3. Philipp Hildebrand

The decade began with Philipp Hildebrand at the pinnacle of his powers, taking the helm of Switzerland's central bank. The banker-turned-policymaker's tenure was short-lived: Hildebrand was ousted two years later after if emerged that his wife, a gallery owner, and former foreign exchange dealer, had traded euros and Swiss francs before the Swiss National Bank introduced a floor on the country's currency. 

With Hildebrand's exit, the SNB stanched the damage to its reputation from the unseemly incident but lost a charismatic personality unafraid to get his hands dirty helping to rescue UBS in 2008. Hildebrand was also far chummier with other policymakers like then-Bank of Canada head Mark Carney than his Swiss colleagues.

It was these qualities that endeared him to Blackrock head Larry Fink, who hired Hildebrand as a vice-chairman in 2012. The 56-year-old erstwhile central banker, the partner of commodities tycoon Margarita Louis-Dreyfus – continues to urge Europe to clean up its banking system.