Vikram Shankar Pandit is an Indian-born American banker.
He is the former chief executive of Citigroup, a position he held from December 2007 until
he was forced to resign, on October 16, 2012.
He holds a B.S. and M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, and
MBA and Ph.D in Finance from Columbia Business School.
Pandit, a naturalized citizen of the United States, lives in New York City with his wife
and two children.
Early life and education Vikram Pandit was born in Dhantoli locality
of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India to an affluent Brahmin marathi family.
His father, Shankar B. Pandit, was an executive director at Sarabhai Chemicals in Baroda.
He completed his schooling at the Dadar Parsee Youths Assembly High School in Dadar, Mumbai
and when he was 16 years old, moved to the United States to attend Columbia University.
As a student, Pandit went to Columbia University for his undergraduate program and, in 1976,
earned his B.S., electrical engineering degree in only three years.
He completed his M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1977.
He then turned to business studies & finance and earned an M.B.A in 1980 followed by a
PhD in finance from Columbia Business School in 1986, after publishing a thesis involving
a complex financial puzzle, titled "Asset prices in a heterogeneous consumer economy".
Professional career Early career and Morgan Stanley
During his early professional years, he taught economics at Columbia, then had a stint as
a professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada.
He joined Morgan Stanley as an associate in 1983, one of the first Indians to join the
company.
In 1990, Vikram Pandit was chosen as the managing director and head of the US Equity Syndicate
unit of Morgan Stanley and by 1994, he had risen to become managing director and head
of its worldwide Institutional securities division.
He was instrumental in building Morgan Stanley's electronic trading and prime brokerage division
and in 2000, ultimately rose to the post of president and chief operating officer of its
worldwide operations of the Institutional securities and Investment banking businesses.
In 2005, after more than two decades with Morgan Stanley, Vikram Pandit decided to leave
the firm along with John Havens after being passed over by Philip J. Purcell.
Post Morgan Stanley and joining Citigroup In March 2006, Pandit and John Havens, along
with Guru Ramakrishnan, started the hedge fund Old Lane LLC.
Citi bought the company in 2007 for $800 million, bringing both Pandit and Havens into Citi
leadership.
Citi named Pandit chairman and CEO of Citi Alternative Investments unit and he later
led Citi's Institutional Clients Group.
On 11 December 2007, Pandit was named the new CEO of Citigroup, replacing interim-CEO
Sir Winfried Bischoff.
Pandit was strongly supported by then interim chairman of Citigroup Robert Rubin, the effective
successor to Chuck Prince.
Prince had resigned as chairman and CEO of Citigroup in November 2007, due to unexpectedly
poor third-quarter performance, mainly due to CDO- and MBS-related losses.
On 11 February 2009, Pandit testified to Congress that he had declared to his board of directors,
"My salary should be $1 per year with no bonus until we return to profitability."
He also struck an apologetic tone for letting the bank consider completing the purchase
of a private jet plane after receiving some $45 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program
funds.
His total 2009 compensation was $128,751, with a base salary of $125,001 and other compensation
of $3,750.
In January 2011, after working for two years for a salary of $1 a year, his annual base
was raised to $1.75 million for the progress Citi made under Vikram’s leadership.
After posting five consecutive quarterly profits, Citigroup in May 2011, announced $23.2m retention
award to Pandit making him one of the highest paid CEOs.
In April 2012, shareholder voted against increasing his pay to $15 million.
About 55% of the votes cast were against the compensation package.
His co-chairing of Davos 2012 was criticised, with Mike Mayo, an analyst with Credit Agricole
Securities in New York remarking: "What kind of signal does that send that the bank that
was the worst-performing in our country over the last decade and whose stock price is still
down significantly since he took over is the ambassador for our financial industry?"
At Davos 2012, Pandit said that Citigroup was going "back to the basics of banking"
in response to public anger about the financial crisis, and argued that, "The single biggest
issue facing us is the question of jobs," giving an estimate of 400 million jobs in
the next 10 years.
Resignation On October 16, 2012, Pandit unexpectedly resigned
as Citigroup CEO.
Michael Corbat, previously Citigroup's CEO of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, was named
as his replacement.
While Pandit and the company maintain that he resigned, Bloomberg News cited anonymous
board sources indicating that Pandit was forced out by the board after eroding investor confidence
and damaging company relations with regulators over an extended period.
The New York Times later identified Chairman Michael E. O'Neill as the driving force behind
a months-long secret effort to oust Pandit, which culminated in a surprise ultimatum to
Pandit stating that he must resign immediately, resign at the end of the year, or be fired.
His resignation followed multiple payouts to investors during ongoing fraud allegations.
Compensation While CEO of Citigroup in 2007, Vikram S.
Pandit earned an annualized compensation of $3,164,320, which included a base salary of
$250,000, stocks granted of $2,914,320, and options granted of $0.
In 2008, he earned a total compensation of $38,237,437, which included a base salary
of $958,333, stocks granted of $28,830,000, and options granted of $8,432,911.
However, after adjusting for Citigroup’s sunken share price, the package was worth
just a few million dollars.
Pandit did receive $165 million for his hedge fund which was purchased by Citi in 2007.
The fund has since been shuttered.
In 2012, Citigroup shareholders voted in favor of a non-binding resolution to reject a $15
million pay package for Pandit.
In November 2012, Pandit was issued about $6.7 million in 2012 compensation.
His net worth is estimated to be $60 million.
Post Citigroup It was reported in April 2014 that Pandit
has become chairman of TGG Group the holding company for three units: TGG, its core consulting
and advisory division; The Greatest Good, a consulting business serving non-profits;
and, TGG Ventures, an innovation and co-venturing arm.
It was reported in May 2013 that Pandit and Hari Aiyar, another Indian executive, were
acquiring a 3 percent equity stake in JM Financial and launching a $100 million fund to invest
in distressed assets.
Board Memberships and honors Pandit is a member of the boards of Columbia
University, Columbia Business School, the Indian School of Business, and Trinity School.
He also serves as director of the Institute of International Finance.
He was on the board of NASDAQ OMX, the New York City Investment Fund, from 2000 to 2003.
In 2008, Pandit was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.
Personal life Pandit lives in an apartment on the Upper
West Side of New York City.
He and his wife, Swati, have two children, Rahul and Maya.
References
External links Vikram Pandit speaks at Wharton on current
crisis.
Charlie Rose | A conversation with Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup
Vikram Pandit joins race for Indian banking licences.
http:www.firstpost.comvikram-pandit-joins-race-for-indian-banking-licences-651421.html sustainable development