Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) said Thursday in a regulatory filing that the bank has revised its executive pay plan, tying the bonus payments more closely to the company’s profitability and stock performance.
Last year, shareholders had rejected the pay plan, calling it overly generous.
The bank’s chief executive Mike Corbat would receive $11.5 million in 2012 compensation, similar to what his peers received at other major banks. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) decided to revise the plan after chairman Michael O’Neill and other directors held a meeting with 20 shareholders who collectively own over 30 percent of Citigroup stock. The revised package is in respons to a number of issues shareholders raised during the meeting.
Shareholders had rejected the previous payment framework in a non-binding vote in April last year. Shareholders had criticized the board and management for offering a $15 million pay package to the then-CEO Vikram Pandit, which was rejected.
Pandit resigned in October last year due to shareholder pressure. He was paid $6.7 million for his time as Citigroup CEO in 2012. Shareholders argued that directors had been given too much discretion to set pay.
Under the previous plan, the bank had proposed to pay millions to the executives if its earnings touched $12 billion before taxes for two consecutive years, which Citigroup did during Vikram Pandit’s tenure in 2010 and 2011.
Under the new plan, top executives will receive 40 percent of the bonus in cash, another 30 percent in deferred stock. And the final 30 percent, which will be paid in cash, will be based on the company’s profitability and its stock performance compared with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) peers over three years.
Compensation analysts believe that Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)’s new payment plan could be followed by other major banks because it limits the discretion of the board in executive pay. As far as financial institutions are concerned, investors distrust the board, so reducing their discretion makes some sense.
Mike Corbat’s $11.5 million package can be divided into $1 million salary, $4.18 million in cash bonus, another $3.14 million in deferred stock, and the final $3.14 million was based on his performance in improving the company’s profits and stock value compared to peers. Since he became the chief executive in October 2012, his prior performance as the chief of the company’s Europe, Middle East and Africa region was taken into consideration.
For 2012, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) was paid $11.5 million, while Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC)’s Brian Moynihan received $12.1 million.
