The South African banking CEO who became a Knight
South African-born Bradley Fried has held prominent positions in the USA and the UK, and was knighted by the British Royal Family.
Fried was born in Cape Town in 1960 to a Jewish family and attended Westerford High School in Rondebosch.
He remained in the area to study a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Cape Town.
After taking his Chartered Accountancy exams in 1988, he worked at Arthur Andersen as a CA.
However, he was bored in that role and was looking to do something different, with a particular interest in pursuing an MBA. Speaking with Bruce Whitfield, Fried explained how one decision changed his life.
He then decided to call Wall Street guru John Wolfensohn—who would soon become the president of the World Bank—for career advice.
After getting through to Wolfensohn, they agreed to meet in New York. Wolfensohn said Fried should attend the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1991, he moved to the USA as a Palmer Scholar and to Wharton, where he received an MBA with distinction two years later.
Fried said that Wharton helped expose him to new ideas that wouldn’t have been possible without Wolfensohn’s advice.
After completing his MBA, he continued his work in the USA, joining management consulting giant McKinsey & Company, swiftly rising from associate to partner.
After eight years in the USA, he partially reconnected with his South African roots by moving to London to work at Investec Bank PLC as Chief Operating Officer.
After four years as COO, he was promoted to CEO in 2003. He would step back from his day-to-day roles at Investec in 2010, becoming a non-executive director on the board.
New roles in the UK
In 2010, he founded the private equity firm Grovepoint and served as its managing partner.
He also took up more non-executive roles during this period, including stints at the UK’s Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority, London Business School, and the Bank of England.
From 2015 to 2017, he briefly stepped down as MD of Grovepoint to work as a part-time executive for the KI Corporation, founded by South African-born billionaire Nathan Kirsch.
After serving as the Deputy Chair at the Bank of England since 2014, he was promoted Chair of Court in 2018.
After holding the role of chair for four years, he was knighted by Princess Anne as part of the 2022 Birthday Honours for his work with the central bank.
Shortly after leaving the Bank of England role, he moved to the board of Goldman Sachs International, where he served as chair.
However, after just 15 months, Fried resigned from Goldman Sachs and returned to the KI Corporation as CEO.
In his current role, Fried handles Kirsh’s empire, including Tower 42 in London and Jetro Holdings, Jetro Cash and Carry owner and Restaurant Depot in the US.
His oversight responsibilities have not ended, as he was appointed chair of the global investment firm Partners Capital in late 2024.
Looking back, Fried has highlighted the importance of courage when making decisions across his career.
Thinking back on his call with Wolfensohn, Fried looked at the downside of making the call: Wolfensohn would be furious that he “wasted his time” and asked him never to call back.
This ‘worst-case scenario’ had little downside for him, though, because the alternative was his accounting work in South Africa, where he was yelled at, micromanaged and had to do stock counts.
However, he said that going big always needs to be rational, with a risk parameter around it. He warned that a risk should never be able to bring everything crashing down if it happens.
This go-for-it mindset was crucial in getting him the Bank of England role, as he stumbled on the role when browsing the classifieds of a newspaper, and decided to throw his hat in the ring.
Twelve years after that, he became Sir Bradley Fried, a Knight of the Royal Family.
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