By Lars Mucklejohn
The board of wealth manager St James’s Place has cancelled a £456,700 bonus meant for its former chief executive for 2023 after his final few months in the role saw the FTSE 100 firm embroiled in controversy.
Andrew Croft had been in line for an annual bonus worth 81 per cent of his £563,862 base salary, but the company’s remuneration committee axed the payout, according to its latest annual report.
The committee cited “the significant overarching responsibility for company performance that goes with the chief executive officer role”. The Times first reported the story.
Share awards worth up to around £450,000 that were granted to Croft in 2021 and subject to three-year performance targets, also failed to pay out after St James’s Place missed the scheme’s criteria.
The news comes after St James’s Place, Britain’s biggest wealth manager, has recently experienced a major hit to its future profitability due to excessive fees.
After regulatory pressure forced the Cirencester-based company to overhaul its fee structure in July and October, shares in the company plunged, falling 38 per cent over the past year.
Mark FitzPatrick succeeded Croft in December. However, his tenure was quickly marked by another share drop.
In February, investors were shocked when the firm reported a post-tax loss and cut its dividend after setting aside £426m to pay out refunds to customers after a slew of historic complaints.
In total, Croft’s pay package came in at £695,545 for the 11 months to when he stood down at the end of November, compared with the £3.1m he earned for 2022.
Finance chief Craig Gentle, who is still in post, was also in line for an annual bonus worth 81 per cent of his salary that was reduced to 39 per cent, resulting in a £173,632 payout.
Croft joined St James’s Place in 1993 and became its CEO in 2018.
