Alexandra McLeod, Head of Europe/Middle East/Africa corporate banking, Bank of America

Most people who meet Alexandra McLeod, Bank of America's new European head of corporate banking, have trouble placing her accent. Americans think she's British; the English assume she's from North America. In fact hers is the perfect transatlantic background for the bank's senior officer in Europe.

She was born 43 years ago in Canada and came to the UK at the age of 13. She studied law in England - taking a year out in Switzerland - and spent the early years of her career working for Continental Bank in London, Paris and Chicago (she was one of the bank's first graduate trainees in 1978). The spell in France nurtured a continuing love affair with that country. She has a house in Provence and speaks fluent French. "I feel equally comfortable in the UK, the US and France," she says.

McLeod's appointment makes her one of the most powerful female bankers in...