Citigroup’s Indian origin CEO Pandit gets big retention deal

May 19, 2011 | Business | Written by

New York, May 19: Citigroup has awarded its Indian origin CEO Vikram Pandit a multimillion-dollar package to keep him at the helm for at least four more years.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this step is indicative of a vote of confidence in an executive who almost was ousted at the height of the financial crisis.

Pandit will receive a multiyear, 10 million dollar stock grant, plus new options valued at an estimated 6.7 million dollars and profit sharing, to encourage him to stay through 2015.

Pandit became CEO in December 2007, only to preside over the New York bank’s near-collapse a year later under the weight of losses he inherited.

As the U.S. government rescued the bank with more than 45 billion dollars of taxpayers’ money in 2008 and 2009, Pandit came under attack from one of its regulators, who questioned his ability to run the banking giant.

Some shareholders also criticized him for an 87 percent drop in the stock price.

Pandit, however, helped restore the ailing bank to profitability, shrank its balance sheet by shedding unwanted assets and repaid the federal aid in a move that yielded a profit of about 12 billion dollars for the government.

In a statement on Wednesday, Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons said Pandit’s team “has navigated Citi through the crisis, returned Citi to profitability and is executing a strategy for sustainable growth.”

A Citigroup spokeswoman said Pandit wasn’t available for comment. (ANI)