The Most Powerful Women in Banking

What it takes to excel goes far beyond the daily work a job entails. It's about having the courage to be who you are, stand up for what you believe in, overcome great adversity, and make the world better in a way that is uniquely yours. Here are four executives who have done just that.
• Create a Ripple Effect: JPMorgan's Stacey Friedman
• Be Like a Puffer Fish: Barclays' Barbara Byrne
• Have the Courage to Believe: BBVA's Rosilyn Houston
• Power Through Adversity: First United's Karen Glenn

BNY Mellon's Karen Peetz tops the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking list; the 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance list is led by Mary Callahan Erdoes at JPMorgan Chase; and Nandita Bakhshi at Bank of the West heads the 25 Women to Watch list.

An analytical mind; a drive to improve; a sense of humility; a leadership gene. Nandita Bakhshi identified these four traits as key in her move up to CEO.

Ellen Alemany came out of retirement in the past year to continue a turnaround effort underway at the $66.7 billion-asset CIT Group. She's got her work cut out for her.

Of all that Mary Mack accomplished running Wells Fargo's brokerage operations — adding teams of new advisers in key markets, substantially improving her unit's customer satisfaction ratings — perhaps what stood out most was her group's success in attracting new business from the banking side of the house.