St James's Place Regulatory News (STJ)

St. James's Place announces its Board succession plans

The Board of St. James's Place plc (the "Company"), the wealth management group, announces that, as part of its planned succession arrangements and in advance of its AGM being held today, Sarah Bates has decided to retire as Chair and as a director of the Company. In due course, Iain Cornish, currently the Senior Independent Director, will become Chair and Roger Yates will be appointed as the Senior Independent Director. We are also in the advanced stages of a process to appoint a new independent non-executive director to the Board.

Sarah joined the Board in 2004 and became Chair in 2014. She has successfully navigated the Board through a changing environment during which the Company has experienced strong growth and has taken this decision after overseeing the successful transition of Andrew Croft to Chief Executive Officer from David Bellamy in January 2018.

The succession planning and the appointment process was undertaken by a committee of independent members of the Board, which excluded Sarah Bates and Iain Cornish. The appointments will become effective once appropriate regulatory approvals have been received, including that for the appointment of the successor to Iain Cornish as Chair of the Board Risk Committee. It is expected that this will be on the later of 5th July 2018 or when such approvals are confirmed. 

Sarah Bates, Chair, said: 

"It has been a privilege to be a director of St. James's Place for more than 13 years and Chair of the Board since 1st January 2014. Over this period, the Company has delivered remarkable success, creating value for all its stakeholders. I am confident that Iain and Andrew, the Board and the Executive team will continue to deliver value to clients, Partners, advisers, staff and shareholders and continue to evolve the business in the years ahead. I wish them all the best."

Iain Cornish, Non-executive Director, said:

"I am delighted to have been asked to chair St. James's Place and would like to thank Sarah for her tremendous contribution during her time on the Board. I very much look forward to working with the rest of Board and a first-class Executive team to deliver further success into the future."

Ends

Notes to editors:

Iain Cornish brings experience from both the financial and regulatory environments. He was a senior consultant at KPMG specialising in the banking and finance sector and then served as chief executive of the Yorkshire Building Society. Until recently he was the chair of Shawbrook Group plc and he has also been an independent director of the Prudential Regulation Authority. He continues to serve as a non-executive director of Arrow Global Group plc and Treasurer of Macmillan Cancer Support.

Enquiries: