The Most Powerful Women in Banking, No. 9, Kate Danella, Regions Bank

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As the head of consumer banking at Birmingham, Alabama-based Regions Financial , Kate Danella directs the bank's largest business. Last year, the consumer unit produced $3.9 billion of revenue, or 53% of the company's total. Its $1.2 billion of pretax income was 45% of the bank-wide amount.

But when Danella was asked about her biggest accomplishment in 2024, she didn't point to any financial metrics. "Customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction," she wrote in an email.

In the American Customer Satisfaction Index's 2025 finance and insurance study, which was begun last year, Regions finished as the No. 1 traditional bank in customer satisfaction, Danella noted.

"What these results tell me is this: Regions is making a difference in the lives of our customers, and we're committed to continuously improving how we meet and serve the needs of our customers," she wrote.

Danella acknowledged that the $159.2 billion-asset Regions is facing additional competition in some of its core markets, particularly in the Southeast and in Texas. Numerous banks headquartered in the Midwest and the Northeast — including Fifth Third Bancorp, Huntington Bancshares and FNB — have recently been eyeing growth in the higher-growth Southeast region.

"We welcome the increased competition, but we have a clear advantage in that we've served these markets for generations and we have a high degree of primacy among our depositors, meaning more of our customers conduct all or most of their banking business with us," Danella wrote. "So, you saw us lean further into customer experience in 2024."

She explained that Regions invested more in what it calls Regions Greenprint, which gives personalized financial plans to consumers and small businesses. "We were very intentional in promoting our more consultative approach," she said in the email.

Since Danella moved into her current role in 2022, she has been managing the impact of higher interest rates and inflation. She leads 9,000 associates working at 1,250 branch offices in the South, Midwest and Texas.

Last year, expectations that mortgage rates would fall deterred some potential home buyers and homeowners looking to refinance, according to Danella. Still, she said, Regions "stayed the course."

"We started aggressively hiring the talent we needed in mortgage despite the challenging interest rate environment," Danella wrote. "As a result, Regions is well positioned for the future."

In addition to her duties at Regions, Danella teams up with her daughter each month to feed a group of 35 women and children at Pathways, Birmingham's shelter for women and children experiencing homelessness.

"This community of women have come to mean a lot to me. It brings me so much joy and fills my cup," she said.