Citigroup bucks Wall Street trend to give CEO Jane Fraser a pay rise

Citigroup increased chief executive Jane Fraser’s pay to $24.5mn for 2022, making her the only big US bank boss to receive a pay bump amid a challenging year for the industry.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Citi said Fraser’s pay consisted of a $1.5mn base salary and a $23mn bonus paid in a mix of cash, deferred stock and performance share units. The bank paid Fraser $22.5mn for her work in 2021, when she took over as CEO at the end of February, replacing Mike Corbat.

The 8.9 per cent pay increase bucks the broader trend among big US banks, which in 2022 have either cut their CEOs’ pay or left it unchanged from the year before amid a slowdown in profits.

“Notwithstanding challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, under Ms Fraser’s leadership Citi made solid progress on each of our priorities, and the compensation committee recognises the strategic direction that took shape during 2022,” Citi said in its filing.

Fraser is leading Citi through a restructuring during which the bank has retrenched from many of its overseas retail operations while it also grapples with a 2020 consent order with US regulators under which it agreed to upgrade its processes and technology.

During the restructuring, Fraser has warned Citi would continue to lag behind Wall Street rivals in the coming years.

In 2022, the bank’s revenues rose 5 per cent at $75.3bn but profits were down 32 per cent at $14.8bn. Citi’s share price fell 25 per cent in 2022, underperforming the benchmark S&P 500 index, which fell 19 per cent.

Citi’s board of directors said factors that helped determine Fraser’s pay included reducing the bank’s presence in Russia and closing the sale of five of its consumer businesses — in Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Bahrain.

Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon’s pay fell almost 30 per cent to $25mn for 2022, while Morgan Stanley boss James Gorman had his pay cut 10 per cent to $31.5mn.

Longtime JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon’s pay was unchanged at $34.5mn in 2022. Bank of America chief Brian Moynihan was paid $30mn in 2022, down from $32mn a year earlier.