Oh really? Photo: AP/Gawker
It hasn’t been a good month for Vikram Pandit, the chief executive of Citigroup. On April 17, the company’s shareholders rebuffed his $15 million pay package, marking the first time shareholders united in opposition to bloated executive compensation at one of the big banks. Brian Wenzinger, a principal at a Philadelphia money management company that voted against the pay package, told the New York Times, “C.E.O.s deserve good pay, but there’s good pay and there’s obscene pay.”
Now, despite a rebuke clearly inspired by the Occupy Movement, Pandit refuses to meet with Occupy Wall Street’s Alternative Banking Group, even though he extended an invitation in October. The following is a letter the working group emailed to Pandit on Wednesday. He has yet to respond.
Dear Mr. Pandit:
Your shareholders recently asked you, as CEO of Citigroup, to rethink executive compensation. The conclusions you come to will have a huge impact on Wall Street. The Alternative Banking Group, a working group of Occupy Wall Street, remains ready to sit down with you and share our perspective.
But we must not wait any longer; the timing is urgent.
Last October, you invited Occupy Wall Street to meet with you. On February 27, we accepted your offer. On March 7, your assistant told us that you had received our message and would get back to us shortly. We have yet to hear from you. We trust that you will keep your word and respond to us now.
This is a historical moment. Let us seize it together.
Sincerely,
Cathy O’Neil The Alternative Banking Group
Occupy Wall Street
