Marcus Ambrose Paul Agius (; born 22 July 1946) is a British financier and former group chairman of Barclays.

Early life and education

Marcus Agius was born on 22 July 1946, the son of Ena Eleanora (née Hueffer) and Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Victor Louis Benedict Agius. He is of part Maltese descent, and was educated at St George's College, Weybridge. He earned his degree in Mechanical Sciences and Economics at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

, and also holds an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from Harvard Business School.

Career

Early career and Lazard (1972–2006)

Agius' banking career began at the investment bank,

Lazard Lazard Ltd (formerly known as Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's la ...

, where he worked from 1972 to 2006 holding several senior positions. He was appointed as the chairman of the London branch of Lazard in 2001 and deputy chairman of Lazard LLC in 2002. He joined

BAA PLC BAA or Baa may refer to: Letters and sounds * Baa, onomatopoeic representation of the noise made by sheep *Bāʾ, the Arabic letter ب * Baa, the fifth consonant of the Thaana script used in the Dhivehi language Places * Baa Atoll, an administrat ...

as a non-executive director in 1995 and served as its chairman from 2002 till 2006.

Barclays Board and chairman (2006–2012)

On 1 September 2006, Agius joined the Barclays board as a non-executive director and succeeded Matthew Barrett as chairman from 1 January 2007. His most recently reported salary was £750,000. On 2 July 2012 it was announced that Agius would resign following the Barclays fine for manipulation of the

London Interbank Offered Rate The London Inter-Bank Offered Rate is an interest-rate average calculated from estimates submitted by the leading banks in London. Each bank estimates what it would be charged were it to borrow from other banks. The resulting average rate is u ...

(Libor) by some Barclays employees in the Libor scandal. In November 2012, it was reported that he might be retained as a consultant. In July 2012 Agius was reinstated as Executive Chairman, following the resignation of CEO Bob Diamond, until a new chief executive is appointed. During his time at Barclays Agius attended the 2011 meeting of the

Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual off-the-record conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defi ...

British Bankers Association (2010 – 2012)

From 2010 to 2012 Agius was the chairman of the

British Bankers Association The British Bankers' Association (BBA) was a trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector. From 1 July 2017, it was merged into UK Finance. It represented members from a wide range of banking and financial services. The ass ...

(BBA). Libor (formally BBA LIBOR) being calculated and published by

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...

on behalf of the BBA. From December 2006 to 2012 Agius was a senior independent non-executive director of the BBC's executive board.BBC appoints first non-executive director
/ref>BBC Board Bio – Marcus Agius
/ref> In September 2011, Agius was appointed as a committee member to act as one of the three trustees of the

. The other committee members are Kenneth Clarke MP and Lord Kerr of Kinlochard.

Botany

Agius is a keen gardener.The Top five in Finance
/ref> Between 2009 and 2019 he was the chairman of the trustees of the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

. On his retirement, he donated £500,000 to the gardens to create the Agius Evolution Garden there. He was appointed Chairman of the

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

Plant Science Initiative. Agius was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to botany and conservation.

Personal life

Marcus, a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

,Heretics to heroes: how Rome went mainstream
/ref> married Katherine (born 1949), daughter of Edmund de Rothschild of the

Rothschild banking family of England The Rothschild banking family of England was founded in (1798) by Nathan Mayer von Rothschild (1777–1836) who first settled in Manchester but then moved to London (at the time in the Kingdom of Great Britain). Nathan was sent there from his ...

, and has a close involvement with the Rothschild family estate,

Exbury Gardens Exbury Gardens is a informal woodland garden in Hampshire, England with large collections of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias, and is often considered the finest garden of its type in the United Kingdom. Exbury holds the national collectio ...

in Hampshire. They have two children. In 2010 ''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...

'' named him as one of Britain's most influential Roman Catholics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agius, Marcus 1946 births Living people Rothschild family Chairmen of Barclays Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Harvard Business School alumni People educated at St George's College, Weybridge British chairpersons of corporations British Roman Catholics BBC executives Members of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group British people of Maltese descent British expatriates in the United States Commanders of the Order of the British Empire