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(SINGAPORE) Temasek Holdings chief executive Ho Ching has been ranked the world's fifth most powerful woman by Forbes.
Rising three places from her eighth place last year, Ms Ho is also the only woman from Asia in the top 10, remaining 'high on the list despite a bumpy year at Singapore's flagship sovereign wealth fund', Forbes said.
After an abrupt parting of ways in July between Temasek and Charles Goodyear who was slated to replace Ms Ho, the Temasek CEO's next challenge will be to 'maintain the fund's 18 per cent returns - and find a successor', said Forbes.
Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel took top spot in Forbes's global ranking for the fourth straight year.
And US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chief Sheila Bair retained her No. 2 spot, after overseeing the takeover of 77 failed banks so far this year in the fallout from the financial crisis.
In third place, also for a second straight year, was PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi, who was born in India and is now based in the US.
Other than Ms Ho, nine other women from Asia made the top 100 list this year, including Indian National Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi, who ranked 13th.
US first lady Michelle Obama debuted on the list in 40th place this year. Several other women who took on high-profile roles in the US, such as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and SEC chairman Mary Schapiro, also made the list.
Other notable newcomers to the top 100 included Bangladesh prime minister Hasina Wajed, Iceland's new prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay, from South Africa.
Women leaders to watch, Forbes said, include Chanda Kochhar, who became the first woman chief executive of India's ICICI Bank in May and ranked 20th, and Sallie Krawcheck, who was ranked 87th as the chief executive for global wealth management at Bank of America, a year after leaving Citigroup.
For its annual list, Forbes looks for women who run countries, big companies or influential non-profit organisations.
The rankings are based on a combination of their visibility, measured by media mentions, the size of the organisation or country the women lead and their professional accomplishments.
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