Biography

Clara Furse is the Chairman of HSBC UK, and a non-executive Director of Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. Since March 2021, she has chaired the UK Voluntary Carbon Markets Forum, dedicated to establishing a global, high-integrity market for voluntary carbon credits to expedite the transition to net zero.

She is also a member of the Panel of Senior Advisors to Chatham House and served on Bocconi University’s International Advisory Council until 2022. She chaired the Lead Expert Group of the UK Government’s Office for Science Foresight Project on computer trading in financial markets in 2012.

From 2013 to 2016, Clara was an External Member of the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC). She served as a non-executive Director of Vodafone Group Plc until July 2023 and Amadeus IT Group S.A. until June 2022, and as a non-executive Director of Nomura Holdings from June 2010 to March 2017. She also sat on the Board of the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions for six years.

Clara was Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange from January 2001 to May 2009 and held various non-executive roles during that time. Before that, she served as Group Chief Executive of Credit Lyonnais Rouse and spent 15 years at UBS.

Her career encompasses a wide array of global financial markets, starting as a commodities broker in 1979. Clara received her BSc (Econ.) from the London School of Economics in 1979, speaks multiple European languages, and has achieved numerous career milestones and awards, including being named in the TIME 100 in 2007. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2008 for her contribution to the Financial Services industry.