Sarah Bates stepping down as St. James's Place chair

Wealth management group St. James's Place announced on Wednesday that, as part of its planned succession arrangements, Sarah Bates had decided to retire as chair and as a director of the company.

The FTSE 100 firm said Iain Cornish, currently the senior independent director, would become chair, and Roger Yates would be appointed as the senior independent director.

It said it was also in the advanced stages of a process to appoint a new independent non-executive director to the board.

Bates joined the board in 2004 and became chair in 2014.

She had successfully navigated the board through a changing environment during which the company said it experienced “strong growth”, and had taken this decision after overseeing the successful transition of Andrew Croft to chief executive officer from David Bellamy in January.

The succession planning and the appointment process was undertaken by a committee of independent members of the board, which excluded Sarah Bates and Iain Cornish.

The appointments would become effective once appropriate regulatory approvals have been received, including that for the appointment of the successor to Iain Cornish as chair of the board risk committee.

It was expected that would be on the later of 5 July, or when such approvals were confirmed.

“It has been a privilege to be a director of St. James's Place for more than 13 years and chair of the board since 1 January 2014,” said Sarah Bates.

“Over this period, the company has delivered remarkable success, creating value for all its stakeholders.

“I am confident that Iain and Andrew, the board and the executive team will continue to deliver value to clients, partners, advisers, staff and shareholders and continue to evolve the business in the years ahead.”

Iain Cornish, non-executive Director, said he was “delighted” to have been asked to chair St. James's Place, thanking Bates for her “tremendous contribution” during her time on the board.

“I very much look forward to working with the rest of board and a first-class executive team to deliver further success into the future.”