The banking and finance segment, like so many other industries, is a male domain. Women are still a rarity at the top or on the boards of companies. But their number is increasing. And our list of some of the most influential women in finance proves that a woman can make it to the top in a man’s world and move the economy.
At the beginning of the year, the media reported that ten times more men than women sit in the executive chairs of listed companies in Germany. There is not a single woman on more than 65 percent of executive boards[1]. One thing is clear: the proportion of women in the top echelons of German companies is still far too low.
Nevertheless, compared to previous years, the proportion of influential women in business and at the top of companies is increasing. Only slightly, to be sure, but it’s rising. In 2019, women held a total of 94 out of 907 board seats (a 10.4 percent share) at the 200 companies with the highest revenues. In 2018, nine percent were[2]. This development has also been evident in the startup, banking and payment industries for several years. The number of women taking risks, founding (successful) companies, being at the top of their field and further expanding the “female sphere of influence” continues to go up.
In this post, we present some of the most important, powerful women in finance and banking. They all have
- an impressive resume
- various professional stations in the CV
- Demonstrated assertiveness in a male domain
Martina Hund-Mejean – Successful in the USA
Financial risk management, financial planning, cost-benefit analyses – all in a day’s work for Martina Hund-Mejean. Born in Frankfurt, she is Chief Financial Officer at the US payment service provider and credit card company Mastercard. Hund-Mejean, who is regarded as one of the most influential women in the financial sector worldwide, has held this post for 13 years. And not only that: her name is usually mentioned when asked about the most successful female German manager in the USA.
As early as the mid-1980s, she went to America for a second degree (she had previously studied economics in Freiburg). After working for the car manufacturer General Motors and the telecommunications company Lucent Technologies at the time, she moved to the listed Tyco Group. Then followed Mastercard. Treasury & Risk Management Magazine has named the 60-year-old as one of the most influential people in finance three times.
Finja Kütz – a German in Italy
At the end of the 1990s, top manager Finja Kütz began her career at the international strategy consultancy Oliver Wyman and steadily worked her way up the career ladder. In 2004, she was promoted to Partner, then became Head of International Marketing and Strategy. In 2011, she was appointed Head of Financial Services for Germany, Switzerland and Austria (DACH), and four years later she became CEO Germany, Austria and Luxembourg. Two years ago, it goes even further up the ladder. And from then on, Kütz is one of the most important, influential German female bankers: in 2018, she joins the Milan-based major bank UniCredit as Group Chief Transformation Officer. Since then, she has had a say in all strategic decisions. Since summer 2020, she has also been a member of the Supervisory Board of UniCredit Bank AG.
Helene von Roeder – Frankfurt real estate and finance expert
Although Von Roeder from Frankfurt no longer works in the banking and finance sector, she is still one of the most powerful women in her segment as a member of the Management Board of the Bochum-based real estate group Vonovia. As Chief Financial Officer, she exerts a great deal of influence on the fortunes of one of the most valuable and largest housing companies in Germany. Most recently, the company’s profit rose to over one billion euros[3]. Before joining Vovonia in 2018, the physics graduate was one of Germany’s top female bankers for many years.
Her career began in the mid-1990s at Deutsche Bank, followed by positions at the global financial institution UBS AG and Morgan Stanley Bank – one of the most profitable American financial institutions with total assets of almost 900 million dollars. There, von Roeder served as Head of Global Capital Markets for Germany and Austria and rose to become a member of the Management Board of Morgan Stanley Bank AG.
She then spent four years as head of Germany and Central Europe at Credit Suisse, one of the world’s largest financial services companies.
Dr. Birte Rothkopf – Online plants from the Black Forest
Birte Rothkopf is one of the most influential fintech thought leaders and experts in Germany. Together with Salome Preiswerk, Rothkopf founded the online investment platform Whitebox a few years ago, a bank-independent provider of digital investments. And one that has been honoured by Stiftung Warentest: in a robo-advisor test this summer, the independent testers named Whitebox one of the best digital asset management companies.
Only just behind Quirion. And Rothkopf, who worked in management consulting for many years, also proves that it doesn’t always have to be Berlin. After all, Whitebox GmbH is based in the tranquil town of Freiburg im Breisgau. Rothkopf also sits on an important advisory body to the German Federal Ministry of Finance, the FinchTechRat (founded in 2017). Rothkopf and her colleagues from the start-up and banking scene advise politicians on issues relating to financial technologies and digitalisation.
Christiana Riley – youngest DB Board member since 1970
She is responsible for the American business of Germany’s largest bank in terms of total assets and number of employees: Christiana Riley, a graduate in Romance languages and business administration. Educated at the elite university of Princeton, her first employer, the investment bank Greenhill, sent her to Frankfurt in the early 00s. After a stint at the consulting firm McKinsey, she moved to Deutsche Bank in 2006. She started in the Group Strategy department, which she headed a few years later.
She will then become chief financial officer of the investment banking division and move up to the board in early 2020[4]. Christiana Riley has since definitively become one of the top international female bankers. And one of the youngest: At the age of 41. Riley the youngest Board member of Deutsche Bank since Alfred Herrhausen. He was 40 years old when he was promoted to a member of the Management Board in 1970.
International
Ana Botín – most powerful manager in Europe
According to the German Financial Times, the Spanish Ana Botín is considered the most influential businesswoman and (female) personality in European finance. And every year she occupies one of the top spots in the Forbes list of the most powerful women in the world. Botín is chairman of the board of Banco Santander. Critics say her path to the top of one of Spain’s biggest banks was preordained; after all, Ana is the daughter of Emilio Botín, the former president of the Santander-based universal bank.
In addition, success and fame run like a thread through the entire family: Botín’s brother-in-law was one of the best international golfers in the 1970s and 1980s. And her mother is one of Spain’s most popular pianists, honored by the Spanish royal family for her life’s work. But Botín’s way to the top is above all due to diligence, perseverance, know-how and the right decisions. Educated at the prestigious Harvard Business School, she rose to management in her 20s at JPMorgan in the United States. By the time she joins the Santander banking group, her rise continues unabated, and she is already one of the “superstars” of the European financial world – even though she is not yet over 30.
Sharon Bowles – Stock Exchange Executive and Patent Attorney
Sharon Bowles is the most powerful woman at the London Stock Exchange (LSE), one of the largest exchanges in Europe. The trading volume, i.e. the total amount of all securities traded on the exchange, amounted to over 470 billion US dollars in 2018.[5]. Together with her – male – colleagues, Bowles handles all matters related to the stock exchange and its business. Bowles, who is considered to be a tough-talker, is an all-rounder and at home in many (scientific) disciplines.
She studied physics and later worked successfully as a patent attorney when she co-founded a patent law firm in the early 80s. From 2005 to 2014, she is a member of the European Parliament and during this time, as Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, she is considered one of the EU’s financial and economic experts. During this time, she is a welcome guest on talk shows and expert panels and speaks out on topics and issues relating to free payments, European financial stability and the regulation of financial institutions and markets.
Susanne Chishti – Expert, Author, Network Founder
She founded the Fintech Circle, Europe’s leading (fintech) investor network: Susanne Chishti. About 70 members[6] the network already counts at the beginning of the year. They all specialize in investing in financial technology companies. In addition, Chishti is (co-)author of the fintech investment standard work “Fintech Book”, a kind of “guide to the financial technology revolution”. In addition, Chishti, who used to work for major banks and financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, is committed to London as a business location and financial centre like few others. If a non-UK startup is interested in the English metropolis, for example to invest in fintechs based there or to relocate its company there, it turns to “Fintech Tours”. With “Fintech Tours”, Chishti organises trips to the British metropolis for these companies and establishes contacts.
Sources:
[1] German corporate boards: 64 women, 633 men | tagesschau.de
[2] Study on corporate boards: More women on the executive floors | tagesschau.de
[3] Vonovia: Housing group makes profit in the billions – DER SPIEGEL
[4] Deutsche Bank: Christiana Riley is the only woman on the board (faz.net)
[5] The top 10 largest stock exchanges in the world (gevestor.de)
[6] Susanne Chishti: “A business angel should not panic” (handelsblatt.com)