Sir Andrew Colin Hugh Smith (6 September 1931 – 3 October 2012) was a British businessman, most notably chairman of the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

from 1988 to 1994.

Early life and education

Andrew Colin Hugh Smith was the son of a lieutenant-commander in the British Navy. His forebears had founded Nottingham-based Smith’s Bank (which was subsequently bought by

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it becam ...

). Following schooling at

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition. It opened in 1803 as a boys' school. It is near the villa ...

and a period of national service, Hugh Smith studied History and Law at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

Career

After graduation, Hugh Smith spent four years practicing law before at

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

. He subsequently spent eight years working for textile firm

Courtaulds Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtauld ...

between 1960 and 1968. In 1968, Hugh Smith followed the family path to work in the City of London, joining stockbroker Capel-Cure Myers. In 1979 he became senior partner at Capel-Cure Myers. In anticipation of ”Big Bang”, he oversaw the sale of Capel-Cure Myers to ANZ Merchant Bank, of which he became Deputy Chairman. Having been on the court of the London Stock Exchange since 1980, Hugh Smith succeeded Sir

Nicholas Goodison Sir Nicholas Proctor Goodison (16 May 1934 – 6 July 2021) was a British businessman who was chairman of the London Stock Exchange from 1976 to 1986. He was an important supporter of the arts and the President of the Furniture History Soc ...

as chairman in 1988. His time at the London Stock Exchange was noteworthy for the attempts to modernise its infrastructure. The attempts to create a new settlement system through a project called

TAURUS (share settlement) Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign ** Vṛṣabha, in vedic astrology * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological cha ...

had to be abandoned, but the foundations for the

CREST (securities depository) Euroclear UK & International is a UK-based central securities depository that holds UK equities and UK gilts. It operates the CREST system, whose name stands for Certificateless Registry for Electronic Share Transfer. Originally known as CREST ...

system had been put in place by the time he retired in 1994. Hugh Smith was knighted in 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hugh Smith, Andrew Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Knights Bachelor London Stock Exchange people People educated at Ampleforth College Governors of Abingdon School 1931 births 2012 deaths