Wealth manager St James’s Place is to cut 200 jobs from its workforce following a review of the business.

The company says it has been carrying out a strategic review for the past 12 months and identified some duplication of tasks and some unnecessary work which made a number of jobs redundant.

Staff were informed about the changes this morning with some set to be offered voluntary redundancy or, in some cases, a transfer to other roles within the company.

About 1 in 10 of the company's 2,000 staff will go.

The company has stressed that the changes have been planned for some time are not related to recent calls from activist investor Primestone for a major shake-up of the business.

It is not believed any of the 4,300 advisers or partners who trade under the SJP banner are directly affected by the job reduction.

SJP CEO Andrew Croft said cutting jobs was a “tough decision” to make but necessary to keep the company focused on its priorities.

He said in a statement today: “At the beginning of last year, we started a review of how we’re organised to deliver against our strategic priorities.  Making sure we have our investment, our resources, and our people in the right areas to drive our business forward. These priorities included the development of technology, making us easy to do business with, and changes to our investment approach through the IMA.

“We’ve continued to deliver against these initiatives throughout the pandemic.  Indeed, the technology changes have helped us to adapt successfully over the past nine months. However, the rapid pace of change has also emphasised the need for us to really push ahead with our plans.

“To remain leaders in our market it’s vital we’re an agile and dynamic business – flexing to the changing needs of the partnership and clients. Whilst in coming years we’ll continue to grow the investment in our business, we need to make focused decisions on where and how we use this resource. Making sure we have the right people focused on the right things.

“Over the coming months we’ll be simplifying where we can, removing duplication of work, and stopping those tasks we no longer require. And unfortunately, this also means a loss of around 200 roles from across the SJP business. Wherever possible in the process we’ll look to redeploy people to roles where their skills are aligned. And where this isn’t possible we’ll provide support, guidance, and people to talk to.  

“This was a very tough decision for us to make, but one that’s needed for SJP to continue to be successful in the months, years, and decades ahead.”

• Separately, SJP is to raise over £8m through a share placing to acquire a partner firm as part of a ‘succession planning’ process. The company said: “The completion by the St James’s Place Group of this acquisition is part of wider succession planning within the partner business, enabling continuity of service to clients over the short, medium and longer term, who are unaffected by this change.”