Jane Fraser is landing a $12.5 million bonus as the bank looks to retain a likely successor to Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat.
The board’s compensation committee granted the award «in recognition of Fraser’s recent promotion to president and to enhance leadership continuity and management succession planning,» according to the firm’s regulatory filing on Wednesday. Half of the award is in cash and half is in stock, and both will vest in annual installments over four years.
Fraser, who was promoted to the number 2 job at Citigroup last month, puts her in position to become the first woman to lead a major U.S. bank as the industry is under pressure to improve diversity. In April, a congressional hearing questioned the heads of the largest U.S. banks on why their companies never put a woman in charge.
Several banking chiefs, including Corbat, responded that they could envision one succeeding them. In Asia, Theresa Foo became the first Asian female chief executive at Standard Chartered, according to the website Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1997, she was the first woman in the Bank of America’s Singapore operations to be made a vice president.