Shareholders rebuked Citigroup’s board yesterday, voting against a pay plan that promised tens of millions of dollars for Vikram Pandit, chief executive, and his fellow directors.
Some 55 per cent of shareholders either went against the plan or abstained at Citi’s annual meeting in Dallas in a non-binding vote, the company said. It became the first major US bank to suffer majority dissent in a “say-on-pay” vote and only the 12th S&P 500 company to lose such a ballot.
Richard Parsons, the outgoing chairman of Citi, described the result as “a serious matter” and said directors would meet shareholders to discuss their objections. Corporate governance advisory groups had recommended a no vote.