Citigroup, still partly owned by the U.S. government after a rescue during the financial meltdown, is giving raises to top executives that could amount to millions of dollars.

CEO Vikram Pandit, who is drawing a salary of $1 for the second year in a row, did not get a raise, but the chairman of the bank hinted it plans a big payout for him next year.
Friday's announcement by Citi, which remains weaker than most of the large American banks two years after the meltdown, raised questions among experts on corporate governance.
By paying the raises in company stock, not cash, Citi has decided to follow previously issued guidelines that limited salaries to $500,000 (£316,000) for the top 25 executives at financial institutions still receiving large amounts of federal help.
""The question is do they deserve higher salaries, and are they evading rules to avoid losing talent?"" asked Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for corporate governance at the University of Delaware.
Citi is fighting to keep talented bankers from jumping ship to any of its rivals on Wall Street, all of whom have repaid their federal bailout money and are not under the same kind of compensation restrictions.
Citi was the hardest-hit U.S. bank during the credit crisis of 2008, and received $45 billion (£28bn) in government bailout money under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, part of which was converted to stock last year. The government is gradually selling its stake and still owns about 17 per cent of the bank.
(Source: Associated Press)