Citigroup to change executive pay process

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NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. financial behemoth Citigroup is changing its executive compensation formula in response to disgruntled shareholders, a regulatory filing said.

The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission says that a portion of the pay for top executives will be performance-based.

Last year, the bank was criticized for paying executives at the discretion of the board of directors. Shareholders voted to reject the board's pay package for Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit, who was sacked shortly thereafter by bank Chairman Michael O'Neill.

"When our shareholders spoke last year about Citi's compensation structure, we listened," said O'Neill, who, besides firing Pandit, took over a committee that was reviewing compensation, The New York Times reported Friday.

That committee met with representatives of 30 percent of the bank's shareholders before coming up with the new compensation process, the Times reported.

The new formula affects 27 percent of the new chief executive officer's $11.5 million pay package for 2012. That indicates that CEO pay could remain on par with other financial firm executives.

Pay for Citigroup's new CEO Michael Corbat for 2012 is in line with top executives at other large financial firms. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, for example, will be paid $12.1 million for 2012.

After the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 tripped up the U.S. economy, part of the anger was focused on the enormous pay packages that are emblematic of Wall Street.

Those salaries were viewed as salt in the wounds, especially as millions of jobs were lost in the ensuing recession. Citigroup, which struggled through the crisis, said last year it would cut an additional 11,000 jobs.