Citigroup Inc. has told about five of its former top executives that it won’t pay them tens of millions of dollars in promised severance payouts, the Wall Street Journal is reporting.
Citigroup, which has received $50 billion in federal bailout funds, has paid about half of the $100 million it had promised to the former executives. It is reneging on the rest to avoid public criticism. The federal government soon will own about 34 percent of the bank’s common shares.
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It’s nice to know that when your bank promises to pay you, it follows through no matter what — excepting public criticism.
Now that the federal government owns a big chunk of Citigroup, we’re going to see some fiscal discipline there. Because nobody knows how to manage a big pot of public money like the federal government. Nobody.
