Some interesting developments at SJP. Minority shareholder PrimeStone Capital has called on the firm to conduct an in-depth probe into its ‘high-cost culture’.
In a letter to the SJP board, PrimeStone said it was ‘pleased to hear’ SJP had pledged to take steps to deliver value to shareholders, including optimising its operating leverage via a new back-office platform and reviewing its organisational design and operating model.
It sounds like fundamental change could be in the offing, but will that please advisers and their clients as well as the private equity backers?
Wonder if the firm will move its HQ out of St James’s?
Liontrust has merged funds and slashed charges after finding 20 per cent of its funds were not offering value to investors.
In its first value assessment, the asset manager found that eight of its 41 funds were not offering overall value to investors while giving six of them an amber alert.
Actions such at this may well vindicate some of the FCA’s work on asset management and value which have been criticised in some quarters (including by this reviewer) for being too wishy washy.
The Worklife platform adds protection to its employee benefits platform.
Lorraine Mouat, associate director at compliance consultancy TCC, asks what does the FCA mean by a purposeful culture?
To quote: “Firms tend to communicate ‘what’ they are trying to achieve but don’t often talk about ‘why’ – the purpose and the values behind what they are doing. But given the regulator’s unrelenting focus on cultural transformation, scrutiny on how you create a purposeful culture and how it manifests will only increase.”
James Hay head of technical support Neil MacGillivray warns that, if the key proposals for reform of CGT are adopted, current CGT planning opportunities may be lost, particularly for owner managed businesses.
