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Dame Clara Hedwig Frances Furse DBE (born 16 September 1957) was the Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange between 2001 and May 2009, and was the first female to occupy the position. In 2005 she was ranked 19th in Fortune magazine's Most powerful women in business list.

Biography

Furse was born in Canada to Dutch parents, and educated at schools in Colombia, Denmark and Britain. She graduated from the London School of Economics in 1979 with a BSc in economics.

She was Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange Group from January 2001 to May 2009. During this period she was also a non-executive Director of Euroclear plc, LCH Clearnet Group Ltd., Fortis and a member of the Shanghai International Financial Advisory Council.

Before she joined the Exchange, Furse was Group Chief Executive of Credit Lyonnais Rouse from 1998 to 2000, and before that she spent 15 years at UBS.

Furse's career has spanned a broad range of global financial markets. She began her career in 1979 as a broker, joining Phillips and Drew in 1983. At UBS she became a Managing Director in 1995 and Global Head of Futures in 1996. During the 1990s she also served as a non-executive Director, Committee Chairman and Deputy Chairman of LIFFE, the UK’s first financial futures exchange.

Furse is currently a non-executive Director of Legal & General Plc, Amadeus IT Holdings SA, Nomura Holdings Inc., Chairman of Nomura Bank International and a non-executive Director of Nomura’s FSA regulated subsidiaries. She is also a Director of the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions and Chairman of the Lead Expert Group of the UK Government’s Office for Science Foresight Project on the future of computer trading in financial markets.

In 2007, Furse was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in The World.

Damehood

She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Fortis

Furse was a non-executive director of Fortis when the Belgian bank, in partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander, purchased ABN Amro in 2008. The purchase was disastrous: RBS collapsed into state ownership while Fortis needed a bailout and was subsequently dismembered and sold off in parts. Only Santander survived intact.

See also

• Deutsche Börse
• Frankfurt Stock Exchange

References

1. "Clara Furse: A stubborn City champion who batted for the Stock Exchange". theguardian. May 22, 2009.
2. Fortune 50 Most powerful women in business list
3. London School of Economics: World leaders
4. The TIME 100
5. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2013/mar/26/dame-clara-furse-financial-policy-committee
6. http://www.financemarkets.co.uk/2008/09/29/fortis-bailed-out-by-three-governments/

External links

• Clara Furse: A profile from the BBC (Jan 2001)
• London Stock Exchange Press release announcing Furse's appointment as Chief Executive.
• UK stock exchange defends its boss BBC news story (Feb 2003)
• BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour - Timeline:Clara Furse
• Profile: Stock Exchange boss Clara Furse a profile from thisismoney.co.uk (Dec 2004)

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• 1957 births
• Alumni of the London School of Economics
• British businesspeople
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• Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• British people of Dutch descent