2025 Most Powerful Women to Watch

Here are the 10 stories our readers paid the most attention to in a year of political, economic and technological change.

The 23rd annual dinner honored bankers and finance leaders at the top of the industry.

Meghan Shue of Wilmington Trust sits down with Mary Ellen Egan of American Banker to discuss her business and what she's telling clients now.

With a risk-based capital percent double what's considered well-capitalized, Cai-Lee is thriving in her goal of building a financial institution for the next generation of small and medium-sized businesses – while grappling with an FDIC consent order.

Our annual ranking of women in banking and finance includes five community bank CEOs.

Miller, who has been at BofA for nearly three decades, said that banking "is a trust business."

Oliver, who has been in banking for more than 30 years, will retire at the end of October.

Under Smith's leadership, 56% of Zion's workforce uses generative AI for routine tasks such as reviewing contracts and prioritizing emails.

Richard says that managing liquidity and interest rate risk have been a top priority last year and this year for the bank.

The head of Santander's stateside operations built a career in banking by finding ways to "yes" to opportunities, even if they didn't seem like "the perfect fit," she said.

In a newly created role, Kerrins' mandate is to modernize the bank's platforms and embed AI capabilities across the enterprise.

Schoneman takes the long-term view on investing to navigate market volatility.

Guild said that the rapid acceleration of AI is creating "new, expansive cybersecurity challenges" for banks.

Sen's remit spans domestic and cross-border payments, commercial cards, clearing, and payments acceptance.

Vidoni launched a new AI-driven ad campaign this year targeting CFOs and executives seeking commercial and industrial loans.

Leslie's mandate spans the entire investment banking and trading apparatus at Goldman.

In addition to overseeing wholesale banking, LoCascio is managing dozens of the bank's technology projects.

In a still challenging CRE market, McShane emphasizes careful underwriting and sticking to fundamentals.

Following the bank's acquisition of Heartland Financial, Wilson and her team have been in "extremely heavy lifting" mode.

Last year, Wolverton implemented a new AI fraud detection technology that helped to reduce fraud and operational losses by $3.2 million.