Citi hikes CEO Vikram Pandit base salary to $1.75 m

Citigroup Inc is giving its CEO a big raise. The New York-based bank is lifting Mr Vikram Pandit’s base salary to $1.75 million from just $1 a year effective immediately, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.

The announcement comes after Citi reported its first full year of profits since Mr Pandit took over the top job in 2007 and the bank exited government ownership.

Citi was one of the hardest-hit US banks during the credit crisis, and received a $45-billion government bailout. In 2009, Mr Pandit pledged to take a $1 salary until the troubled bank returned to profitability. The government sold off the last of its stake in the bank in December for a profit of $12 billion.

Mr Richard Parsons, chair of Citigroup Inc’s board, said in the filing that the board is “very pleased” with the progress that the bank has made under Mr Pandit’s leadership.

He said Mr Pandit has “worked tirelessly to put Citi back on the right track’’.

The raise was not unexpected. In September, when the bank handed down raises to a number of top executives, Mr Parsons had hinted that Mr Pandit was in store for a big payout in 2011.