The Most Powerful Women in Banking

Louise Walker, the head of First Northern Bank in Dixon, Calif., will be wearing an additional hat over the next year — chair of the California Bankers Association.

HCSB Financial in South Carolina recently raised $45 million from a group led by Castle Creek Capital Partners, showing that big investors are still comfortable placing bets on financial firms. The challenge for banks like HCSB will be to find ways to put that capital to work years after other institutions were able to start playing offense.

The $125 billion-asset company said in a press release Tuesday that Kate Randall Danella will lead a team of private wealth management professionals providing banking, trust and investment management services to affluent and high-net-worth individuals and families.

Fifth Third Bancorp has hired Citigroup's Melissa Stevens to the newly created position of chief digital officer and head of omnichannel banking.

The speculation is that Maria Vullo, who is waiting to be confirmed as New York's new banking superintendent, is less interested in being on the 6 o'clock news than Ben Lawsky was. A study shows that companies sap women of ambition to advance within two years, an effect that doesn't happen with men in part because they tend to get more encouragement. But is it any wonder women feel that way when — even now, it appears — they might get fired for refusing to wear high heels at work? Also, Sallie Krawcheck, Sheila Bair and Elizabeth Warren.