Antony Jenkins is a rare figure in global finance: someone who has led at the very pinnacle of the banking world and then chosen to return — not to a boardroom — but to the engine room of innovation itself. As Founder, Chair and CEO of 10x Banking, he has spent the past decade redefining how banks operate, engage with customers and harness technology to deliver meaningful change. His work aims not just to improve banking, but to make it smarter, more responsive, and fairer for society at large.
The news of Cranfield’s 2026 Entrepreneur Alumni Award came as a welcome surprise. “I’m both surprised and honoured to receive this recognition from such a prestigious institution,” he says, acknowledging the role his MBA played in shaping his mindset as a leader and a founder.
Antony’s journey into fintech was born of impatience — an impatience with the slow pace of innovation in legacy banking systems. After more than three decades in global finance, including senior leadership at Citigroup and a tenure as Group Chief Executive of Barclays Bank, he became increasingly concerned that traditional banks would lose ground to nimble newcomers because of outdated technology. “It took months, sometimes years, to launch a simple new product,” he reflects. “Data was very hard to extract and manage and overall operating costs were high.”
That frustration became the seed of a new challenge: build technology that was not just better, but ten times better — for banks, for their customers and for society. Hence the name 10x. The goal was audacious, but it provided clarity of purpose, and eventually, a platform to deliver it.
Turning an idea into reality
The path from idea to impact has not been without hurdles. For Antony, one of the biggest lessons of entrepreneurship is that execution matters as much as conception. “Having the idea is one thing; bringing it to life is another,” he says. “Getting the right people doing the right work in the right way is critical. And of course, raising money to fund the business is a constant challenge.”
Culture, he adds, is everything, especially in a start-up that exists to transform an industry built on decades of tradition. “A culture of learn fast, adapt fast is critical,” he insists. “In a new business, nothing goes right the first time. If it does, it’s pure luck.”
Under his leadership, 10x has evolved into a globally recognised fintech, delivering a cloud-native core banking platform that enables banks to launch products in minutes rather than months, access real-time data, and operate with far lower complexity and cost. The platform now supports major financial institutions across multiple continents, and the business achieved profitability last year — a major milestone in a competitive industry.
A Cranfield foundation for entrepreneurship
Reflecting on his time at Cranfield, Antony underscores how the experience equipped him with both frameworks and confidence. “Cranfield gave me a great toolkit to think about how to build and grow a business — from strategy and marketing to negotiation skills,” he explains. “The chance to engage with these disciplines academically, but also practically, was very helpful.”
One memorable aside from his student days was an entrepreneurial course that made him think seriously about starting a business — even if his youthful plan to launch a chain of Tex-Mex restaurants never came to fruition. It was, he says with a smile, the entrepreneurial spirit that mattered most.
To Antony, entrepreneurs are innovators by definition — but innovation is not merely novelty, it is meaningful difference. “It starts with identifying a real problem, like aging and expensive banking technology, but then coming up with a solution that is significantly better.”
And it doesn’t stop there. True innovation, he believes, extends to how a solution is built, deployed and brought to market. In a sector as vast and complex as financial services, that demands both vision and pragmatism.
Evolution and impact
Nearly a decade since its founding, 10x is on a trajectory Antony could only imagine at the outset. It operates across four continents, soon to be five, and recently celebrated its first year of profitability. Looking ahead, growth remains the central focus.
Beyond 10x, Antony’s influence reaches into regulation, governance and education. He serves as an external member of the Prudential Regulation Committee of the Bank of England, offering insights at the highest levels of financial oversight. He is Chair of Redpin, a pioneer in non-bank foreign exchange, and has served on numerous boards, from blockchain platforms to global mortgage lenders. In January 2025 he took on the role of Chancellor at Manchester Metropolitan University, reflecting his commitment to education and skills development.
Lessons in leadership
Entrepreneurship has refined, and in some ways, redefined, Antony’s approach to leadership. He emphasises clarity of purpose, transparent communication and the ability to adapt the organisation as it grows. “Be clear about what you’re trying to achieve and how you want to achieve it,” he says. “Excite people about the journey, but be candid when times are tough. And make sure your team feels they can participate in the success of the business — through their growth and, where possible, financially too.”
For him, leadership is about creating conditions where people are empowered to succeed, not merely directed to perform.
For Cranfield students and those dreaming of building something of their own, Antony’s advice is both grounded and inspirational: “Start with your own experience. Identify a real problem and a 10x solution. Ask for help — nine times out of ten, people will help. Embrace failure, respond quickly when things don’t work, be creative and tenacious. Do it because you passionately believe in it. Financial success will only ever be a by-product of that.”
His message underlines a simple truth about entrepreneurship: strength of conviction and clarity of purpose matter more than short-term results.
From the executive suites of global banking to the front lines of fintech innovation, Antony Jenkins’s journey is a testament to the power of experience shaped by curiosity, courage and conviction. His work at 10x, and beyond, reflects a lifelong commitment to making institutions work better for people. In doing so, he continues to redefine not just systems and technology, but the very notion of what leadership in the digital age can achieve.
