Sir John Anthony Craven (23 October 1940 – 30 March 2022) was a British financier who was chairman of Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group plc, and a director of
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
and
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
.
Early life
Craven was born in
Leominster
Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England, at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster i ...
on 23 October 1940. He was educated at
Michaelhouse
Michaelhouse is a full boarding senior school for boys founded in 1896. It is located in the Balgowan valley in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
History
''St. Michael's Diocesan College'' was founded in Pietermaritzburg in 18 ...
and read law at
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...
. He was a member of the Canadian and Ontario Institutes of Chartered Accountants.
Career
In 1967, Craven joined SG Warburg & Co Ltd, becoming an executive director in 1969 under the tutelage of
Siegmund Warburg
Sir Siegmund George Warburg (30 September 1902 – 18 October 1982) was a German-born English banker. He was a member of the prominent Warburg family. He played a prominent role in the development of merchant banking.Credit Suisse First Boston) from 1975 to 1978 and a vice-chairman of SG Warburg & Co Ltd in 1979. In 1981 he founded Phoenix Securities Ltd which was acquired by Morgan Grenfell Group plc in 1987 when he took on the role of Group Chief Executive of Morgan Grenfell Group plc, succeeding Christopher Reeves. He sat on the board of managing directors of
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
from 1990 until 1996.
Craven was chairman of Morgan Grenfell Group plc from 1989, a post he retained when the group was renamed as Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group plc in 1996. He was a non-executive director of
Rothmans International plc
Rothmans International plc was a British tobacco manufacturer. Its brands included Rothmans, Player's and Dunhill. Its international headquarters were in Hill Street, London and its international operations were run from Denham Place in Denham ...
and a member of the Supervisory Board, Société Générale de Surveillance SA, Geneva. He was also a Trustee of the Cambridge University Foundation.
Craven was knighted in the
1996 Birthday Honours
Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supple ...
for his services to banking, as "one of the leading City financiers of the past 30 years".
Craven died on 30 March 2022, at the age of 81.Craven /ref>