Sir Winfried Franz Wilhelm Bischoff (10 May 1941 – 25 April 2023) was a German-born British banker who was the chairman of

Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds B ...

. He previously served as chairman and interim CEO of

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

in 2007. He was succeeded as CEO by

Vikram Pandit Vikram Shankar Pandit (born 14 January 1957) is an Indian American banker and investor who was the chief executive officer of Citigroup from December 2007 to 16 October 2012 and is the current chairman and chief executive officer of The Orogen ...

on 11 December 2007. Bischoff stepped down as chairman on 23 February 2009 and was replaced by Richard Parsons. He had dual British and German citizenship. Bischoff was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

for services to Banking.

Early life and education

Winfried Bischoff was born in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, son of import-export entrepreneur Paul Bischoff and Hildegard, née Kühn, who had been working as a nanny in London when she met her future husband. Bischoff had an early education in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. In 1955, he moved to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

where he received a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...

degree at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

in 1961.

Career

Bischoff worked in the International Department of

Chase Manhattan Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and financial services holding ...

from 1962 to 1963. He joined J. Henry Schroder & Co. Limited in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1966 in its Company Finance Division. In 1971, he became managing director of Schroders Asia Limited in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. He became group chief executive of Schroders plc in December 1984, when Schroders was worth £30 million. He became chairman in May 1995. In 2000, the

investment banking Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by und ...

division of the company was acquired for £1.3 billion by Citi through its

Smith Barney Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American Multinational corporation, multinational financial services corporation specializing in Broker, retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley. On January 13, 2009, ...

subsidiary. Bischoff joined Citi as chairman of Citigroup Europe and was a member of The Operating Committee of Citigroup Inc., a position he held until appointed chairman in November 2007. He was a non-executive director at

S&P Global S&P Global Inc. (prior to 2016, McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013, The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financia ...

Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company, Trade name, doing business as Lilly, is an American multinational Medication, pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 count ...

Land Securities Land Securities Group plc, trading as Landsec, is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust (REIT) when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom i ...

Akbank Akbank T.A.Ş. is one of the largest banks in Turkey. Founded in 1948, , Akbank reported a consolidated net profit of TL 60 billion 26 million. Listed on the Borsa Istanbul, its largest shareholders are members of the Sabancı family. Akbank s ...

, and Prudential. On 27 July 2009, he was appointed chairman designate of Lloyds Banking Group and took up the position of chairman on 15 September 2009. He held this position until his retirement on 3 April 2014. Between May 2014 and October 2019 he was chairman of the UK

Financial Reporting Council The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator in the UK and Ireland based in London Wall in the City of London, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants and actuaries, and setting the UK's Corporate Governance and ...

. Bischoff was a member of the

30% Club The 30% Club is a campaign group of business chairpersons and CEOs taking action to increase gender diversity on boards and senior management teams. It was established in the United Kingdom in 2010 by Helena Morrissey with the aim of achieving a ...

, a group of FTSE-100 chairmen committed to having at least 30% of their board members being female.

Personal life and death

Bischoff died on 25 April 2023, at age 81.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bischoff, Winfried 1941 births 2023 deaths People from Aachen German chairpersons of corporations German emigrants to South Africa German emigrants to the United Kingdom Citigroup people Eli Lilly and Company people Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Knights Bachelor University of the Witwatersrand alumni Chairmen of Lloyds Banking Group Schroders people Businesspeople from North Rhine-Westphalia Businesspeople awarded knighthoods