Citi's Corbat's Pay Approved; Fed Looks to Lower Bond Buys

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Pay Up: Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat's pay package was blessed by shareholders at Citi's annual meeting in St. Louis; proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and Egan-Jones had recommended rejecting Corbat's pay, the Wall Street Journal reported. Even so, pension fund giant Calpers voted in favor of the pay packages, the FT said. Shareholders approved all other proxy questions at the two-hour meeting. All this in spite of Citi's recent round of embarrassments: the Fed's rejection of its capital plan, the disclosure of fraud in its Mexican unit, etc. "Almost all" of the shareholder questions came from CLSA analyst Mike Mayo (attending bank annual meetings and asking questions is apparently a new CLSA tactic, as American Banker reported Tuesday), and Jesse Jackson, who asked about lending to low-income groups. Citi Chairman Mike O'Neill, whom the FT noted is considered a very prominent chairman and, perhaps, even wields ultimate power over Corbat, told the gathering, "You're never going to find out chapter and verse what we learned from the Fed."

Wall Street Journal

The Fed is "on track" to lower its bond purchases at next week's policy meeting and the program is on its way to being wrapped up by the fourth quarter if the Fed continues to reduce the purchases in $10 billion increments, the paper says. Fed Chair Janet Yellen continues carving her own path of being more vague about the Fed's intentions, the idea being it gives her more flexibility.

Should we start calling it Bank of Jersey City Mellon? Trustee bank Bank of New York Mellon plans to sell its One Wall Street headquarters and move to new digs, "likely" elsewhere in Lower Manhattan or, perhaps, New Jersey. The current HQ, which BNY Mellon has occupied since 1998, is expected to fetch "a very strong bid," its CFO said.

Who's calling who a Luddite? Citigroup, unlike many public companies, has not broadcast its annual meetings online, much to the chagrin of the above-mentioned Mayo. That is likely to change next year, Corbat acknowledged at Citi's annual meeting Tuesday.

Washington Post

The National Association of Realtors' monthly report shows existing-home sales declined 0.2% in March and were down 7.5% from a year earlier. "There really should be stronger levels of home sales," the Realtors' chief economist said. Housing mavens are particularly concerned that there are so few first-time home buyers.