‘Inclusion has been a driving force throughout my life’
My Journey: Ashok Vaswani, CEO, consumer banking and payments, Barclays
ONE of the most senior Asians in banking has revealed how diversity and inclusion has played a part in his career path, calling them “driving forces throughout his life”.
Barclay’s Ashok Vaswani spoke of his early years growing up in India and his successful multi-national career in the banking industry.
Born and brought up in Bombay (now Mumbai), Vaswani revealed that he lost his father when he was six. With no siblings, he was brought up solely by his mother.
“Whatever I am – good, bad or ugly – is because of my mom,” he said. “She was an incredible woman.”
Education was very important to his mother. “I’m a double post-graduate student and right until her dying day, my mother thought I hadn’t studied enough,” he said.
Calling himself “extremely lucky”, Vaswani said he joined the corporate world without a male role model in his life. “No one could have predicted that,” he said. “I joined the corporate world and I saw the world – and I mean that, literally.”
Roles in the finance industry, including a stint as the CEO, Asia Pacific of Citigroup, led him to travel and live all over the world. He began his career in Mumbai and has since worked and lived in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.
“These companies afforded me the ability to move from place to place,” the London-based executive said. “They didn’t care if I was brown, black, tall or short… on merit and willing to get the job done, they encouraged me to go out there.”
He looked back on his international work life with fondness.
“If I look back, my biggest accomplishment would be that if I went to any part of the world, someone would be willing to give up having dinner with their family and have dinner with me,” he said. “That is a very humbling experience, and a very humbling thought.”
Prior to his current role, Vaswani was the CEO for Barclays UK. He is a member of the Barclays Executive Committee and a board member for Pratham Board and the Trustee Board at Citizens Advice.