Law firm creates new division and recruits staff to handle wealth manager complaints

Law firm, Barings Law, has recruited 20 new staff in response to a surge in claims against wealth manager, St James’s Place.

St James’s Place has recently been criticised for charging customers advisory fees to provide annual reviews of their investments and allegedly not providing the service. It has reportedly hired more than 90 staff and set aside £426m to address the complaints.

Consequently, Barings Law, based in Cardinal House, Manchester, is expanding its headcount as part of a new division under its pensions and investments department.

While St James’s Place is anticipating complaints will date back to 2018, Barings Law said it is looking at cases dating back to 2013 and says it is receiving multiple enquiries daily by those potentially impacted.

Craig Cooper, Managing Director of Barings Law, said: “There is no telling just how far this is going to go.

“There could potentially be hundreds of thousands of people affected.”

The new division was created after Barings Law was inundated with enquiries and has handled more than 10,000 mis-selling claims to date.

The firm said it is exploring whether other major financial institutions engage in similar alleged overcharging practices and is prepared to handle additional cases as they emerge.

Having closely followed the Financial Conduct Authority’s review in relation to the ongoing advice charges applied and the services delivered, Mr Cooper added: “Now, more than ever, it is essential for financial institutions to be as transparent as possible in respect of fees charged for any ongoing services and to ensure that they are acting in the best interests of their clients.

“We’ve become well known for our work in respect of financial mis-selling, and due to our experience and resources, we have opened a new division which will primarily focus on St James’s Place claims.”

A spokesperson for St. James’s Place, said: “We urge any client who feels they have not historically been serviced by their adviser to contact us directly.

“Going through a claims management company or law firm will not result in getting any payment earlier.

“Moreover, these claims management companies often simply take a client’s information and pass it on to SJP to investigate whilst charging the client commission approaching 50% of any resulting redress.”