St James’s Place non-executive director Helena Morrissey has knocked the wealth manager’s charges for not being transparent enough and admits she would have difficulty explaining them as is.
Morrissey challenged the wealth manager’s charging structure in an interview with the Telegraph, where she also ruminated on the firm’s divisive “cruise and cufflinks” perks system and how it can attract more female talent to the business.
She joined the wealth manager from Legal & General Investment Management as a non-executive director at the start of 2020.
SJP’s charges have been a hot button topic with critics accusing the firm of having unnecessarily high and opaque fees. In the face of this criticism, the wealth manager has continued to defend its fee structure, pointing to its high client satisfaction rate.
Charges are too complex
But Morrissey told the Telegraph she would struggle to explain the firm’s charging structure as is.
“I have not met anybody yet who can completely clearly articulate how it works in a sentence,” she told the paper.
“I would like to satisfy myself that fund charges are transparent and fair, but I do not believe they are transparent because otherwise I would be able to explain them to you very quickly.”
But she added that oversimplifying fees could result in clients being overcharged.
Sales perks system not great optics
Morrissey also touched on the “bad optics” of SJP’s sales perks system which was brought to light via a Sunday Times investigation and sparked a media backlash.
Advisers who met aggressive sales targets were showered with expensive gifts, ranging from Montblanc pens and Mulberry bags to all-expenses-paid holidays which were disguised as the company’s annual week-long overseas conferences, on top of their already generous salaries.
The flurry of negative press attention prompted SJP to scrap last year’s planned excursion around the Greek islands 10 days before advisers were due to set sail and review its business practices and sales perks.
“In some cases, a cruise might not cost as much as paying someone a huge bonus, but the optics look really bad,” Morrissey admitted.
Willingness to change
But she said SJP management seemed game to change up the company culture.
“I would not want to be somewhere that is only interested in the status quo,” she said. “Everyone seems to be up for a shaking of the trees, as it were, which is good as I have never known a company where everybody is thrilled all of the time.”
Helping more women get into financial advice is one of the things Morrissey would like to see more of at SJP. She also thinks the wealth manager can do more to promote ESG investing.
SJP has previously been accused of fostering a macho, sexist culture with former employees alleging harassment and “sleazy” corporate outings to strip clubs.
Morrissey has long been a champion of diversity in financial services. She founded the 30% Club in 2010 in a bid to get FTSE 100 companies to hire more women for their executive teams and is chair of the Diversity Project.
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