London, Feb 12, 2026, 08:50 GMT — Regular session
- The stock is clawing back some ground, up roughly 2.6%, after tumbling 13.4% the previous day.
- Fresh concern over AI tools undercutting advice fees fueled the selloff.
- Attention shifts to the Feb. 25 full-year numbers and net inflows.
St. James’s Place Plc jumped 2.6% to 1,287 pence shortly after the open in London on Thursday, recouping part of Wednesday’s steep slide.
This bounce carries weight. Wednesday’s slide wasn’t triggered by a missed estimate or fresh guidance. What rattled investors was something larger in scope: the market probing if these new “AI-first” tools might start to automate slices of financial advice and tax work—core revenue streams for wealth managers. Reuters
St. James’s Place tumbled 13.4% to 1,255 pence on Wednesday — its sharpest one-day slump in months — as Altruist, a U.S. wealth management upstart, unveiled AI-powered tax-planning tools that rattled nerves across the sector.
Peers took a hit as well. Quilter sank, Rathbones slipped, and the ripple reached European names—Amundi, DWS, and Schroders all lost ground after a U.S. broker rout the previous day set things off.
RBC analysts say this could revive the old ‘man vs machine’ argument in financial advice. They pointed out the Altruist product seems aimed at supporting advisers, not pushing them out. But UBS’s Gerry Fowler, who leads European equity strategy and global derivatives strategy, warned that service providers vulnerable to large language models might be facing “real trouble.” Reuters
Beyond what the broker notes show, comments have grown sharper. “Fresh casualties from AI advances are falling on the investment landscape,” Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, told The Guardian.
The FTSE 100 notched a new record high, but beneath that gloss, selling pressure made itself felt. Wealth managers trailed, while housebuilders and energy names did the heavy lifting for the index.
St. James’s Place brands itself as an advice-driven wealth manager, relying on its adviser network and selling everything from pensions and ISAs to discretionary fund management. That setup puts the firm squarely in the crosshairs of “automation” talk, justified or not. Reuters
The market’s AI story? Still patchy. Sure, fresh tech might boost adviser output, but hurdles remain: regulation, liability risk, and how clients actually respond. For investors, it’s anyone’s guess when — or if — price pressure will actually hit UK platforms and advice firms.
Right now, traders are eyeing whether this sector shakiness turns into a wider markdown for fee-based financials—or just fizzles out, as recent tech-driven jitters did. There’s also interest in any ripple effects hitting listed brokers and trading platforms, the segment where the U.S. move first took hold.
St. James’s Place is set to report final results on Feb. 25. Investors are likely to focus on net inflows, watch for signs of cost control, and parse management’s comments about technology investments and client retention.
