Not upheld: Investment mis-selling complaint against St. James's Place Wealth Management Plc (trading as St. James's Place)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr K complained that SJP's Online Wealth Account displayed incorrect information regarding his Venture Capital Trust investments, including initial investment values and income received, making his overall portfolio returns unreliable. SJP did not uphold the complaint, explaining that the data came directly from the external VCT provider and that fund mergers had caused the errors. The ombudsman found that SJP was dependent on the VCT provider for accurate data and had no direct control over the information presentation, and that SJP's annual statements adequately disclosed this third-party dependency. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding SJP's explanation fair and reasonable.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that SJP was dependent on external VCT providers for investment data and had no direct control over how that information was presented. The evidence showed the errors originated from the VCT provider's handling of fund mergers, not from SJP's systems. SJP's annual wealth statements adequately disclosed that non-SJP investment values came from third parties, making clear the limitation of SJP's responsibility. The ombudsman considered it fair and reasonable that SJP could rely on third-party data providers for external fund information.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website