Another advice firm has chosen to leave St. James’s Place. SRB Financial Planning, a business responsible for approximately £250 million of client assets, has joined Quilter Financial Planning after reviewing its future strategic options. The firm said it selected Quilter for its greater investment flexibility, technology, operational support and broader platform. The move adds to a growing number of adviser firms reassessing their long-term partnerships as the UK wealth management market continues to evolve, raising wider questions about how advice businesses are positioning themselves for the future.
This is another indication that adviser movement away from St. James’s Place is continuing, and that Quilter is one of the main beneficiaries.
The key facts are:
- SRB Financial Planning has approximately £250 million of assets under advice.
- The Scottish family-run business, led by Steve Brough, has left the SJP network and become a Strategic Partner Firm within Quilter Financial Planning.
- SRB says it carried out a comprehensive review of potential partners before selecting Quilter, citing:
- greater investment flexibility,
- stronger technology,
- operational support,
- a broader platform,
- and a brand that complements its own client-focused approach. (international-adviser.com)
This isn’t an isolated event.
The move comes against the backdrop of a much broader reshaping of the UK advice market. SJP has been dealing with:
- changes to its charging model,
- regulatory scrutiny,
- adviser dissatisfaction,
- restructuring,
- UBS expecting AI to affect new business flows,
- and increasing competition for experienced adviser firms.
On the same day, reports also emerged that Sovereign Wealth, one of SJP’s largest partner businesses with around £3 billion of assets and more than 50 advisers, is preparing to leave SJP for Swedish-backed wealth group Söderberg & Partners. If completed, that would represent one of the biggest departures in SJP’s history. (Financial News London)
From an Academy of Life Planning perspective, I think the more interesting story is not simply “firms are leaving SJP.”
The deeper structural question is:
Why are so many firms reassessing their distribution model at exactly the moment AI is reducing information asymmetry?
Historically, joining a vertically integrated network like SJP provided advisers with investment solutions, administration, technology and brand credibility. Increasingly, firms appear to believe they can obtain those benefits elsewhere while retaining greater independence and product freedom.
That aligns with the broader shift we’ve been describing:
- AI reduces dependence on proprietary information.
- Advisers seek greater autonomy over how they serve clients.
- Clients themselves become more capable of understanding products and challenging recommendations.
- The competitive advantage moves away from controlling distribution and towards delivering genuine judgement, trust and value.
So while the headlines focus on adviser recruitment, the underlying trend may be the gradual weakening of tightly controlled advice ecosystems as both advisers and consumers gain more capability.
Given the number of SJP-related developments over the past few weeks—including UBS’s AI disruption modelling, adviser departures, and this latest move—we now have a substantial body of evidence supporting the Academy’s broader thesis that the industry is moving from an era of information advantage to one of restored human agency.
Academy of Life Planning 