Advisers win holidays if you part with more cash

ONE of the country’s largest wealth management firms is rewarding staff with luxury holidays to Monte Carlo and Venice.

The most successful advisers at St James’s Place are treated to everything from Asprey cufflinks to trips to the ski resort St Moritz, it has been claimed.

They are also invited to dinners with celebrity guests who have included Joanna Lumley and Bill Clinton.

At their latest annual meeting, former Chancellor George Osborne was given £40,000 to make a speech. According to reports, the firm runs a ‘Nectar-points style’ system where staff are rewarded for every £1 of people’s money invested.

Experts fear commission-style arrangements are risky because it might encourage behaviour from advisers that isn’t in the best interests of their customers.

However, St James’s Place says its arrange- ments do not encourage risky behaviour. A document called How Partners Get Paid, leaked to The Sunday Times, warns that advisers’ income and ‘standard of living’ will drop if they struggle to get clients to part with more money.

The company did not dispute the contents of the documents when Money Mail asked for clarification.

A spokesman for St James’s Place insisted the rewards were not a commission on investments, saying: ‘Like all successful business we recognise and reward good performance — good in this context includes all aspects of client engagement, serving them well and delivering their individual outcomes. The latest client survey showed 99 pc of clients who responded believe SJP offers reasonable, good or excellent value for money.’

Since 2013, financial advisers have been banned from collecting commission on the sales they make.