Mark Kleinman: Aviva’s missed deadline ensures brickbats Viva Aviva? For such a stalwart of blue-chip boardrooms, Sir Adrian Montague suddenly can’t put a foot right. Four years after taking over the chairmanship of Aviva when John McFarlane scuttled off to Barclays, he’s ended up in a rather large pickle of his own making. Sacking Mark Wilson as the insurer’s chief executive last [...]
HSBC chair Mark Tucker set to head up influential City lobbyists TheCityUK The chairman of HSBC Holdings has emerged as the frontrunner to head the board at one of the City’s main lobby groups replacing fellow banker John McFarlane. Mark Tucker is set to be announced for the role at TheCityUK in the coming days as outgoing Barclays chairman McFarlane steps down in the spring, Sky News [...]
Kleinman: Beat Barxit? Jes he can – for now Come again? The fawning of business leaders who dialled into a conference call with the chancellor and business secretary after Theresa May’s Brexit deal announcement on Tuesday was stunning in its obsequiousness. Particularly odd was Sir Gerry Grimstone who – sitting alongside fellow Barclays board members John McFarlane and Sir Ian Cheshire – took it [...]
The City wants to cheer May over the line November 14, 2018 The Outline Political Declaration on the Future Relationship was published alongside the legalistic 585-page Draft Withdrawal Agreement and while everyone picks over the latter, the former has put a modest spring in the step of City groups. In the Political Declaration, a mere seven pages, the UK and EU set out their commitments to “preserving [...]
Barclays bosses to meet activist investor Edward Bramson over calls to scale back investment bank November 11, 2018 Barclays chief executive Jes Staley and chairman John McFarlane will meet activist investor Edward Bramson in New York this week over calls to downsize the investment bank’s markets division. The meeting comes as Barclays received backing from top shareholder James Lowen, who told the Sunday Times that a decision to scale back the division would [...]
Barclays appoints former Rothschild veteran Nigel Higgins as next chairman November 1, 2018 Barclays has confirmed that Rothschild deputy chairman Nigel Higgins has been lined up as the replacement to current group chairman John McFarlane, following a six month search process. The switch-over, which was revealed by Sky News earlier this evening, is scheduled to take place after the bank's annual general meeting in May 2019. However Higgins [...]
We must turn the page on the public perceptions of finance November 1, 2018 A company needs to stand for something more than making money. Sustainability matters more than profit. The mission should be a lasting contribution to society that finds a balance between all stakeholders. Those aren’t the words of a pious left-wing hand-wringer but of John McFarlane, chairman of Barclays, in an anthology of writing published this week [...]
John McFarlane to staff: Leaked memo says Barclays needs to make “tough calls” to push up shareholder returns September 8, 2015 It's been just a couple of days since the traditional back to work season kicked off and already Barclays' boss John McFarlane has ruffled a few feathers with a memo sent to staff hinting at a cull. In a welcome back note sent to all Barclays staff this morning, City A.M. understands that the man famously [...]
Barclays boss John McFarlane looks to cut costs despite profit rise in bid to streamline bank July 30, 2015 Barclays, Britain’s largest bank after HSBC, yesterday delivered £3.1bn of pre-tax profits for the first half of this year, boosted by a 36 per cent rise in the performance of its investment banking arm, which chipped in almost half the total. The investment bank made £1.44bn pre-tax profit. John McFarlane, who joined the bank as [...]
John ‘Mac the Knife’ McFarlane raises fears with investors that egos will rule the roost at Barclays July 29, 2015 Is there a bank director with a thicker hide than John McFarlane? The tone of yesterday’s interim results from Barclays, which comfortably beat City forecasts, would more ordinarily be accompanied by the praise of a chairman for their chief executive. Instead, the newly installed executive chairman, McFarlane, struggled to find reasons for burying him. The [...]