The Square Mile and Me: Hannah Bernard on the significance of the first female Chancellor

Each week we ask a City figure to tell us about what makes the Square Mile special. This week, it’s Hannah Bernard, head of business banking at Barclays and co-chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce

What was your first job?  

I worked as a cashier in Waitrose, evenings and weekends, and loved it.

What was your first role in the City?

My career started on a finance graduate scheme for Sainsbury’s, where I ended up spending 20 years in various roles from leading financial operations, through a short spell as a Buyer of tissues and kitchen rolls, to CFO and interim CEO of Sainsbury’s Bank. In 2015 I joined Barclays as CFO for Personal Banking and came to explore what Canary Wharf has to offer.

When did you know you wanted to build a career in the City?

From the early days at Waitrose, I realised that I loved retail and being part of a team. There’s a buzz that comes from working in a fast-paced environment and financial services combines that with working with really great colleagues and clients. I knew I wanted to be part of a dynamic environment with drive and creativity in equal measure.

What’s one thing you love about the City of London? 

The City is the central financial hub of Europe, and I love its unique fast-paced nature. What was once perceived as a fairly stuffy environment is, in reality, incredibly diverse from a culture perspective, with so many international colleagues and different backgrounds.

And one thing you would change?

Despite the City’s world-class reputation on the global stage, female founders and female entrepreneurs are getting left behind when it comes to investment and accessing capital. We need to change this and invest in our female entrepreneurs with the same commitment as their male counterparts to truly unlock the full economic potential of the UK.

What’s been your most memorable job interview? 

Interviewing graduates for Sainsbury’s years ago where the candidate role played a manager who had to have a difficult conversation about time-keeping with one of their team, played by another interviewer. They adopted an overbearing shouty father character and I and my fellow interviewers struggled to contain our tears of laughter.

And any business faux pas? 

Early on in my career I was a trainee buyer and went to a conference in Amsterdam with the buying team and a big fast moving commercial goods supplier. The post-conference socialising left me too hungover for store visits the next day. Not a good look!

What’s been your proudest moment?

Personally, I’m thrilled every time one of my two daughters asserts their right to do anything they feel like – my husband and I have raised two confident feminists, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.

Professionally, one of my proudest moments is being appointed to co-chair the Invest in Women Taskforce with Debbie Wosskow, which is aiming to make the UK the best place in the world to be a female entrepreneur. It is an issue I am hugely passionate about. Receiving the Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s public endorsement last month was a momentous milestone, affirming the importance of our mission as a top national priority.

And who do you look up to?

There have been many people for whom I’ve worked who have been a genuine inspiration to me… and some who certainly haven’t. But I think some of my most inspirational encounters have come from colleagues whom I’ve met via my work with our LGBT+ employee resource group, Spectrum.  Transphobia and homophobia is still sadly rife in our society and to hear some of the experiences they have endured really makes me aspire to the ‘persevilience’ (to steal a phrase from Alastair Campbell) that they have shown.

I truly believe we are creating a generational shift in gender parity when it comes to equity investment

Are you optimistic for the year ahead?

Absolutely – and what a moment for the future of female entrepreneurship with the first female Chancellor in post. I truly believe we are creating a generational shift in gender parity when it comes to equity investment, and as we work towards creating one of the largest funding pots for female entrepreneurs in the world, the future is looking brighter for our female investment managers and female founders. Watch this space…

We’re going for lunch, and you’re picking – where are we going?

I’m borderline addicted to Sticks’n’Sushi – hands down my favourite in the Wharf.

And if we’re grabbing a drink after work?

Let’s have tapas around Covent Garden – I tried Condesa the other day and it was lovely.

Where’s home during the week?

Back with the family in Brighton as much as I can.  Although they might argue that Barry’s Bootcamp is almost my second home midweek.

And where might we find you at the weekend?

I’m lucky enough to live near a fantastic farmers’ market so I make a beeline for there most Saturday mornings to grab a coffee and chat with friends. I also love looking around the myriad of independent shops in the Lanes in Brighton; I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of doing that.

You’ve got a well-deserved two weeks off. Where are you going and who with? 

With the family to southern France. 

Quickfire:

• Favourite book: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
• Favourite film: Leon
• Favourite artist/musician: It’s a tough one. Anything 80s but if you push me, George Michael 
• Favourite place in London: By the river on a sunny early evening
• Cocktail order: Mojito
• Coffee order: Oat milk latte