19 Jan Number of New Advisers Joining SJP Increases

The number of new advisers who are joining St James's Place (SJP), who are an upmarket salesforce team, has increased by more than 6% during the course of 2011. The Lloyds-owned group's number of partners grew to 1,649, with another announcement claiming that 80% of these partners had managed to achieve their QCF level four diploma. This should help them immensely when the retail distribution review regulations are brought into place. The company also claimed that a further 11% of advisers were within a couple of exams of gaining the qualification. SJP chief executive David Bellamy commented "Over 50%, the majority of our recruitment, comes from the IFA sector. A lot of IFAs have joined us in the last two years. They have seen the investment proposition and any fears they had about us being restricted or tied are gradually being blown away. "Come the new world restricted will be a space occupied by a lot of people when hitherto they would have been independent."