Former Citigroup Inc CEO Vikram Pandit, who resigned last month under pressure from company directors, and former chief operating officer John Havens will receive more than $15 million each, the company said on Friday.
The sums were disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The amounts were set in written agreements reached with the Pandit and Havens earlier in the day.
Exit of Vikram Pandit as chief of banking giant Citigroup may have come as a big surprise, but experts are convinced that it is a one-off case and Indian-origin CEOs would continue to be prominent players at global firms.
Despite Pandit's departure and the charges against another high-profile Indian-origin executive Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs director, the number of India-born CEOs at reputed international MNCs remains very impressive, the experts said.
I do not believe that there is any negative perception as such on global Indian CEOs. On the contrary, many of the Indian origin C-suite executives have done very well in the global stage, global executive search Firm EMA Partners International' Managing Partner (Asia Emerging Markets) K Sudarshan said.
Citigroup's India-born chief Vikram Pandit, who has made a sudden exit, was forced to leave the banking behemoth following differences with the board over strategy and overall business performance, media reports said.
Pandit, who steered the crisis-hit Citigroup into profitability, resigned abruptly on Tuesday-a development that took the Wall Street by surprise. According to media reports, Pandit's exit came in the wake of differences with the board.
Vikram Pandit may leave Citigroup Inc without a rich exit package, compensation experts say, although final terms of his departure likely will not be known for several days.
Pandit, who stepped down as chief executive of the bank on Tuesday after months of tensions with the board, is not eligible for a golden parachute - a pre-negotiated severance payout - according to Citigroup's most recent annual proxy filing.
Still, as is typical in departures of high-profile CEOs, the company may end up hammering out a financial arrangement with Pandit that would include agreements not to disparage or compete against the bank, executive pay experts said.
Generous CEO exit packages have become a lightning rod for some investors in recent years. At the same time, Pandit's pay has riled many Citigroup shareholders, who rejected his proposed annual compensation in a non-binding say on pay vote earlier this year.
Newly named Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Michael Corbat, previously chief executive for Citigroup Inc Europe, Middle East and Africa, is shown in this undated handout image released on October 16, 2012. A statement from Chairman Michael O'Neill said Michael Corbat would succeed Vikram Pandit as CEO and as a board member. Pandit's sudden resignation is the culmination of months of disagreement with the board, in particular O'Neill, over strategy.
A man walks past a Citibank branch in lower Manhattan, New York October 16, 2012. Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Vikram Pandit resigned abruptly on Tuesday, effective immediately, a shocking change at the top of the No. 3 U.S. bank just one day after a surprisingly strong quarterly earnings report.
