Money manager St. James’s Place sees ‘stronger than ever’ demand, posts record qtr By Reuters

(Reuters) -British wealth manager St. James’s Place Plc reported record high funds under management and strong inflows in the first quarter on Thursday, as government stimulus and COVID-19 vaccination drives fuelled investor sentiment.

“The moderate growth in new business that we saw in the early weeks of 2021 gathered pace through the quarter as confidence improved and clients sought to commit accumulated savings to longer-term investments,” Chief Executive Officer Andrew Croft said.

SJP, which has 22 offices across the UK and premises in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Dublin, said the demand for trusted advice was “stronger than ever”, even as pandemic restrictions and economic uncertainty remain.

The company has seen higher demand for its services as more investors sought financial and retirement advice through the past few quarters of the pandemic, a turnaround from panic fund withdrawals in the initial months of the outbreak due to concerns about the economy.

FUM jumped to 135.46 billion pounds ($189.06 billion) at the end of March, surpassing the previous record of 129.3 billion pounds it touched in 2020. Net inflows were at 2.90 billion pounds, compared with 2.37 billion pounds a year earlier.

($1 = 0.7165 pounds)