Business Insider recently released its list of the most powerful people in the world, and 10 of the top 50 included hedge fund managers, bank CEOs, and other magnates in the finance industry.
To determine the ranking, we considered more than 100 of the most influential players in business, politics, and entertainment and evaluated their influence using metrics in four major areas: economic power, command, newsworthiness, and impact— a subjective measure that captures how important they are in their respective spheres.
We then narrowed down the list to just those in the finance industry, adding six finance heavyweights who narrowly missed our top 50. You can read the full methodology here.
Read on to see the 16 most powerful people in finance in the world.
Editing by Alex Morrell with additional research by Andy Kiersz.
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16. George Soros
Title: Chairman, Soros Fund Management and Open Society Foundations
Country: US
Age: 85
Born in Budapest, George Soros lived through the Nazi occupation of Hungary during WWII before fleeing to England and later settling in the US. He remains actively interested in politics today and recently made news for supporting the refugees flooding into Europe, a move Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban saw as an attempt to undermine the authority of European nations. Soros is also seen as a friend to liberals and an enemy of conservatives in the US, and he donated $2 million to super PACs supporting Hillary Clinton earlier this year.
Touted as "the man who broke the bank of England," Soros is best known in the finance world for the Quantum Fund, a hedge fund he launched in 1973 under his Soros Fund Management company. In 1992 he shorted the British pound, a risky move that ended up earning the fund $1 billion in a single day and solidifying Soros’ place in finance. Quantum Fund also generated annual returns over 30% under Soros' leadership, making it one of the most successful hedge funds of all time.
Today, Soros, who has a personal net worth upwards of at least $23.3 billion, remains chairman of Soros Fund Management, which manages more than $25 billion in assets. He’s also the chairman of Open Society, an organization he founded in 1979 that operates as a network of foundations and partners across the globe who promote the values of open society and human rights.
15. Ding Xuedong
Title: Chairman and CEO, China Investment Corporation
Country: China
Age: 55
As the chairman and CEO of China Investment Corporation, the world’s fourth-largest sovereign wealth fund, Ding Xuedong manages over $700 billion in assets. A longtime employee of China’s finance ministry, Ding was appointed as chairman in 2013, following the exit of Lou Jiwei months prior.
The fund, founded in 2007, oversees China’s foreign exchange holdings. CIC has branched out into countries all over the globe, from Canada to Russia to Australia, and in November it expressed interest in purchasing a development site near Sydney Olympic Park, a deal worth about $660 million.
In addition to managing CIC, Ding also oversees China International Capital Corp, a huge investment bank that went public in November— the first Chinese company to do so in months. China curbed IPOs during a market plunge, but CICC’s IPO built confidence that the market had stabilized.
14. Lloyd Blankfein
Title: CEO, Goldman Sachs
Country: US
Age: 61
As the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein oversees the company’s $880 billion in total assets. Goldman is one of the strongest banks on Wall Street, ranking in the top two (alongside rival JPMorgan) in global investment-bank revenue across fixed income, equities, and banks for the first nine months of the year.
With a personal net worth topping $1.1 billion, Blankfein officially became a billionaire this summer as well. Most of his wealth is tied up in Goldman stock, but the CEO also owns a significant amount of real estate, including a duplex on Central Park West.
In September, Blankfein announced that he is battling cancer — a “highly curable” form of lymphoma, as he described it — but the banker isn’t slowing down. Blankfein continues to run the company as usual, coming into the office every day and keeping GS on top of Wall Street.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider