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Citi Officially Ready To Pay A Premium For Talent

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As you may or may not have noticed, things have really been looking up at Citi. The bank beat Goldman at something, it got the government's ball-gag removed from its mouth and today comes the news it was able to land a big hire in academic rainmaker, Peter Orszag, whose job description is "youngest member of Citi’s Senior Strategic Advisory group, a counsel of Wall Street wise men that its bankers can call on to parachute in with advice on complex deals." And that's not all.

According to Dealbook, "Citigroup did not disclose Mr. Orzag’s compensation arrangement, but is likely to be far higher than what he earned as member of President Obama’s cabinet." If we were talking about another Wall Street firm, this would be the moment at which one might offer "ya think?!" But we're talking about Citi, where bonus expectations for the last several years have topped out at one free pass to Vikram's Boom Boom Room. So this is heartening! We can now say with certainty Citi pays more than the US government! (Unless you are its CEO, in which case, you're still getting $1.) Whether you're looking to trade, liaise with clients or rappel down the side of the Pfizer, kick open the window of the room in which a meeting is taking place an announce, "FREEZE. I'M FROM CITIGROUP" before advising the company on a deal, put in a resume today.

Ex-White House Budget Director Joins Citigroup [Dealbook]

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