CEO Today Hall of Fame

HALL OF FAME www.ceotodaymagazine.com 2 Ashok Vaswani, the CEO of Barclays UK talks to Katina Hristova about championing digital skills for all and his outlook for the future. www.barclays.co.uk Ashok Vaswani CEO of Barclays UK “A relentless focus on our customers keeps us innovating!” Barclays has a history of innovation and continues to be a leader when it comes to technological innovation in banking services – tell us more about it. Barclays has been at the centre of British finance for over 327 years, and in that time, the world has changed beyond recognition. However, the reason we have been able to consistently deliver game- changing innovations throughout all this disruption has been a relentless focus on our customers, their needs and aspirations, and being there for the moments that really matter. We have 24 million customers in the UK; roughly one in two adults. For me, success isn’t about driving the business to get 25 million customers – it’s about becoming indispensable for the 24 million customers we already have, by continuously making their lives easier, offering greater convenience and delivering value for them. If we can’t do that, we won’t be around for another 327 years, or even 10 years. In this era of disruption, businesses will become obsolete unless they serve a clear purpose. Our purpose is to help people go forward. What have been Barclays’ biggest achievements in the past 12 months? Our biggest achievement over the past 12 months has been the creation of Barclays UK, bringing together different parts of the business to build a UK banking powerhouse that is bigger than the sum of its parts. No other bank in the UK offers customers and clients this combination of banking choice and services. As part of that, we have rolled out a number of technology solutions to make our customers’ lives much easier, such as instant cheque imaging and video banking. Barclays was also the first bank to introduce contactless cash; a completely new way for customers to withdraw their cash using their Android smartphone or their debit card’s contactless technology. We have also launched automated valuations for home purchases, shaving days off the processing time. Mortgage Agreement in Principle has also been introduced into 338 branches, allowing customers to obtain a mortgage decision in less than 15 minutes.

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