St James’s Place has once again been the centre of a media storm over the weekend as a ‘forgery’ allegation emerged.

Following last week’s revelation in the Sunday Times that advisers were being rewarded with lavish incentives such as cruises, expensive watches and cufflinks, this week the paper claimed a client’s signature was ‘forged’.

Regency Financial Planning, part of SJP’s network of advisers, was accused of leaving a client with a Capital Gains Tax liability after the transfer of £66,000 from Skandia to SJP five years ago.

The firm was alleged to have wrongly told the client her previous adviser had retired, according to a FOS complaint.

The client, named Miss J in the Ombudsman documents, also claimed the adviser “forged” her signature in a “doctored” document.

The Sunday Times reported that Daniel Walton was the Regency Financial Planning involved in the allegation.

Mr Walton took on Miss J as a client after her previous advice firm, Gilruth Associates, was acquired by Regency in 2014.

According to the report, the then-19-year-old Miss J approached Gilruth Associates after inheriting around £66,000 from an aunt in 2010.

The Sunday Times quoted an SJP spokesman as saying: “We reject any suggestion that a document was forged or that a forged document was provided to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

“Any such suggestion is simply not true.”

This morning the firm told Financial Planning Today: “As you would expect we are in a review process with the firm in question.  

“We do not have permission from the client to discuss their case with third parties and, as such, could not provide any comment on the article.”