St James's Place has announced a new senior independent director.

Simon Fraser was officially appointed to the role on July 16 and became a member of the group nomination and governance committee on the same date.

Founded in 1991, St James's Place is the UK's largest wealth manager and is headquartered in Cirencester.

It is one of Gloucestershire's most prominent employers with 1,142 staff and a glossy glass office in Tetbury Road. It came in eighth place in the most recent Puchline's top 100 biggest employers list.

It oversees over £79billion funds under management for its large client base and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1997.

Last month it was relegated from the FTSE 100 index following a fall in shares and net inflows.

Simon succeeds John Hitchens who had been acting as the interim senior independent director.

He started his career as a stockbroker from 1986-1992, working for Barclays de Zoete Wedd, from which he went on to set up an institutional stockbroking business Gerrard Vivian Gray.

In February 1997, Simon joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he remained for the rest of his executive career.

From 2004 until his retirement in 2011, Simon was managing director and co-head of corporate broking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He stepped down in 2011 to develop a non-executive portfolio.

Simon has previously been a senior independent director and chair of the nomination committee at Derwent London plc, senior independent director and chair of the remuneration committee at Lancashire Holdings Ltd and most recently a non-executive director at Legal & General Investment Management Ltd until March 2024.

He is currently a non-executive director and chair of the remuneration committee for SEGRO plc.