Recent disclosures about the pay packages and perks at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have outraged one of their investors, Amalgamated Bank. According to Financial News, Amalgamated, the labor bank, has urged Citigroup to adopt a performance-related pay scheme for its top people, and has submitted to Morgan Stanley a resolution to be presented at its upcoming annual meeting, which would require shareholders to approve severance packages. Both Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, FN reports, have responded that to adopt such measures would make them less competitive in attracting top talent. Said Morgan Stanley, “It is unrealistic to expect a senior executive to negotiate an agreement with the company and then face the possibility that shareholder would disapprove the arrangement, leaving the executive without an agreement.”
