Martin Taylor (Chief Executive 1994-1998)

John Martin Taylor (b 1952), was the first externally recruited full-time Chief Executive of Barclays. He succeeded Andrew Buxton at the start of 1994, having joined Barclays as a director in November 1993.

Educated at Eton and Oxford, and fluent in several languages, Taylor was originally a financial journalist, first with Reuters and from 1978 as editor of the ‘Lex’ column of the Financial Times. In 1982 he joined Courtaulds PLC as personal assistant to the chairman and by 1987 was on the main board as managing director of Courtaulds Textiles. In 1988 he was elected chairman. On the group’s demerger in 1990 he was appointed chief executive of Courtaulds Textiles PLC, combining this with the chairmanship in 1993.

The 1990s saw great technical and operational change at Barclays under Taylor's leadership.  Innovations included live counter automation, Barclaycall telephone banking, the beginnings of home computer banking for personal and business customers, Premier Banking and packaged bank accounts.  The two most significant developments were the acquisition of the business that became Barclays Global Investors in 1995, and the part-sale and reorganisation of BZW in 1996/7, which emerged as Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of the Group.

In November 1998 Taylor resigned suddenly from Barclays following disagreements with the board over strategy, and subsequently was appointed chief executive of WH Smith, where he had held a non-executive directorship since 1993.