By Yamini Kalia
(Reuters) -St James’s Place on Thursday joined other asset managers in flagging investor uncertainty ahead of the UK budget later this month, after reporting a bigger than expected increase in funds under management in the third quarter.
CEO Mark FitzPatrick said that speculation around the new Labour government’s maiden budget on Oct. 30 had compounded investor uncertainty.
He joined a growing list of executives highlighting that investor confidence, which was on a recovery path in the last quarter, has taken a step back amid concerns over expected changes to taxes and pension funds in Finance Minister Rachel Reeves’ budget.
“The macroeconomic environment has improved since the beginning of the year, but there continues to be uncertainty in the outlook for consumers, savers and investors,” FitzPatrick said in a statement.
SJP reported 184.40 billion pounds ($239.63 billion) of funds under management at end-September, as more clients turned to the wealth manager’s advisers to help with their pensions and finances. Analysts had expected 183.9 billion pounds.
AJ Bell, a fund manager with significant exposure to pension funds, which reported year-end figures on Thursday, said assets under administration were higher for the year ended September.
AJ Bell CEO Michael Summersgill said there had been a noticeable change in customer contributions to pensions and tax-free cash withdrawals ahead of the budget.
“Whilst these behavioural changes do not have a material impact on AJ Bell’s business performance, they represent significant decisions for individual customers,” Summersgill said.
On Wednesday, Quilter CEO also flagged investor concerns, saying the market is expecting a tough budget, but the ambiguity about where the pain is going to be felt has left clients unsure of their next moves.
Rathbones, which also reported on Thursday, said the budget’s potential tax changes had created opportunities for the wealth manager to engage with clients.
($1 = 0.7695 pounds)
(Reporting by Shanima A and Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Writing by Yadarisa Shabong; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Rashmi Aich and Jane Merriman)
