The firm, which has been present in Asia for five years, has won important regulatory clearance in Singapore to provide discretionary services.

St James’s Place Wealth Management Asia has won a capital markets licence for its Singapore subsidiary, enabling it to offer discretionary accounts.

The CMS licence has been granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to St James's Place (Singapore) Private Limited, part of UK-listed St James’s Place.

“The licence will enable us to expand our investor base and we are excited to be growing our business in Singapore, where we have evolved from serving a primarily expatriate clientele to a trusted wealth manager for all Singapore residents,” Gary Harvey, chief executive of SJP Singapore, said. 

The firm hopes that the licence will allow it to ramp up its business significantly in Singapore and the surrounding region. As of the end of June 2019, SJP Asia grew its advisor base to 150, while funds under management under the group increased to over £800 million ($879.4 million) and total funds under administration to over £1.2 billion.

Last November SJP joined Expatland Global Network in Singapore to provide wealth management advice to its clients. The Expatland Network was launched in October 2018 to help expats abroad city-by-city and it is already up and running in Sydney, Los Angeles, Auckland, London and Singapore. SJP has been present in Asia since 2014.