The Most Powerful Women in Banking

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.

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.

"To help teach, mentor and sponsor women to realize their full potential and contribute to our business and society inspires me, and keeps me motivated for both my colleagues and for my two daughters," said HSBC's Katia Bouazza.