The 25 Most Powerful Women In Banking

There’s been a lot to mull over this year about gender equality in finance and business.

One recent survey by Catalyst, a nonprofit group that promotes women in business, found that 19% of women have lost their jobs in the past two year, compared with 6% of men. Then, there was Jack Welch’s comment a few months ago that women who take time off for their family are doomed to been passed over for high power jobs.

Other studies are more upbeat. The Boston Consulting Group says women will drive the post recession economy because of rising female employment and because women are narrowing the wage gap with men.

Now US Banker magazine is finding some bright spots in its annual “25 Most Powerful Women in Banking” issue. Calpers, the giant California pension fund, hired the first female CEO, Anne Stausboll, in its 77 year-history, while Bank of America is said to be grooming Sallie Krawchek, who was recently hired as head of the bank’s Global Wealth and Investment Management unit, as a possible successor to CEO Ken Lewis.

At the top of the US Banker list, for the third straight year, is Heidi Miller, J.P. Morgan’s CEO of Treasury and Securities Services. One notable newcomer to the list is BBVA Compass retail chief Shelaghmichael Brown, who helped with that bank’s recent acquisitions in the US.

The magazine editors rank the women based criteria such as one-year performance, the results of business initiatives, management style and overall influence.

Here’s the full list, and for more rankings click here.

The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking 2009

1) Heidi Miller, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

2) Karen Peetz, BNY Mellon

3) Pamela Joseph, U.S. Bancorp

4) Barbara Desoer, Bank of America

5) Carrie Tolstedt, Wells Fargo

6) Peyton Patterson, NewAlliance Bancshares

7) Deanna Oppenheimer, Barclays PLC

Mary Callahan Erdoes, JPMorgan Chase

9) Diane Thormodsgard, U.S. Bancorp

10) Julie Monaco, Citigroup

11) Lynn Pike, Capital One Bank

12) Cara Heiden, Wells Fargo

13) Avid Modjtabai, Wells Fargo

14) Donna Demaio, MetLife Bank

15) Mollie Hale Carter, Sunflower Bank

16) Diane D’Erasmo, HSBC USA

17) Ellen Alemany, Citizens Financial Group and RBS Americas

18) Anne Arvia, Nationwide Bank

19) Anne Finucane, Bank of America

20) Ellen Costello, Harris Bankcorp

21) Colleen Johnston, TD Bank Financial Group

22) Shelaghmichael Brown, BBVA Compass

23) Diane Reyes, Citigroup

24) Kay Hoveland, K-Fed Bancorp & Kaiser Federal Bank

25) Leeanne Linderman, Zions First National Bank