New York

Two Indian-Americans are among Money magazine's 50 influential figures from entertainment, media, business, investing, politics, etc, who are shaping Americans' finances.

Rohit Chopra, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Gaurav Sharma of New York-based fintech firm Capitalize, have been recognised for offering "unique perspective on the gaps within our financial systems - and how they're working to improve the future for everyday consumers".

As the director of the government's CFPB, Chopra, 40, is tasked with protecting families from deceptive and abusive financial practices.

Appointed by US President Joe Biden in 2021, "Chopra has already made an outsized impact on the wallets of Americans by helping overhaul how medical debt affects our credit, reduce 'junk fees' charged by banks, and more," says Money.

Chopra holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

An Australian by birth, Sharma is the CEO and Co-Founder of Capitalize -- a venture-backed fintech company in New York focused on the retirement savings market. Before founding Capitalize, Sharma worked for JP Morgan, UBS, Morgan Stanley, and Greenlight Capital.

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Initially, Sharma wanted Capitalize just to solve the problem of finding an old account and getting the money easily into an individual retirement account. Looking forward, though, "our bigger mission is helping the issue of saving for retirement," Sharma told Money.