St. James’s Place (SJP) has confirmed the appointment of Caroline Waddington as the group’s new chief financial officer (CFO).

Waddington’s appointment, which remains subject regulatory approval, follows an “extensive and robust selection process”, the financial advice firm said.

She will succeed Craig Gentle, who is retiring from the business, and will join SJP in the second half of the year, at which point Gentle will step down as a director of the company but remain with the business for a short period to facilitate an orderly handover. Gentle has been with SJP since 2016, serving as CFO since January 2018.

Waddington is joining SJP from UBS where she was CFO for the group’s UK Credit Suisse entities, as well as chief operating officer for Credit Suisse International. Prior to that, she was CFO for UK and EMEA at Credit Suisse, and before that held senior finance roles at Barclays Capital, RBS and Deutsche Bank.

Chair of SJP, Paul Manduca, said: “Caroline is highly experienced and has proven financial services expertise that she has developed in her career to-date. The Board conducted an extensive and robust selection process in making this appointment and I am confident that she will prove to be a great asset to the business.”

Waddington added: “I am delighted to be joining SJP as CFO. As a strong believer in the transformative power of financial advice, I'm excited to be joining the UK’s leading financial advice business and contributing to its future success.”

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