(FORTUNE Magazine) – Karen Horn, 43, the personable chairman of Bank One in Cleveland (assets: $1.5 billion), has surrendered her title as the highest-ranking woman in commercial banking. In September that honor passed to Claire Gargalli, 44, a self- contained Philadelphian who was just named chairman and chief executive of Pittsburgh's Equibank. Its assets: $2.5 billion. But Horn did win another sort of award -- for baking the best cake at the local county fair. ''This is my third championship,'' she brags. ''Last year I won the prize for the best yeast baking, and the year before that for the best non-yeast bread.'' Which just goes to show there is more than one way to get to the top. The first ladies of finance have a few things in common professionally. Both studied economics, neither set out to become bankers, and both have risen to head big regional institutions. Their personal styles differ dramatically, though. Horn, a native of California who seems as comfortable talking about baking (''The secret to chiffon cake is being careful about folding in your egg whites'') as banking, candidly admits that her first priority is family. Photographs of her husband and 5-year-old son abound in her office. So do mementos of previous jobs, including a crystal gavel from her days as the first female president of a federal reserve bank, and pictures of her horse, Ben-Lyn Anchorman. Horn is an accomplished equestrienne; frequently she schedules her twice-weekly dressage lessons at 10 P.M. so she can spend evenings with her son. Gargalli's passion is her work. Since coming to Equibank in 1984, following 20 years at Fidelity Bank in Philadelphia, she has worked tirelessly to restore the troubled institution to profitability. Her efforts have paid off: In 1986 net income rose to $4 million, compared with an operating loss of $18.6 million in 1985. Charming, energetic, but intensely private, Gargalli, who is divorced, occupies an office notably devoid of personal memorabilia. She is childless by choice. ''My priorities,'' she says, ''are, No. 1, performance of the bank; No. 2, performance of the bank; and No. 3, performance of the bank.''