FX.co ★ Forbes: World's Most Powerful Women – 2017

1st place. German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Once again, Merkel tops the list. As the de facto leader of the struggling European coalition, Merkel this year won a hard-fought election that saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party creep into the Bundestag. She'll have to continue to hold tight to the EU rudder as she faces oncoming storms from Brexit and the growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe.

2nd place. UK Prime Minister Theresa May

Few leaders have been thrust into power with as big a burden as the one May now shoulders. Only a slim majority (3%) of Britons voted to leave the European Union in a referendum vote last year that led then Prime Minister David Cameron to resign. Now May has to guide her country through this bumpy transition.

3rd place. Bill Gates' wife - entrepreneur Melinda Gates

Gates continues her run as the most powerful woman in philanthropy as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her laser focus on health is having a real impact as she showed in the foundation's first "Goalkeepers" report which presented hard metrics behind the giving. Maternal deaths in Ethiopia, for example, are down 57% since 1990 thanks, in part, to foundation efforts to get more mothers to give birth in health care facilities.

4th place. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg

Facebook's chief operating officer since 2008, Sandberg has helped dramatically boost revenues at the social network. In June 2016, Sandberg joined the board of directors and became the first woman in the history of the company to receive this honor. Before Facrbook, Sharil Sandberg was in the Google team.

She founded Lean In, a nonprofit named after her bestselling book, to support women's empowerment. The author of the bestseller "Lean in".

5th place. General Motors CEO Mary Barra

Barra is focused on improving GM's profitability while positioning the automaker for the future. The company's revenue rose 9.2% in 2016, and she is consolidating that strength by pulling GM out of weaker international markets, among other measures. Looking ahead, Barra announced in early October that GM plans to move toward 100% electric cars.

6th place. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcickiz

Hired in 1999 in Google, she started as the search firm's first marketing manager and later headed all marketing and commerce. Susan Wojcicki has been CEO of YouTube since February 2014. She advocated for Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube in 2006; the video site is now worth an estimated $90 billion.

7th place. Fidelity Investments President-CEO Abigail Johnson

Abigail Johnson's grandfather, Edward Johnson II, founded mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments in 1946. Fidelity is the second largest open-end fund in the US, its assets are estimated at $2 trillion. She reportedly worked summers at Fidelity through college and joined full-time as an analyst in 1988 after receiving a Harvard M.B.A. She took over from her father Edward "Ned" Johnson III as CEO in 2014 and as chairman in 2016. She owns an estimated 24.5% stake of the firm.

8th place. International Monetary Fund Managing director Christine Lagarde

Lagarde became the first woman to head the financial institution with 188 member countries. As head of the International Monetary Fund, Lagarde continues to work to bring economic discipline to a diverse group of countries including China, Russia and the U.K. She was born in France, worked for a long time as a lawyer in the field of labor relations and antitrust policy in the US, then became French finance minister. Lagarde has strongly urged central bankers to not ignore virtual currencies. She actively defends the rights of working women.

9th place. Santander Group Chair Ana Patricia Botin

She headed the largest Eurozone bank in 2014, becoming one of the most influential women in the banking sector. The bank was constantly criticized for the lack of service, so Botin, having taken office, introduced new programs for clients. Thanks to her efforts, operations with cryptocurrency became available. Despite political unrest in Spain, Botín continues to lead the way into financial technology. She helped create Alastria (formerly known as Red Lyra), the first multi sector blockchain-based platform.

10th place. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty

Virginia (Ginni) Rometty is the first woman to lead the corporation IBM in its entire age-old history. Rometty is a 36-year veteran of the iconic tech companya 36-year veteran of the iconic tech company. She has began her career in 1981 as a system engineer.