Wealth manager St. James's Place has claimed the milestone of employing the UK's youngest Chartered Financial Planner aged just 22, as it reveals its partnership now includes more than 500 Chartered financial advisers.

The company says that at 22, adviser James Elliott is the UK's youngest ever Chartered Financial Planner following his attainment of the Level 6 Advanced Diploma.

Following a short career as a professional tennis player, where he was ranked in the top 200 in the world, Mr Elliott began a career in financial advice and joined the St. James's Place Academy's training and development programme. He started his studies in 2012 and is now one of only around 5,500 Chartered Financial Planners in the UK.

He is part of the latest round of St. James's Place representatives to achieve Chartered Financial Planner status. The wealth management group has a total of 502 Partners and advisers who meet the criteria set by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), the professional body which runs the Chartered Financial Planner qualification.

Earlier this year SJP reported that its total number of qualified advisers had risen in the past year by 7% to 3,661 making it one of the largest financial advisory businesses in the UK. SJP now has 2,415 partner businesses (2016: 2,378) and 3,661 qualified advisers (2016: 3,415).

Mr Elliott of James Elliott Wealth Management, a partner practice of St. James's Place Wealth Management, said: "While many achieve Chartered qualifications later in their career, it made absolute sense to me to reach this standard as early as possible.

"It shows professionalism and demonstrates to my clients that they are receiving the highest standards in the service I provide. Something that is particularly important as a young Financial Planner.

"I'm still early into my journey so my clients know that I have many working years left in me. I'll not only be able to help them with their Financial Planning during their working career, but also into their retirement, and possibly even assist their next generation of family members."

St. James's Place says it has developed a programme of support to help its representatives in achieving Chartered Financial Planner status and has created its own module in conjunction with the CII, available exclusively to the group's partnership and staff.

Over 560 SJP partners and advisers now hold a Chartered title awarded by one of the professional bodies, including Chartered Financial Planner, Chartered Wealth Manager and Chartered Financial Analyst - a number the group aims to increase.

Edward Grant, divisional director responsible for professional development at St. James's Place, said: "Chartered is the gold standard, and by building a thriving community of Chartered advisers, we aim to continue differentiating St. James's Place from the rest of the advice market.

"We're committed to ongoing development and it's fantastic to see the dedication of young wealth managers, such as James, towards growing their levels of knowledge, skill and capability. It's a huge achievement to become the UK's youngest Chartered Financial Planner and really does demonstrate that age does not need to be a barrier in this profession."

• Editor's Note: Story updated 16.02.18 to confirm Mr Elliott is officially the UK's youngest Chartered Financial Planner, as of this date, and that the Chartered advisers working for SJP are part of the SJP partnership.