We saw two instances of executive compensation intersecting with corporate ethics and compliance last week. Alas, neither one was much cheer for those seeking a kindler, gentler path forward for that most difficult of subjects.
First was news of the new approach to executive pay at Citigroup. The plan is admirable in its goal: to tie the pay of new CEO Michael Corbat and his lieutenants to the long-term growth of the bank. I also applaud Citi’s board for how it devised its pay plan: the compensation committee, led by Citi’s chairman, consulted with the bank’s largest shareholders on how they would like to see executive pay structured. If you want to improve executive pay according to the rules our federal proxy system requires, Citi did as respectable a job as any large corporation could do.
