John Silvester Varley

John Silvester Varley (born April 1 1956, Warwick) is a British banker, currently Group Chief Executive of Barclays Bank.

Early life

His father, Philip, was a solicitor in Coventry. Varley was educated at the Catholic Downside Schoolcite web |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/jun/15/8 |title=Ping pong-playing banker chases a world ranking |accessdate=2008-01-08 |last=Treanor |first=Jill |date=2007-06-15 |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian Media Group] at Stratton-on-the-Fosse south of Bath, becoming head boy then Oriel College, Oxford (MA History)cite web |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/jun/15/8 |title=Ping pong-playing banker chases a world ranking |accessdate=2008-01-08 |last=Treanor |first=Jill |date=2007-06-15 |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian Media Group] , and London's College of LawFact|date=January 2008.

Career

He became a solicitor with Frere Cholmeley (became Frere Cholmeley Bischoff then bought by Eversheds in 1998) in 1979.

Varley has been with Barclays since 1982, when he joined in the Corporate Finance Department of the then Barclays Merchant Bank. Senior appointments with the successor bank, BZW (now Barclays Capital), included Deputy Chief Executive of BZW's Equity Division and head of BZW's offices in South East Asia. In 1995 he became Chairman of the Asset Management Division and from April 1998 to October 2000 was Chief Executive, Retail Financial Services. He joined the main Barclays board on 5 June 1998 and was Group Finance Director from 2000 until the end of 2003.

On 1 January 2004, Varley became Group Deputy Chief Executive, and on 1 September 2004 he succeeded Matt Barrett as Group Chief Executive of Barclays.

Personal life

In 1981 he married Carolyn Thorn Pease, daughter of Sir Richard Thorn Pease, and in so doing married into the Quaker Pease family, whose bank became part of Barclays in 1902. They have a son (born December 1994) and daughter (born May 1989). He lives in Hammersmith with a country house in Hampshire. He earns around £2.8m a year.

References

External links

* [http://www.newsroom.barclays.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=32&NewsAreaID=1 Barclays]

News items

* [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/john-varley-banker-with-time-for-the-great-and-small-448530.html "Independent" article May 2007]
* [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article600942.ece "Sunday Times" article August 2006]