More than a quarter of St James’s Place’s (SJP) funds delivered “insufficient valve”, according to the firm's latest value assessment statement.
The annual value assessment statement - which evaluates how each of its 45 funds has performed - found seven of SJP's funds delivered value, 20 broadly delivered value while 13 were deemed to deliver insufficient value.
It was too early to assess the remaining five which were launched in the 12 months to March 2023 and includes the Polaris range which had £4.6bn of assets under management as of 31 March 2023.
The new report rates the funds according to seven areas set out by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which are: quality of service, performance, fund charges, economies of scale, competitive market rates, comparable SJP services and classes of units.
Since the last assessment in March 2022 SJP has made a number of changes to its funds.
This included merging four to create a UK Equity Income fund, adding J.P. Morgan to the manager line-up, moving the Emerging Market Equity fund from a single to multi-manager strategy and changing the manager line-up for the Global Growth fund.
Tom Beal, director of investments at SJP, said: “This year’s value assessment statement reflects a change in our methodology as we build on our principle to improve clients’ understanding of their investments with the benefit of greater transparency.
“When you invest with SJP, there is a single ongoing charge that includes the cost of investment, but also all the other services you receive from us, as well as the cost of advice.”
Although he acknowledged that 2022 was a tough year for investors, adding: “We recognise that the journey is not always smooth when investing in financial markets, especially when it is challenging. 2022 was a difficult year for investors as the majority of asset classes posted negative returns.”
Last week, SJP announced it would cap annual management charges on bond and pension investments for clients who have been invested for more than 10 years, in response to the consumer duty.
The company said: “This is a financially material change which benefits longstanding clients. Beyond this there are numerous other changes which, whilst less material to the financial results, improve the group’s ability to consistently deliver good client outcomes.”
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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