Barclays is a British multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is a universal bank with operations in retail, wholesale and investment banking, as well as wealth management, mortgage lending and credit cards. It has operations in over 50 countries and territories and has around 48 million customers. CIO Anthony Watson has been in his role since 2009. CIO100 judge Ian Alderton remarked that Anthony holds a special place in the CIO community for all his extra work to promote diversity in business and technology leadership, adding also: “He always wants to do the right thing”. Watson’s heritage in architecture delivery across the company gave him strong technology credentials with the panel and they respected his brand strength as a leading CIO. “To be passionate you have to be bold and he’s certainly that,” said Ade McCormack. Mark Chillingworth said: "He's one of the CIOs who's definitely CEO material." "Banking is the most technology focused industry out there. Think about it, every transaction a bank performs is executed through technology. There are not many things you can do in a bank without technology. In fact I can't think of any! Banking, in very real terms touches people’s lives. I want to make sure everything we do at Barclays has a positive impact a person’s life, each and every time they engage with us, regardless of which channel they chose," he said. “As a CIO I want to work with the business in a technology led transformative fashion. Technology will enable our vision of becoming the “Go to Bank”,” says Watson CIO, Europe Retail & Business Banking. “Banking has a tradition of making things very complex. Basically what a customer wants is real time and seamless banking that’s channel independent,” Watson says of the vision since joining Barclays almost three years ago. “Barclays has a rich history of innovation; we were the first to use ATMs, the first to offer a plastic credit card, I want to build on that rich legacy.” IT leader:Anthony Watson CIO, Europe Retail & Business Banking. In role since:Since 2009. Reporting line:I report into the COO, Europe Retail & Business Banking. How often does the CIO meet with the CEO:Every week. Board level seat:Yes. IT budget:Approximately 10% of revenue. IT estate and or number of log on accounts under the control of the IT leader:140,000. IT staff currently employed:A team of 1,800. Split between in-house/outsourced staff:70/30. IT management team and reporting structure:I have 12 direct reports. Primary technology platforms at the organisation:Being one of the largest banks in the world we operate a large technology eco-system. Primary technology suppliers:We deal with a significant numbers of suppliers globally. Percentage of your applications/infrastructure run from the cloud:The majority, Barclays operate a private cloud.