Citigroup Inc. shareholders withheld more than a quarter of their votes for two board members, John Deutch and Michael Armstrong, after some investor groups blamed them for oversight failures that led to a $28 billion loss last year.
Deutch, who chairs the committee that monitors accounting and risk management, received 72% of shareholder votes in his favor at Citi's annual meeting last month, the New York company said Monday in a regulatory filing. Armstrong, Deutch's predecessor on the audit committee, got 70%. Richard Parsons, Citi's chairman, got 86%, and Vikram Pandit, its chief executive, won 91%.
Dan Pedrotty, director of investment at the AFL-CIO, said because board directors run unopposed, a vote of less than 75% should be considered a call to step down. Only five Citi directors have been replaced in the past year, so nine of the candidates at last month's meeting were holdovers from the previous year. Citi officials have declined to comment on which of the directors might step off.
Stephen Cohen, a Citi spokesman, would not discuss the election results. Deutch and Armstrong did not return calls for comment.
