Citigroup Inc., the U.S. bank that got a $52 billion government bailout, said director Roberto Hernandez Ramirez will keep free use of company aircraft and an office after he steps down from the board in April, Bloomber reported.
Hernandez, 66, will keep the perks because he remains non- executive chairman of Citigroup subsidiary Banco Nacional de Mexico, Mike Hanretta, a spokesman for the New York-based bank, said in an interview. The benefits, also including helicopter use and security for Hernandez and his family, cost $2.61 million in 2007, according to a March 2008 regulatory filing.
His duties at the Mexico City-based unit, known as Banamex, include "governmental and client relations and strategic development," the filing said. Hernandez kept his non-executive role after stepping down from full-time management in 2001, when Citigroup bought Banamex's parent company for $12.5 billion.
Hernandez's benefits add to Citigroup's costs of providing free offices, secretaries and car service to former chief executive officers Sanford "Sandy" Weill, John Reed and Charles "Chuck" Prince under negotiated retirement packages. The bank eliminated almost 39,000 jobs following a record $18.7 billion loss last year.
Vikram Pandit, who took over as CEO in December 2007 following Prince's ouster, canceled delivery of a corporate jet in January and vowed last week to reduce his own salary to $1 a year until the bank returns to profitability.