Barclays’ Jenkins takes chair at Business in the Community

In his first speech as chairman of Business in the Community, Barclays group chief executive Antony Jenkins, spoke about the need for a network of responsible businesses to come together to address the enormous challenges facing society.

Jenkins addressed an audience of 500 chief executives and business leaders at The Responsible Leadership Summit, an event held to mark the 30th anniversary of the Prince of Wales’s Presidency of Business in the Community.

In recognition of the complexity of the challenges facing society, Jenkins, emphasised the importance of business leaders working together and learning from each other, and acknowledge that no one business has all of the solutions saying: “Business in the Community’s unique convening power has built an extraordinary coalition behind the idea of business as a force for good, from large PLCs to SMEs, in every sector and region of the country.”

Jenkins was appointed Group Chief Executive in August 2012. He started his career at Barclays, where he completed the Barclays’ Management Development Programme, before going on to hold various roles in retail and corporate banking. He then moved to Citigroup, before rejoining Barclays as chief executive of Barclaycard.

Since becoming Group Chief Executive, Antony has taken the lead in the development of Barclays’ Transform programme, including the introduction of a new purpose and values, with the aim of making Barclays the ‘Go-To’ Bank for customers and clients.