Queen Clara, defender of the City, snares top job at HSBC

SHE is the no-nonsense executive who earned the nickname Queen Clara after fighting off five foreign takeover bids at the London Stock Exchange.

And now Dame Clara Furse is striding back into the limelight as head of HSBC’s new UK retail bank. The 59-year-old will be chairman of the lender’s new division when it opens in 2019.

HSBC has been ordered to split off its lowrisk High Street operations from investment banking and other activities under new Government ring-fencing rules designed to protect ordinary savers and borrowers during a downturn.

The division will act as a separately capitalised bank with its own independent board and structure.

It will be a fresh venture for former LSE chief executive Furse, who was one of the first women to smash the City’s so-called glass ceiling by taking a top finance job.

The mother-of-three – who has been married to husband Richard since 1981 – was born in Canada to Dutch parents and educated at schools in Colombia, Denmark and Britain. She worked as a broker after graduating from the London School of Economics in 1979.

There were few women in the industry at the time – but Furse saw that as an advantage rather than a problem.

‘You stood out without making any efforts to stand out – and then if on top of it you did a good job, it was hugely advantageous,’ she said in 2013.

Furse said climbing the ladder was ‘huge fun’ and she was rarely a victim of sexism. There was one occasion when she was in her 20s where a fellow broker disliked working with a woman and made her life difficult. But in the end, she said, ‘the results spoke for themselves and finally I won and he lost’.

It was an early flash of the steel that would see Furse resist bids to buy LSE by the likes of New York’s Nasdaq and Australian bank Macquarie. She also fought off German rival Deutsche Borse in a protracted battle – opting to defend the institution in stark contrast to her successor Xavier Rolet, who has enthusiastically embraced its takeover efforts.

Furse was widely seen as a capable boss who emerged with credit from the financial crisis, renowned for her intellect and combative style.

‘I wouldn’t have Dame Clara at the top of the class of a charm school,’ said veteran City commentator David Buik.

‘She’s very professional, but far from warm and approachable, as I am led to believe. Perhaps “eating nails for breakfast and spitting the rust out” is a necessary attribute.’

Furse was made a Dame in 2008, has been included in a Time magazine list of the world’s 100 most influential people and even guest edited the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.But there were criticisms too. She had to fight back against anonymous attacks two years after taking the LSE job – with the institution forced to issue a statement condemning the ‘unfounded and offensive slurs’.

The businesswoman’s tax affairs have also been scrutinised, particularly over claims she transferred £5.1m of shares into her husband’s name to avoid being caught out by changes to capital gains tax rules.

It is perhaps unsurprising Furse told reporters she would be having a ‘very nice summer for the first time in 30 years’ after stepping down in 2009.

But the boss was rapidly in the headlines again when she was appointed to the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee.

Furse was grilled by MPs before getting the job, who complained she seemed ‘disengaged’ and found her answers ‘amazingly unimpressive’.

She nonetheless received a vote of thanks for her efforts on the FPC from Governor Mark Carney when she stepped down yesterday to take the HSBC role.

A glittering career has taken Furse to the top of her industry, but she admits it has come at a cost. It was difficult to have a work-life balance, she said in 2013, so she focused on ‘two things: my family and my job’.

Dame Clara Furse, 59, was the first female boss of the London Stock Exchange in 2001

During her time she fought off five takeover bids from US, Australian and German rivals

She was caught in a scandal after transferring £5.1m shares to her husband Richard to save tax She can speak Dutch, French, Spanish and German Renowned for her cost savings and hate of food waste, she always wraps leftover meals in clingfilm