Citigroup (NYSE:C) Bumps Base Salary Of Key Execs, Pays Stock Bonus

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reported Tuesday that it increased the base salary of its Chief Financial Officer and head of trading, according to regulatory filings.  Those executives, along with the bank’s vice chairman also received stock based bonuses well in excess of $2 million.

The payouts are part of 20 plus pay packages that were recently approved on October 22 by the Treasury Department’s special master for executive compensation, Kenneth Feinberg.

Citi’s CFO, John Gerspach received the smallest of the stock bonuses paid, receiving $2.92 million.  Gerspach will see his annual base salary bumped 25 percent to $500,000 from $400,000.  The move was effective November 1.

Vice Chairman Stephen Volk received a stock bonus totaling $3.4 million.  However, his base salary remained unchanged.

The head of the Citi’s trading unit, James Forese, received the largest compensation bump, receiving $5.43 million in stock bonuses and an annual salary increase of $225,000 to $475,000.

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit did not receive any changes to his current compensation agreement, according to the filing.  The chief executive is receiving a $1 annual salary and is not getting a stock based bonus.  Pandit, who received a base salary of $958,333 last year, volunteered to work for $1 a year until Citigroup turned profitable again.

The compensation report filed Tuesday does not account for long term restricted stock bonuses that Citigroup executives are eligible for next year for 2009 performance.

Gerspach, Forese and Volk are all eligible to receive in excess of an additional $1 million in long term restricted bonuses.

However, stock from those bonuses would not be eligible for sale until Citigroup has repaid the government aid it received.

The bank received $45 billion in government loans last year as it struggled to survive the credit crisis.