Scott Eells/Bloomberg News 
 
 After spending years as one of Wall Street’s lowest paid chief executives, Vikram S. Pandit received a $23.2 million retention package that could catapult him to the top of the list. 
 
 Mr. Pandit earned a token annual salary of $1 as he steered Citigroup back into the black over the last two years. But on Wednesday, Citi’s board awarded him as much as $16.5 million in stock and options as well as a cash payment valued at more than $6.65 million as part of a special profit-sharing program for top executives. 
 
 The payouts will be spread over the next four years and are subject to Mr. Pandit’s meeting certain performance goals. They will be in addition to his regular salary and annual bonuses. 
 
 The announcement comes as Citigroup recently posted its fifth consecutive quarterly profit and completed a reverse stock split that, with the stroke of a pen, ratcheted its share price to more than $40 from $4. 
 
 Just three short years ago, Citigroup was in such dire straits that it twice needed to be rescued by the government. With the bank receiving more than $45 billion of federal aid, questions swirled about whether Mr. Pandit would remain at the helm. The large retention award seems to put those questions to rest. 
 
 “Vikram has done an outstanding job since coming on board as the financial crisis began,” Richard S. Parsons, Citigroup’s chairman, said in a statement. “This award is designed to retain Vikram as our C.E.O. and reward him for future performance benefiting the company and our shareholders.” 
 
 The retention package also could signify the unofficial end of the post-bailout pay era. 
 
 Most banks made minor adjustments to compensation practices amid the uproar over bonuses, shifting more pay into stock from cash but still awarding hefty sums. Others like Citigroup and Bank of America, which accepted multiple government rescues, needed a federal pay overseer to formally approve the awards for their 25 highest earners. 
 
 Mr. Pandit helped avert even more animosity toward his bankers when he pledged at a 2009 Congressional hearing to accept a mere $1 a year in salary until Citigroup turned a profit. 
 
 Even so, he continued to benefit from the Citi board’s largess. Throughout the crisis, Mr. Pandit was allowed to hold about $79.7 million in cash from the sale of Old Lane Partners, an investment firm he founded that was acquired by Citi in April 2007. Mr. Pandit would have to forfeit that money if he left the company before July 2011, giving the board a strong incentive to extend the retention package now. 
 
 Careful not to call it a bonus — Mr. Parsons referred to it as a “long-term, multiyear performance-based” award. Citigroup’s board broke the retention package into three parts. It also has the power to claw back any ill-gotten pay. 
 
 The largest part of the award is deferred stock valued at $10 million, which will vest in three equal installments from the end of 2013 to 2015. Mr. Pandit must meet largely subjective performance goals, including developing senior managers, satisfying certain regulatory goals like improved risk management and steering the bank toward a culture focused on so-called responsible finance. 
 
 The second part of the retention package is a special profit-sharing plan for top employees based on the company’s financials. If Citigroup’s core operations over the period earn at least $12 billion in pretax income during each of the next two years, Mr. Pandit could take home more than $6.65 million. 
 
 About two dozen or so other top executives participate in the program — including John P. Havens, Citi’s chief operating officer, who could receive almost $5.2 million. The bank earned $19 billion in pretax income last year. 
 
 Citigroup also awarded Mr. Pandit more than 500,000 options, which the company valued at as much as $6.5 million. The options carry strike prices ranging from $41.54 to $60. Citigroup shares currently trade at $41.24. 
 
 Citigroup’s board had signaled a pay increase for Mr. Pandit last fall when it granted stock awards to several of his top lieutenants and announced plans to restore his compensation so that it would be in line with other Wall Street chiefs. 
 
 In January, Citi’s board raised Mr. Pandit’s $1 salary to $1.75 million a year. The additional $5.5 million a year in retention payouts will set the stage for him to be paid as much, if not more, than his peers. 
 
 Bank of America’s chief executive, Brian T. Moynihan, received about $10.2 million in total compensation for 2010, according to Equilar, a compensation research and consulting firm. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chairman and chief executive, was awarded a $23.6 million pay package last year, making him the highest paid of any Wall Street chief. The heads of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo were paid somewhere in between. 

 Citigroup Inc. (C) Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit stands to collect at least $42 million under his new retention-pay formula, assuming the bank’s earnings meet analysts’ estimates. 
 
 Pandit will get more than $16 million plus stock options if Citigroup hits its own, lower performance target for 2012, according to a regulatory filing by the bank yesterday. The package also includes $6.65 million in cash paid over time as a form of profit-sharing. If earnings next year reach the level analysts already expect, that portion of his payout will quadruple to about $26 million, based on the bank’s formula. 
 
 Pandit, who became CEO in December 2007, told Congress in February 2009 that he would slash his salary to $1 a year until the bank returned to profitability. Citigroup had more than $29 billion in losses during his first two full years in charge. The New York-based lender has since reported a $13.6 billion profit for the five quarters through the end of March. The board increased his salary to $1.75 million in January. 
 
 “Mr. Pandit has steered the company through the credit crisis and returned them to sustained profitability,” said Pri de Silva, an analyst in New York with CreditSights Inc. “Providing incentives to keep him on board makes sense, especially someone who has demonstrated the ability to steer the company through a tumultuous time.” 
 
 Share Performance 
 
 Citigroup shares are down 88 percent since Dec. 10, 2007, the day before Pandit was appointed CEO. Citigroup shares gained 11 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $41.35 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 10:43 a.m. They are down 13 percent this year, while the KBW Bank Index (BKX), which tracks the performance of 24 U.S. banks, has fallen 3.4 percent. 
 
 “Vikram has done an outstanding job since coming on board as the financial crisis began,” Chairman Richard Parsons, 63, said in a statement. “The long-term, multiyear, performance- based structure of this award is designed to retain Vikram as our CEO and reward him for future performance.” 
 
 The retention program awards Pandit, 54, a percentage of cumulative pretax income at the bank’s Citicorp unit once that figure reaches $12 billion for 2011 and 2012, according to the filing. Pretax income amounted to $5 billion in the first quarter of this year, under the bank’s definition. 
 
 According to an April estimate by Moshe Orenbuch, an analyst with Credit Suisse AG, pretax income could reach $46.9 billion for the full two years. By this estimate, Pandit would receive about $26 million from the profit-sharing plan. Shannon Bell, a spokeswoman for the bank, declined to comment on the calculations. 
 
 Deferred Stock 
 
 The package also includes $10 million in deferred stock, paid out in three annual installments, the last of which vests at the end of 2015, according to the filing. The award depends on Pandit meeting “regulatory considerations” as well as creating a culture of “responsible finance” and developing talent for succession of senior managers, the bank said. 
 
 The stock options have a value of $6 million to $6.5 million, according to a person familiar with the bank’s estimates, who declined to be identified because the figures aren’t public. 
 
 Pandit joined Citigroup when the bank agreed to buy his hedge fund, Old Lane Partners LP, in April 2007. He replaced Charles “Chuck” Prince as CEO eight months later. Pandit received $165 million from the deal, about $80 million of which is locked in a Citi Private Bank account until July. Pandit will get the cash assuming the bank doesn’t fire him “for cause” before then, according to a regulatory filing. 
 
 U.S. Bailout 
 
 The board gave Pandit a $3.2 million package in 2007, including $2.9 million of stock, according to Bloomberg data. He received a $38 million package in 2008, when Citigroup posted a $27.7 billion loss and took a $45 billion bailout from U.S. taxpayers. That award also included stock and options. 
 
 “For the average person, that’s a substantial amount of money,” de Silva said. “But the average person cannot run an enterprise that’s as global as Citigroup and have a near $2 trillion balance sheet with multiple business lines that by themselves could be five or six companies.” 
 
 Lloyd Blankfein, CEO and chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), has been awarded $97.3 million since 2007, including stock and stock options, bonuses and salary. 
 
 To contact the reporter on this story: Donal Griffin in New York at Dgriffin10@bloomberg.net 
 
 To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net.
– Vikram Pandit isn’t the lowest-paid guy on Wall Street anymore. Citigroup has rewarded its CEO, who has worked for a token $1 salary for the past two years, with a massive retention package. If the company hits its estimated performance, Pandit will make $23.2 million in stock and cash. But if it hits the loftier numbers analysts are expecting, that windfall will balloon to $42 million, Bloomberg reports. The money will be doled out over the next four years, on top of Pandit’s regular salary and annual bonuses. The package likely marks the unofficial end of the era in which banks reined in executive pay following the financial crisis, the New York Times observes. Still, the company was careful to avoid the word “bonus,” instead terming it a “long-term, multiyear performance-based award.”