Citigroup seeks permission to pay bonuses: report

Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner earlier this month to be allowed to pay stock-based bonuses to employees but the government has not made up its mind yet, the paper reported.

Citigroup executives are describing these as retention bonuses, but the bank is still considering several options of how to structure any bonuses, the paper said.

In one plan, the bonus would be largely stock that vests over some three years and be worth at least half the employee's cumulative pay over the last three years, the paper reported.