IN FEBRUARY, Vim Maru convened some of the most powerful figures in British banking around a single table, tasked with confronting a once-unthinkable vulnerability: the UK’s dependence on American payment giants.
The meeting, first reported by the Guardian, brought together leaders from banks including Santander UK, NatWest, Nationwide and Lloyds Banking Group to begin work on DeliveryCo, a national alternative to Visa and Mastercard expected by 2030. The project reflected growing unease about geopolitical risk – and the quiet authority Maru now commands as chief executive of Barclays UK.
Yet his influence has been shaped as much by classrooms as by boardrooms. In 2025, Maru emerged as one of British banking’s most prominent advocates for financial literacy, warning of a numeracy crisis with consequences for economic stability.
He has argued that financial education must start early and feel relevant. In a letter to the Financial Times, he described the government’s move to make financial literacy compulsory in schools as “a decisive step towards building a financially confident nation”, adding: “Together, we can lay the foundations for a society where financial confidence is universal.”
His urgency is grounded in stark numbers. Barclays research shows that two in five adults leave school believing they are “not good at maths”, while around half say better numeracy would improve their financial decisions. This matters, Maru has stressed, as more than £5 trillion passes between generations in the coming decades.
Maru has responded by mobilising Barclays’ scale. In 2025, its partnership with National Numeracy reached 150,000 children through school assemblies designed to build confidence with numbers and money. The bank also trained numeracy champions supporting dozens of primary schools and more than 13,000 pupils, parents and teachers.
Fraud prevention has been another priority. As a founding member of Stop Scams UK, Maru has worked with policymakers and industry leaders to counter a crime that has adapted swiftly to digital banking. Among Barclays’ Gen Z customers, reports of text scams rose 63 per cent between 2023 and 2025, while more than a third of young adults said they might consider money muling despite the risks.
His leadership of Barclays UK, a role he assumed in early 2024 as part of a sweeping restructuring, has delivered solid financial performance while navigating disruption. The £600 million acquisition of Tesco Bank expanded Barclays’ reach, adding 2,800 staff and a long-term partnership with Britain’s largest retailer.
In 2025, the division generated £8.7 billion in income and £3.4bn in pre-tax profit, achieving a return on tangible equity of 20.7 per cent. Loans grew to £216.5bn and deposits to £244.6bn, underlining the scale of the franchise he oversees.
A chartered accountant educated at the London School of Economics, he spent more than two decades in senior roles at Lloyds Banking Group and Santander UK before joining Barclays in 2023. He has advised regulators and government through roles with the Financial Conduct Authority and HM Treasury, helping shape policy on financial inclusion.
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