The Most Influential People In Finance

Citadel founder Ken Griffin has long been one of Wall Street’s biggest — and most feared — customers.

Ken Moelis, 51, might have made a great trader: His market timing is impeccable. In February 2007 he quit UBS as president of investment banking, just before the subprime crisis ignited, hammering many investment banks — especially UBS.

At a firm that bends over backward to quash egos and instill a team ethos, Goldman Sachs’ Richard Friedman has been almost too much of a standout performer.

Andrea Orcel figures prominently in the plans of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s new investment banking chief, Tom Montag (see No. 7), who hopes that Orcel’s deal-making prowess can get BofA Merrill back in the game internationally after the bruising merger of the bank and the brokerage firm.

The most powerful investment banker in Latin America started out as an intern fixing computers. André Esteves, 40, Brazil’s youngest self-made billionaire, began in the IT department of São Paulo investment bank Pactual in 1989 and rapidly rose to the top.

As foreign financiers wonder when China’s big banks will go after overseas markets, they are keeping a close eye on Li Jiange.

Rodgin (Rodge) Cohen, 65, seemed to be everywhere during the darkest days of the banking crisis.

If there is one person other than Gary Cohn (see No. 10) who has a shot at succeeding Lloyd Blankfein as Goldman’s CEO, it is David Heller, 42, say insiders.

When HSBC trimmed its investment banking ambitions a few years ago, Stuart Gulliver, 50, decided to sharpen the unit’s focus.

Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, 49, is one UBS banker who has survived the crisis with his reputation not only intact but enhanced.