John McFarlane (footballer, Born 1905)
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John McFarlane
OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(born 14 June 1947) is a British businessman. He served as group chairman of Barclays from 2015 to 2019. From 2020 to 2023, McFarlane served as Chairman of
Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, also known as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it acquired the Commerc ...
.


Early life

He was born in
Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...
and attended
Dumfries Academy Dumfries Academy is one of four secondary schools in Dumfries in south west Scotland. It is a state funded secondary school for both girls and boys. The schools moto is "doctrina promovet" which translates from Latin to "learning promotes" which ...
. He was educated at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
,
Cranfield Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001. increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 census. The parish is in Central Bedfordshire uni ...
and the
London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...
.


Career

He began his career in manufacturing with
Ford of Europe Ford of Europe GmbH is a subsidiary company of Ford Motor Company founded in 1967 in Cork (city), Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with headquarters in Cologne, Germany. History Ford of Europe was founded in 1967 by the merger of Ford of Bri ...
in 1969, subsequently having a career in banking. He spent eighteen years with
Citibank Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...
, ultimately as head of Citibank in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In 1993, he became Group Executive Director of Standard Chartered Plc. based in London and Hong Kong. He was chief executive of the
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, commonly known as ANZ Bank, is a multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is Austr ...
Ltd. (ANZ), one of Australia's leading banks, after a decade of service, during which time he turned around the financial performance of the bank, and spearheaded an effort, called "Breakout", to transform the Bank. He retired in 2007. In October 2008, he joined the board of the
Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...
as a non-executive director. He was appointed to the board of
Aviva Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 19 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...
plc in September 2011 and became chairman in July 2012. He was previously deputy chairman and chairman designate and became executive deputy chairman in May 2012. He was president of the
International Monetary Conference The International Monetary Conference (IMC) is a non-profit organization that convenes a yearly gathering of senior financial industry executives. It has been described as "an annual conference of the CEOs of the largest banks around the world". O ...
(the annual meeting of the heads of the world's major banks and central banks) and was chairman of the Australian Bankers' Association. While in the United Kingdom, he was a member of the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...
Financial Law Review Panel; in 1992, he chaired The McFarlane Report - the review of "The Future Development of Auditing in the United Kingdom and Ireland". More recently, he served as a member of the governing body of the Economics Research Institute for the Association of South East Asian Nations & East Asia. In December 2013, he was appointed chairman of
FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...
and joined the board with effect from 1 January 2015. He was appointed executive chairman of Barclays in July 2015 until a permanent replacement could be found for their departing chief executive
Antony Jenkins Antony Peter Jenkins (born 11 July 1961) is a British business executive. Since 2016 he has been the chief executive officer of 10x Future Technologies, which he founded. He was the group chief executive of Barclays from 30 August 2012 until hi ...
. He is also chairman of
TheCityUK TheCityUK is a private-sector membership body and industry advocacy group promoting the financial services, financial and related professional services industry of the United Kingdom (UK). TheCityUK is often referred to as the industry's "most po ...
. McFarlane contributed to an anthology of writing that was published in October 2018 and produced by Labour in the City, which examines the challenges facing the banking sector a decade after the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
. In November 2018, Barclays announced that McFarlane was stepping down as chairman in May 2019. In April 2020, McFarlane was appointed to the board of
Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, also known as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it acquired the Commerc ...
where he served as chairman until December, 2023.


Personal life

Through his daughter Rebecca, McFarlane is the
father-in-law A parent-in-law is a person who has a legal affinity (law), affinity with another by being the parent of the other's spouse. Many cultures and legal systems impose duties and responsibilities on persons connected by this relationship. A person i ...
of English broadcaster
Richard Bacon Richard Bacon may refer to: People * Sir Richard Bacon, 7th Baronet (Redgrave), 8th Baronet (Mildenhall) (1695–1773), see Bacon baronets * Sir Richard Bacon, 3rd Baronet (c. 1663–1685), see Bacon baronets * Richard Bacon (politician) (born ...
.


Honours

In the
1995 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1995 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Of ...
, McFarlane was awarded the
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(OBE) for "services to the Finance Industry". In 2001 he received the
Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...
for "service to Australian society in business leadership". He has also received banking and securities fellowships in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong, and is a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McFarlane, John 1947 births Living people Scottish bankers Scottish chairpersons of corporations Chairmen of Barclays People from Dumfries Businesspeople from Melbourne Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Westpac people Aviva people Officers of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century Scottish businesspeople 21st-century Scottish businesspeople