The Virgin Banker: My Life in Finance

by Jayne-Anne Gadhia

Overview

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the straight-talking CEO of Virgin Money, looks back at the events that have influenced, shaped, and inspired her to become one of the most powerful women in banking. With anecdotes from her life before becoming a banker, including beating the bullies and experiencing racism as part of a mixed race marriage, through to building a business from scratch, working at RBS under Fred Goodwin just before the financial crash, and steering Virgin Money to become a listed business, breaking boundaries along the way, professionally and personally. Jayne-Anne shines a light on issues surrounding the role of women in banking and the alpha-male dinosaurs that dominate the industry. She draws on the relationships and deals that have shaped her career so far, including her personal experience with mental health issues, which has helped her attitude and approach to both her business and personal life. This is not a conventional biography, nor a "how to do it" business book. It is a candid, fresh, and fascinating insight into being a woman in business, the financial crisis, and the way in which business can be conducted as a force for good.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780753548462
Publisher:	Virgin Books
Publication date:	08/01/2017
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jayne-Anne Gadhia is the CEO of Virgin Money, and the longest-serving CEO of any European bank. A Chartered Accountant, she spent six years at Norwich Union (now Aviva) before becoming one of the founders of Virgin Direct in 1995. In 1998 she set up the Virgin One account, which was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2001. After five years at RBS as part of the Retail Executive Committee, she returned to Virgin as the CEO of Virgin Money. In 2012 Virgin Money acquired Northern Rock and, in 2014, successfully listed on the London Stock Exchange. A vocal supporter of businesses responsibility to make a positive contribution to society, Jayne-Anne is a trustee of Business in the Community, the Tate Gallery, and non-exec Director of the Dumfries House Trust. In 2014 she was awarded a CBE in 2014 for services to banking and voluntary service. In 2015 Jayne-Anne led a government review focused on the representation of women in the Financial Services industry. Her report led to HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter—a commitment by firms to work together for gender equality in financial services. In 2016 Jayne-Anne was appointed as the government’s Women in Finance Champion; she was recently appointed to the London Mayor’s Business Advisory Board and is leading a Review into Student Support in Scotland.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Foreword Sir Richard Branson xiii

Prologue xvii

1 Early Times 1

Fighting Back 1

University of Life 4

Colour Blind 5

Dinosaur Park 8

2 Part of the Union 11

Making a Break 11

I'm Only an Accountant 13

Can You Help Me? 18

Hello! 24

3 Becoming a Virgin 29

Project Jam Tart 29

Dinner Time 34

Uncommon People 37

Business Unusual 42

Making One Day Today 51

4 Life as RBS 63

Losing Our Virginity 63

Making It Happen 67

Project Stone 72

The Great Escape 78

5 Buliding a Bank 87

Back to the Future 87

The Run on the Rock 91

Project Arrowa 93

An EBO Business 98

Building Society 105

6 Northern Rock … and Beyond! 117

Who Cares Wins 117

Project Sapphire 123

Creating a Crisis 128

You May Know Me as Richard. But Now I'm Going to be Frank 131

Payback Time 136

Prices and Rockets 139

Going Public 144

The Extra Mile 147

Women in Finance 155

The Public Eye 162

7 This Much I Have Learned 169

Diversity Matters 169

Hoping and Coping 173

Supporters and Detractors 181

Afterword 187

Acknowledgements 191

What Happened When 192

Photo Credits 195

Index 197