St James's Place planning to cut 500 jobs - report

(Sharecast News) - British wealth manager St James's Place is reportedly planning to make around 500 layoffs in the coming months. Reuters cited a source familiar with the matter as saying that the cuts, which represent nearly a sixth of the company's workforce of around 3,200 people, were being made amid intensifying competitive pressures which have led the wider industry to trim costs.

Specialist publication Citywire first reported the news.

The planned redundancies come after St James's Place's chief executive Mark FitzPatrick unveiled plans to cut £100m a year from the company's cost base by 2027, as part of a wider strategy reboot.

"Our cost reduction plans are focused on simplification and standardisation of processes within the business, but a programme of this size and scale will inevitably impact colleagues," a spokesperson for St James's Place told Reuters.

"We have now begun consulting with colleagues to share our proposal for how this might impact roles, the outcome of which will not be known until next year."