a quarter)

There are areas where it wont apply.
For example, is your plan pre-RDR (1st Jan 2013) or post RDR?  - servicing was not required on post RDR plans.
However, some pre-RDR plans that were converted post RDR do require servicing - usually ISAs/GIAs but not offshore bonds or pensions
Servicing was not required annually until 2018 onwards (where servicing was required).     It became at least annually in 2018.

So, the devil is in the detail.    You say 10 years, which would be 2014 onwards.  That would be post RDR.  However, if its not really 10 years but longer and you were guessing, then its a different scenario.