Citigroup shareholders vote against top executives’ pay packages at annual meeting - The Washington Post

By Associated Press,

NEW YORK — Citigroup has become the first Wall Street bank to get a thumbs-down from shareholders over outsized executive pay.
At its annual meeting Tuesday, 55 percent of the bank’s shareholders voted against the pay packages that have been granted to Citigroup’s top executives, including CEO Vikram Pandit’s $15 million for last year and $10 million retention pay. The vote is advisory and won’t force the bank to change its pay practices, but it did send a powerful message of discontent to Citi’s leadership.

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“This vote is historic,” said Eleanor Bloxham, CEO of The Value Alliance, a board advisory firm. “None of the Wall Street firms have received this kind of a review yet.”
Wall Street’s massive compensation packages have raised the ire of shareholders for years, especially when they appear to have little relation to the performance of specific executives. Bonuses became a flashpoint of public outrage after the 2008 financial meltdown, which was caused in large part by those same Wall Street firms.
Nonetheless, compensation on Wall Street has remained high, even after a taxpayer-funded bailout of the industry and the Great Recession that followed and left one in 10 Americans unemployed.
Until Tuesday, shareholders haven’t voted in large enough numbers against Wall Street pay packages to make a difference. Under the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law, major U.S. companies are required to allow shareholders to have a “say on pay” vote at least every three years. The votes are not binding.
Besides Citi so far this year, only three companies — KB Home, International Game Technology Inc. and Actuant Corp. — have failed to muster shareholders’ approval of its pay practices. Last year, 41 companies failed.

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