Marcus Agius

Marcus Ambrose Paul Agius (; born 22 July 1946) is a British financier and former group chairman of Barclays.

Early life and education Marcus Agius was born on 22 July 1946, the son of Ena Eleanora (née Hueffer) and Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Victor Louis Benedict Agius. He is of part Maltese descent, and was educated at St George's College, Weybridge. He earned his degree in Mechanical Sciences and Economics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge,

On 2 July 2012 it was announced that Agius would resign following the Barclays fine for manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) by some Barclays employees in the Libor scandal. In November 2012, it was reported that he might be retained as a consultant.

In July 2012 Agius was reinstated as Executive Chairman, following the resignation of CEO Bob Diamond, until a new chief executive is appointed.

British Bankers Association (2010 – 2012) From 2010 to 2012 Agius was the chairman of the British Bankers Association (BBA). In September 2011, Agius was appointed as a committee member to act as one of the three trustees of the Bilderberg Group. The other committee members are Kenneth Clarke MP and Lord Kerr of Kinlochard.

Botany Agius is a keen gardener. Between 2009 and 2019 he was the chairman of the trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. On his retirement, he donated £500,000 to the gardens to create the Agius Evolution Garden there. He was appointed Chairman of the Cambridge University Plant Science Initiative.

Agius was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to botany and conservation.

Personal life Marcus, a Roman Catholic, married Katherine (born 1949), daughter of Edmund de Rothschild of the Rothschild banking family of England, and has a close involvement with the Rothschild family estate, Exbury Gardens in Hampshire. They have two children.

In 2010 The Tablet named him as one of Britain's most influential Roman Catholics.