Learn about the top five CEOs in British finance
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Kellie: Top five CEOs in British finance. |
| Kellie: In the previous lesso,n we talked about the biggest companies, and now it’s time to talk about some of the people that run those companies. |
| Gina: They’re the people that make the big decisions and hopefully increase the profit margins. |
Lesson focus |
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| Kellie: First up at number 5 is Mark Carney. |
| Gina: Carney is the current Governor of the Bank of England and the 120th person to hold that position. |
| Kellie: The Bank of England doesn’t have a CEO as it isn’t a public trading company but Governor is the equivalent and most senior position. |
| Gina: That’s right. He’s also the current chairman of the G20 Financial Stability Board so he really has his finger on the pulse of the finance world. |
| Kellie: How long has he been Governor? |
| Gina: He’s only been Governer since July 2013, which is why he’s at number 5 on the list despite the Bank of England being top of our list of the most powerful companies in finance. |
| Kellie: What did he do before becoming Governor? |
| Gina: He had a long career in finance. He’s Canadian born so a lot of his experience was in Canada, such as with the Canadian division of Goldman Sachs and as Governor of the Bank of Canada. |
| Kellie: Oh, so he has experience with central banks? |
| Gina: He was with the Bank of Canada when the banking crisis in 2007/8 hit, and he is credited with helping Canada avoid the worst of the fallout. He took the decision to cut the overnight interest rate when most central banks raised it. |
| Kellie: He should be a good Governor for the Bank of England then! |
| Gina: I think so! |
| Kellie: Number 4 is Antony Jenkins, the CEO of Barclays Bank. |
| Gina: Again, he hasn’t been CEO for too long as he only took up the position in August 2013. He has experience with Barclays though as he worked there after graduating before eventually moving to Citigroup. |
| Kellie: Then he went back to Barclays? |
| Gina: Yes. At Citigroup he worked through the ranks to head the Citigroup credit division. In 2006 he returned to Barclays to head the Barclaycard credit card division. In 2009 he was promoted to chief executive of the retail and business banking group and asked to join the executive committee. |
| Kellie: And from there, to CEO in August 2013. |
| Gina: Yes. He’s inherited a company that posted a loss in 2012 of £1.04billion pounds but Barclays is still in good shape with £1,620billion in assets. |
| Kellie: Ah, so the first task will probably be to not post a loss again. |
| Gina: I would suppose so! |
| Kellie: Our number 3 is Mark Wilson. |
| Gina: We had a Canadian at number 5 and now we have a New Zealander at number 3. |
| Kellie: British finance has gone international! |
| Gina: I think it always was, but we’ll touch on that in a later lesson. Wilson began his career in his native New Zealand with the company National Mutual. After that, he was based in Asia for several years. |
| Kellie: What was he doing in Asia? |
| Gina: He was CEO of AXA South East Asia and also CEO of AXA China. While he was CEO there, he helped AXA branch out into the lucrative Asian market. |
| Kellie: He’s very well travelled! |
| Gina: I haven’t quite finished talking about his travels yet! From China he moved to Hong Kong and was CEO of the AIA group that was based there. |
| Kellie: And then it was from Hong Kong to England? |
| Gina: He was appointed to the Aviva board as CEO designate in December 2012. He took the role on 1st January 2013. He inherited a huge company with 40,800 employees and a net profit in 2012 of £3.050billion. |
| Kellie: That’s a lot of responsibility but from the history you gave us, he seems to be experienced and has a good track record. |
| Gina: That’s why Aviva appointed him! |
| Kellie: Number 2 is the only woman on our list, Ana Botin. |
| Gina: So after a Canadian and a New Zealander, we now have someone from Spain, but that’s to be expected. |
| Kellie: Hm? To be expected? |
| Gina: She is the CEO of the UK division of Santander Group, and Santander is a Spanish company. |
| Kellie: Oh right. Santander is a city in Spain too, isn’t it? |
| Gina: That’s right. Botin is the daughter of the Executive Chairman of the Santander Group. She studied Economics at Bryn Mawr College in the US and also attended Harvard Business School. |
| Kellie: Someone else who is well travelled! |
| Gina: Yeah! While she was in the US she worked for JP Morgan for seven years. When she returned to Spain in 1998 she began working for Santander Group, becoming CEO of the UK division in November 2010. She’s also a director at the Coca-Cola Company. |
| Kellie: I wonder if she knows the secret recipe? |
| Gina: I’m sure she wouldn’t tell you, even if she did! She was ranked as the 45th most powerful woman in the world in 2009 by Forbes magazine and also the 3rd most powerful woman in the UK by Radio 4. |
| Kellie: As CEO of a big company like Santander UK she would be very influential. |
| Gina: I think so. She has big plans for Santander in the UK as she wants to double the number of regional banking centres and also improve customer service. |
| Kellie: Customer service is very important. Our number 1 is Douglas Flint from HSBC Holdings. |
| Gina: He graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in accounting. As well as his role with HSBC, he is also a member of many professional bodies, such as being the Chairman of the Board at the Institute of International Finance. |
| Kellie: He must be very busy! And know a lot about finance if he has so many roles. |
| Gina: He’s in demand! He started his career with KPMG and became a partner in 1988. He became Group Finance Director of HSBC in 1995. |
| Kellie: He’s been involved with HSBC for a long time. |
| Gina: Yeah, and he became CEO in September 2010. He was awarded a CBE for recognition of his services to the finance industry in 2006. |
| Kellie: So even before he became CEO? Wow. That’s all for this lesson! |
Outro |
| Gina: See you next time! |
| Kellie: Thanks for listening, bye! |
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