The Most Powerful Women in Banking

Since becoming President and CEO of PNC Capital Markets in 2002, Charlotte McLaughlin has been building up what had been a dormant business, making capital markets a profitable and strategically important part of PNC Financial Services Group.

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.

Even with more than 250,000 applicants for its summer program and analyst classes each year, Goldman Sachs questioned whether it was doing enough to foster diversity in the pool of hopefuls. That's why Edith Cooper, its global head of human capital management, is leading an effort to refine the way it finds talent.

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.