Special Program Root Tag

Smarts matter, of course, but the key to career advancement lies in your ability to lead and motivate others, says Nandita Bakhshi.

Bank of the West is widely viewed as a tech innovator, and some of the credit goes to CIO Kirsten Garen.

A former regulator, Yvette Hollingsworth Clark is boosting compliance staff at one of the nation's largest retail banks.

One of the things that struck me in getting to know the women in our rankings better is that some of them have had significant career setbacks along the way. But they exude confidence anyway, because they have learned how to be fearless.

Confidence, accountability and a willingness to take risks are common traits among highly motivated executives. But true power comes from execution, says HSBC's North American CEO, who advises women to "be in it to win it."

Successful. Influential. Innovative. These women are driving results at their institutions, and paving the way for the female talent behind them.

Whether newcomers to the power scene or bank industry veterans taking on a new challenge, these women bear keeping an eye on.

From capital markets to card networks, businesses in the finance sector are benefiting from these women's efforts.

It wasn't long ago that mobile point of sale companies like Shopkeep were the alternative, the way for very small merchants to finally start accepting cards.

Studies are showing that companies predominantly led by women perform better than those led by men; worldwide trends are showing a continuing uptick in the number of women on boards, but they still account for less than 20% of directors.

Merchants Bank of Bangor in Pennsylvania has tapped its chief operating officer, Tracey Smith, to become chief executive next year.

Major payment processors are lining up in support of Android Pay, which Google began rolling out in the U.S. last week.

Prudential Bancorp in Philadelphia has named Anthony Migliorino to the newly created job of chief operating officer.

It's no secret that restaurants are going to be slow to adopt EMV relative to other retail categories, but in the past two months more dining establishments have begun to focus on the business-side issues and changes to customer interaction brought on by chip cards.

PayPal's previous efforts to come to the physical point of sale about three years ago never managed to topple the entrenched payment methods. Now the company is taking another stab at it, securing an arrangement with Macy's Inc.

Among other reasons for seeking their own charters, the U.K.'s so-called challenger banks say they need to avoid being beholden to older institutions that can slow down the creative process.

Baker Boyer National Bank in Walla Walla, Wash., has tapped president Mark Kajita as its new chief executive.

As the Merchant Customer Exchange's CurrentC mobile wallet goes to trial in Columbus, Ohio—along with a limited test in Target stores nationally—the industry gets it first peek at the venture's priorities.

Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., has named Christine Cumming, a former Federal Reserve Bank of New York executive, to its board.

The California Department of Business Oversight, which regulates financial services and products, has promoted Debie Abella to head of bank regulation and supervision.