Richard Thomas Ricci is an American-British banker and racehorse owner. He was previously Chief Executive of

Barclays Bank 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 ...

's Corporate and Investment banking.

Early life and career

Ricci was born in

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, United States in 1964. He earned a bachelor's degree in finance from

Creighton University Creighton University () is a private research university in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate ...

. He started banking for the Bank of Boston and then the Bank of New England. He joined Barclays de Zoete Wedd (BZW) in the United Kingdom in 1994. In 2002, he became the Chief Operating Officer of Barclays Global Investors before becoming head of Barclays Investment Banking and Management. In 2008, he was part of the team that took over Lehmann Brothers' Investment arm for Barclays and oversaw their integration with Barclays. In 2011, he received a bonus of £44 million, with newspapers attributing his name to

nominative determinism Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work or interest that fit their names. The term was first used in the magazine ''New Scientist'' in 1994, after the magazine's humorous "Feedback" column no ...

. Due to the

Libor scandal The Libor scandal was a series of fraudulent actions connected to the Libor (London Inter-bank Offered Rate) and also the resulting investigation and reaction. Libor is an average interest rate calculated through submissions of interest rates ...

, Ricci did not receive a bonus for 2012, however he did earn £17 million after selling Barclays shares after they were released to senior executives. Ricci resigned from Barclays in 2013. After leaving Barclays, he became head of the Liberum Investment Bank.

Horse racing

Despite being based in England for much of his career, Ricci and his wife Susannah have been involved in

horse racing in Ireland Horse racing in Ireland is intricately linked with Culture of Ireland, Irish culture and society. The racing of horses has a long history on the island, being mentioned in some of the Irish mythology, earliest texts. Domestically, racing is on ...

since 2005, owning a large number of racehorses trained by champion trainer

Willie Mullins William Peter Mullins (born 15 September 1956) is an Irish racehorse horse trainer, trainer and former jockey. He is a nineteen-time List of Irish National Hunt races, Irish National Hunt Champion trainer. Mullins is the most successful traine ...

. He later started entering them in British and Australian races. Following an article in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' that called him "the fat cat in the hat", Ricci retaliated by naming one of his horses Fatcatinthehat. At the 2016

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Race ...

, 3 of his horses won earning him £248,000.

Personal life

Ricci is married to Susannah, an accountant. The couple own the Yotes Court vineyard in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

References

{{Reflist 1964 births American bankers British bankers American racehorse owners and breeders British racehorse owners and breeders American expatriates in the United Kingdom Businesspeople from Nebraska Creighton University alumni Barclays people Living people