Jennifer Barker, Global Head of Payments & Trade and Depositary Receipts, Laide Majiyagbe, Global Head of Markets and Carolyn Weinberg, Chief Product and Innovation Officer, have been named to American Banker’s inaugural Most Innovative People in Finance ranking, celebrating 50 executives transforming financial services through vision, execution and measurable results.
Jennifer leads BNY’s market-leading Global Payments & Trade and Depositary Receipts businesses. Global Payments & Trade is one of the top five U.S. dollar payments clearers in the world, clearing roughly $2.5 trillion of USD payments daily as of March 31, 2026. BNY is also the #1 Global Depositary bank by number of sponsored depositary receipts programs, with $433 billion in assets under custody as of the same date. Under Jennifer’s leadership, both businesses have advanced digital capabilities and cemented BNY’s position as a leader in global payments and depositary receipts.
“I am thrilled to be recognized along with this impressive group of innovators. Payments and depositary receipts sit at the core of how capital moves and markets function globally – that's an enormous responsibility, and an enormous opportunity. The infrastructure underpinning global payments and capital markets is evolving rapidly, with clients and institutions demanding greater speed, transparency and resilience from the systems they depend on. This recognition reflects the work of teams across BNY who are rising to meet that challenge, innovating each day for our clients and the industry as a whole.”
Laide leads Global Markets at BNY, responsible for the strategic direction and delivery of client solutions across the firm’s Execution Services, Securities Finance and Liquidity & Margin businesses. Under her leadership, BNY has accelerated the modernization of liquidity and collateral markets through new digital capabilities, including the launch of tokenized Money Market Funds (MMFs) on the firm’s LiquidityDirect℠ platform. In recent years, LiquidityDirect℠ has evolved from a money market fund portal into a broader short-term investment platform, facilitating approximately $19.7 trillion in annual transaction flows for more than 8,100 institutional investors. In parallel, Laide has also led the expansion of BNY’s global collateral capabilities through CollateralONE, extending BNY’s triparty capabilities beyond initial margin to support repo, collateral transformation, variation margin, and financing through a single access point. BNY’s Global Collateral platform now operates at approximately $7.8 trillion in liquidity pools.
“It’s a privilege to be recognized alongside such an accomplished group of leaders. The infrastructure underpinning global markets is undergoing significant structural change, creating new demands for resiliency, efficiency, and connectivity across the financial system. I’m fortunate to work with incredible teams focused on helping clients navigate this transformation by modernizing market infrastructure, expanding digital capabilities, and building solutions for the next generation of global markets.”
Carolyn leads Product and Innovation at BNY, including the digital assets and data and analytics businesses. She connects the firm’s long-standing strengths, global scale and trusted market infrastructure with next-generation technologies that enable clients to operate more efficiently and move, manage and service assets with greater speed, transparency and scale. She works across BNY’s platforms to unlock more value for clients by building enterprise solutions across custody, payments, fund services and data solutions, identifying market gaps, integrating capabilities across the company and commercializing new offerings that support growth. Under Carolyn’s leadership, BNY has advanced its digital asset strategy and delivered major wins, most recently being selected by MSIM for digital asset custody services for the first crypto ETP.
“I’m honored to be recognized on this list. We are at a pivotal moment in the future of finance. Financial Innovation is about re-imagining systems and transforming market infrastructure to enable a more connected, always-on capital markets. This recognition reflects the work of teams across BNY who are executing this vision to delivering meaningful impact for our clients and the broader financial system.”
This new ranking recognizes executives whose leadership is redefining what’s possible across digital transformation, customer experience and operational excellence. Honorees will be celebrated at American Banker’s Digital Banking conference in Orlando, Florida, from June 15-17.