IN 2016 when Jitesh Gadhia, an investment banker, was made a life peer in David Cameron’s resignation honours list, he invited a number of people to the lunch which preceded his formal introduction ceremony. Among his selected group of guests was a backbench MP who had only been elected the previous year.
The name of the MP was Rishi Sunak, who had taken over William Hague’s Richmond constituency in Yorkshire. Now that Sunak is prime minister, Lord Gadhia keeps in touch with Number 10 and helps out where he can but always discreetly. When Sunak hosted a Diwali party as prime minister last year, a few people were asked to stay on afterwards, among them Gadhia and his wife Angeli.
The last 12 months have been eventful for Gadhia. A year ago he took over from Manoj Badale as chairman of the British Asian Trust, a charity close to King Charles’s heart. Since becoming monarch, Charles has indicated that he will no longer have the time to be as active as he once was in the charities where he was a patron as the Prince of Wales. But the general feeling is that he will remain involved with the British Asian Trust.
“He has a special connect with the British Asian diaspora,” said Gadhia, who was also by the King’s side, when Charles held a reception at Buckingham Palace to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of British Asian refugees from Uganda.
Gadhia, who was born in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on 27 May, 1970, was two when he arrived in the UK with his family. After reading economics at Cambridge, he dabbled in journalism briefly before settling on becoming an investment banker.
A year ago he was appointed to the board of the FTSE 100 company Rolls-Royce as a non-executive director. And in October last year, he was one of three people made non-executive directors to the Court of the Bank of England, which is the organisation’s governing body.
The Bank gave a short CV of Gadhia: “Lord Jitesh Gadhia has over 25 years investment banking and financial services experience, having held senior positions at Blackstone, Barclays Capital, ABN AMRO and Baring Brothers. Lord Gadhia currently serves on the boards of Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, Taylor Wimpey plc and Compare The Market Limited. He previously served on the boards of UK Financial Investments Limited (UKFI) and UK Government Investments Limited (UKGI).
“Lord Jitesh Gadhia was appointed as a Conservative Peer in 2016 and he became a non-affiliated member of the House of Lords in February 2017.”
Gadhia told GG2 Power List in an exclusive interview that while he was pleased to join the board of the Bank, it was important not to be intimidated by the appointment or the institution.
Which is quite a brave thing to say, given the Bank’s history. It is often called “the old lady of Threadneedle Street”, after its location in the heart of the City of London. The expression, “as safe as the Bank of England”, has also entered the language.
The Bank’s mission hasn’t changed much since it was set up by a Royal Charter in 1694 during a period of economic turbulence, in order to “promote the publick good and benefitt of our people” by acting as the government’s banker and debt manager.
Although the Bank’s role and responsibilities have evolved and expanded since its foundation, its mission today remains true to its original purpose: “to promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability”.
Gadhia is much taken by the simplicity and directness of the wording: “The purpose of the Bank of England is unique. The Court guides and promotes that mission. So you feel the weight (of that responsibility).”
Yes, he said, he had been inside the building “for multiple meetings”. The headquarters which the Bank currently occupies was completed in 1939.
On each of the two bronze doors at the imposing main entrance of the Bank in Threadneedle Street is a caduceus – the staff of Mercury, the patron saint of bankers. Inside there is a mosaic depicting St George slaying the dragon.
There are war memorials with engraved rolls of honour showing names of Bank staff who served in the armed forces in two world wars. Of great architectural distinction is a cantilever staircase, which, at 165 feet, was once reputed to have been the longest in Europe.
Also of note is a late 16th century Brussels tapestry, believed to represent the meeting of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. This was presented to the Bank in 1946 by the Banque Nationale de Belgique in recognition of services and hospitality given to its representatives during the Second World War.
And then there is the Court Room designed by Sir Robert Taylor between 1767 and 1774. It was reconstructed by Sir Herbert Baker during the rebuilding of the Bank (1925–39) when he altered and simplified some of the decorations, although most of the original features were retained. The room was originally intended to accommodate the weekly meetings of the Court of Directors, but today is also used for other meetings and official functions.
And it is in these surroundings that Gadhia will help to make decisions which will have an impact on the lives of millions of people in the UK and beyond.
“If you’ve been inside the Bank, it is quite extraordinary,” he acknowledged. “It is one of our premier institutions, which has a global reputation. I do count myself quite fortunate to be involved with a number of our most reputable institutions and corporate brands in the UK. But it’s important not to become intimidated but remain ruthlessly independent and objective.”
Before he was appointed to the board, he was screened by a panel.
He revealed: “The approval processes are probably some of the most elaborate for any public appointment. So, the prime minister has to sign off (on the appointment), the chancellor has to sign off and then the monarch appoints. I was actually approved by Her Late Majesty and appointed by the King.”
He explained: “In my case, because of all the leadership change in Downing Street, the appointment process started when Boris Johnson was prime minister and Rishi Sunak was chancellor. And then it finally got announced just before Rishi became prime minister. So it was initiated under Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak and signed off by Liz Truss, Kwasi Kwarteng, Jeremy Hunt and by the Queen and King Charles.”
The Bank said its Court “acts as the governing body responsible for setting the organisation’s strategy, budget and taking key decisions on resourcing and appointments. The Court is not responsible for the matters reserved to the Bank’s main policy committees, the Monetary Policy Committee, the Financial Policy Committee and Prudential Regulation Committee.”
Hunt, who is now the chancellor, said that the three new directors – Gadhia, Tom Shropshire and Sabine Chalmers – “will bring immense skill and experience to the Bank’s Court”.
David Roberts, incoming chairman of Court, added: “I am delighted to welcome Jitesh, Tom and Sabine to the Bank’s Court of Directors. They will bring fresh insights, deep wisdom and wide experience to help Court fulfil its role of promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom.”
Meanwhile, announcing Gadhia’s appointment, Rolls-Royce said: “We are strengthening the Board’s international, geopolitical and remuneration experience and we are pleased to announce the appointment of Jitesh Gadhia… Upon his appointment to the board, Jitesh will become a member of the Nominations & Governance and Remuneration Committees. Jitesh has extensive experience of a wide range of industries and partnership structures from his time as an executive in the banking and private equity sector.”
The statement added: “Jitesh is a non-executive director of Taylor Wimpey plc, where he has been a member of the remuneration committee since March 2021; a non-executive director of Compare the Market Limited, where he chairs the remuneration committee.”
Setting out its global reach, Rolls-Royce said: “We have pledged to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in our operations by 2030 (excluding product testing) and joined the UN Race to Zero campaign in 2020, affirming our ambition to play a fundamental role in enabling the sectors in which we operate achieve net zero carbon by 2050.
“Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces and navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
“Annual underlying revenue was £10.95 billion in 2021, underlying operating profit was £414 million and we invested £1.18 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 28 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.”
In February 2023, Air India announced it had ordered 470 new aircraft, a record for the aviation industry. This obviously has a spin off for Rolls-Royce, which will make many of the engines.
Rolls-Royce chief executive officer Tufan Erginbilgic said that the order “marks an exciting and truly remarkable occasion for Tata Group and Air India; the size and magnitude of this order reflects the level of their ambition for the future. I congratulate them on taking this bold step towards becoming one of the world’s greatest airlines and I would like to thank them for putting their trust in Rolls-Royce to power them on this journey.”
If the Bank of England and Rolls-Royce and his various other directorships were not enough, Gadhia also has to provide leadership to the British Asian Trust. In October 2022, the King held a reception for 300 members of the British Asian community at the Palace of Hollyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
Gadhia observed: “It’s interesting how the British Asian community have become almost some of the strongest monarchists in this country. I don’t know what it is but maybe it’s our understanding of extended families and cultural acceptance of generational passing on of the baton. We are used to family successions and not perturbed by them. And I think it is a two-way process.”
The King’s engagement with the south Asian diaspora is also appreciated. As Gadhia put it: “I suppose it is one of the few organisations that keeps politics out and also the tensions of the South Asian subcontinent. It really tries to provide a forum where all south Asians in the UK can meet and collaborate under one umbrella, which I think is increasingly unique.”
At the reception for Ugandan Asians at Buckingham Palace, Gadhia thanked the new monarch: “We are immensely thankful to His Majesty The King for his deep interest in the commemoration event and for his continued engagement with the South Asian diaspora in the United Kingdom.”
As for the work of work of British Asian Trust, “we have expanded our reach of activities,” said Gadhia. “We’ve got five pillars, which are education, livelihoods, mental health, child protection and conservation. We’re doing more and more things on the ground in South Asian countries. We’re also starting to do more of it in the UK.”
In India, the trust has just seen the results of its pioneering development impact bond for education. “The attainment levels of the kids that went through that programme are two and a half times those of comparable cohorts. So we’re starting to show that what we are doing is actually having an impact at scale.”
Gadhia is also a member of the UK-India advisory council that has been set up by Lord Tariq Ahmad, minister of state for the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and United Nations at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
Gadhia is always measured in his public statements but given his many responsibilities, he realises he has to be even more aware of what he says.
“I suppose with my different roles, particularly the most recent appointments at the Bank of England and British Asian Trust, I am going to have to be increasingly careful in what I can say in public,” he said to Power List. “There’s an added element of making sure that anything I say is not going to get amplified.”
