Barclays appoints former OC&C boss Michael Jary to Board role
Barclays has drafted in a collection of the UK’s top bosses for the board of its upcoming retail bank. The new members hail from technology, retail and financial services, and the consulting industry, including co-founder of OC&C Strategy Consultants Michael Jary.
Michael Jary has spent over three decades with OC&C, having been one of the team of four who initially founded the strategy consulting outfit in 1987. The firm has grown exponentially since then, despite having recently falling prey to Parthenon-EY acquisitions in both France and the Benelux regions. OC&C now have 82 partners and over 500 employees in 14 offices across the globe.
In his time with the firm, Jary has held the positions of Managing Partner for the UK and head of its International Retail Practice between 1999 and 2005 – notching up significant experience in the sector which Barclays’ new bank will specialise in – before being elected as the firm’s Worldwide Managing Partner and Chairman of the International Executive Committee between 2005 and 2011. He remains a Partner at the firm to this day. 
Alongside his commitments with OC&C, Jary also sits on a number of charitable boards. He is presently Chair of the Duchy Originals organisation, aimed at the promotion of organic farming; as well as the international development group Itad; and the world-famous Fairtrade Foundation. He will now sit as a Non-Executive Director for Barclays, as the British bank builds a board in preparation for ring-fencing legislation, which will enable it to launch its ring-fenced retail bank.
The high street creditor is thought to be ahead of the competition in setting up a stand-alone retail bank, taking advantage of new rules designed to protect British consumers and small businesses from riskier investment banking operations. Barclays is targeting an Easter launch for the new entity, in a move that it says will cost up to £1 billion, as it begins with 24 million customers, including Barclaycard users in the UK.
Jary will be joined by other boardroom hires including ex PwC auditor Andrew Ratcliffe, along with Avid Duggan, a senior investment professional at Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Sir John Timpson, owner of UK shoe repair chain Timpson. Others taking places at the top table include ex-Fidelity director Kathryn Matthews. Further spots are yet to be confirmed, as all the appointments remain subject to regulatory approval.
