The Most Powerful Women in Banking

When M&T Bank was acquiring Wilmington Trust in 2011, it tapped into Abigail Mrozinski's deep understanding of its newly added wealth business to help the merger go smoothly.

Overhauling Citi Private Bank's capital markets business in the Americas required finding someone who not only had expertise, but also had the ability to lead while growing revenue. The natural pick was Kristen Bitterly.

"If you gathered the U.S.-based senior counsels of the major Chinese banks operating in the United States," said Joseph Loffredo, assistant general manager and chief financial officer at the New York branch of China Merchants Bank, "you'd find one outlier, a lady about half the age of most of the others."

Bank of America investors on Wednesday voted against pressing the company to disclose more insightful data about disparities between men's and women's compensation. Shareholders at Wells and Bank of New York Mellon recently rejected similar measures.

JPMorgan Chase promoted 117 employees to managing director in its corporate and investment bank, with women representing a little more than a quarter of the total (a record percentage), a person briefed on the changes said.