Wealth manager St James’s Place has boosted its partnership numbers with 155 newly-qualified financial advisers and 74 new Paraplanners - 229 in total. 

The new recruits have all graduated from the St James’s Place Academy.

So far 801 people have graduated from the academy from a wide range of backgrounds including professional athletics, teaching and female career returners.

Many have gone on to become Chartered Financial Planners and the company recently announced its 1,000th Chartered Financial Planner. Molly O’Donnell, aged 26, was the latest to achieve a CII Level 6 Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning.

Three graduation ceremonies for the 229 new graduates were recently held in Edinburgh, Manchester and London after the new recruits completed their training.

The three graduation ceremonies celebrated this year’s graduates and those that graduated in 2020, many of whom completed the course remotely as a result of the pandemic. 

SJP says the academy trains candidates in all aspects of financial advice, providing support for future Partners of St James’s Place to start and build their own wealth management practice. 

The company says at the end of the training programme graduates can choose to run their own business under the umbrella of St James’s Place or work within existing partner practices. 

Andy Payne, head of academy, St. James’s Place, said: “Seeing the talent we’ve had come through our programme gives me a lot of excitement and hope for the future. I look forward to welcoming the next wave of Academy members in 2022.”

The academy’s recently added Virtual Reality technology to allow trainees to roll-play client meetings, practicing elements such as fact-finding and rapport building.

Mr Payne added: “One of the most important steps going forward with the academy is that it’s for all - all genders, races and backgrounds. I believe that our new ‘location-less’ academy and will result in a much more inclusive environment for recruits and, ultimately, lead to better outcomes for SJP clients.”

St. James’s Place Wealth Management was founded in 1991 and has more than 4,000 partners. The company has over £148 billion in funds under management. 

The St. James’s Place Academy was established in 2007.