St James’s Place Wealth Management has welcomed 32 newly-qualified advisers seeking a new career in Financial Planning.

The graduates completed St James’s Place Academy’s two-year training programme and marked the occasion with a graduation ceremony on Friday, at the Chartered Insurance Institute, London.
 
The academy provides a training programme in one of its four regional academy offices (London, Manchester, Solihull and Edinburgh) before offering graduates the chance to become wealth managers within the St. James’s Place Partnership.

There have been more than 400 graduates so far and around 250 more people are currently studying on active programmes, with further graduation ceremonies to take place later in the year.
 
Since 1992, the number of financial advisers in the UK has fallen, while demand for face-to-face financial advice has continued to increase, resulting in a shortage of quality professional advice in the market.

The St James’s Place Academy says it seeks to bridge this gap, “by producing the next generation of educated, ethical and committed wealth managers.”

Around a quarter (24%) of all people to have joined the academy programme since its inception were women and the average age of graduates was 37.
 
Jason Flood, academy director, St James’s Place, says: “We are proud that all of our graduates have embraced the rigour of our two-year training programme. 

“Their dedication and tenacity to succeed now brings a new cohort of qualified financial advisers to the market.

“As the requirement for sound financial advice increases, we can be confident of the long-lasting value brought to the sector through the academy, which continues to be an important and innovative programme bridging the skills gap evident in the UK.”