Citigroup awarded Chief Executive Jane Fraser $22.5 million for her work in 2021 after she assumed the top job in February and helped guide the bank through regulatory hurdles.
Fraser, 54, was granted stock awards totaling about $14.82 million, a cash bonus of $6.35 million and a $1.33 million salary, the New York-based bank said Monday in a filing.
“She has quickly worked to establish a clear set of priorities for Citi that are intended to increase shareholder value over time,” Citigroup’s board said in the filing. “These priorities are centered around Citi’s transformation, strategic refresh, and culture and talent. Execution of this strategy is expected to generate excess capital, which Citi can then return to shareholders.”
Fraser, the first female chief executive to lead a major U.S. bank, was previously president of the company. Her predecessor, Michael Corbat, was awarded
In her first year as CEO, Fraser moved quickly to overhaul Citigroup’s strategy to simplify the bank. She has announced plans to exit retail banking operations in 14 markets around the world and instead double down on the firm’s burgeoning wealth-management operations.
All along, she has helped lead the bank through its efforts to resolve a pair of consent orders it was saddled with in 2020 from the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Citigroup submitted its proposal for addressing regulators’ concerns about many of its underlying technologies and risk-management systems late last year, and is now carrying out those initial plans.
Profit soared last year as the company released many of the reserves it had set aside during the early days of the pandemic. Even so, firmwide revenue dropped 5% and operating expenses jumped 9% as the bank continued to grapple with the consent order.
Investors continue to punish the stock. It was the only lender in the 24-company KBW Bank Index who’s stock dropped in 2021, making it the benchmark’s worst performer last year. Citigroup is the only major bank whose stock trades below book value, meaning shareholders believe the firm destroys value rather than creates it.
Fraser’s award compares to the $34.5 million JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon received and the $35 million given to Goldman Sachs Group’s David Solomon and Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman.
