The Most Powerful Women in Banking

Rebecca Patterson might be a financial expert who journalists at CNBC and other news outlets seek out for commentary, but it wasn't so long ago that she was on the other side of the interview.

For the past four years Suni Harford has been co-chair of Citi Women, a global women's career-track initiative that involves more than 130,000 female employees.

Though some other investment banks have scaled back equity research efforts in recent times, Joyce Chang has successfully led continued investment and expansion at J.P. Morgan.

Candace Browning has two very important roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch — both related to research. Not only does she oversee research for the investment bank, she also spearheads some of its work to evaluate innovative fintech startups.

How an uncommon knack for bridging different cultures helped Nandita Bakhshi rise to the top job at Bank of the West.