Citigroup CEO: $100 million pay package is 'excessive' for a banker

Even Citigroup (C) Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit has gotten the message about bankers' pay. In response to an interview question about Andrew Hall, a star Citigroup commodities trader, Pandit said $100 million in annual compensation is excessive for a banker. That issue may soon become moot if the Fed gets its way.

He told the audience at New York's 92nd Street Y, which included some Citigroup employees, that compensation has become a political minefield for Citigroup. He noted that the company was in the process of restructuring Phibro LLC, the trading operation led by Hall, who received $98.9 million in 2008 and who could contractually make as much as $100 million this year. Citigroup did make the argument to Obama administration pay czar Kenneth Feinberg that Hall's contract is exempt from Feinberg's jurisdiction because it was signed prior to a deadline specified by Congress.