The Most Powerful Women in Banking

Risk was the main order of business for Suni Harford last year. In her role directing sales, trading and origination for Citigroup's global securities and banking unit, she was charged with identifying franchise risk issues for each product line.

Staying positive, empowering people and being a risk-taker who makes a difference are guideposts that have steered Fidelity Investments' Kathleen Murphy through a 25-year career in financial services and benefits.

For three consecutive years, HSBC has ranked first in Bloomberg's Latin American bonds league table under the guidance of Katia Bouazza, who has earned one of the highest profiles of any investment banker, male or female, in the region.

Two years ago, JPMorgan Chase asked Catherine Keating to transfer her private bank experience over to the institutional investment side of the house. She's delivered not only with solid numbers but has done so by incorporating a key aspect of private banking: segmentation.

For Liz Myers and team at J.P. Morgan, the first half of the year was dominated by large IPOs, with the firm underwriting 20 transactions that raised more than $1 billion apiece, including the $5 billion offering from the insurance subsidiary of Banco de Brazil.