Savings slump hurts St James's

THE rich are shunning stock market-linked savings products, sending sales at St James's Place Capital slumping by one-fifth in the first quarter of 2003. The wealth manager reported a 20% fall in underlying sales of pension and investment products to £31.5m, including a 27% slide in unit trust sales. Chief executive Mike Wilson claimed the drop compared with first-quarter declines of 26% at Aviva and 32% at Prudential on equivalent products.