When Fujitsu, a Japanese computer giant, introduced a performance-based pay scheme during the 1990s, it proved so unpopular that the company had to scaleitback.
Even officials at the Treasury and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sided with the banks, saying the proposal threatened to add risk to the system rather than scaleitback.
Given that Citibank's footprint is about one-fifth the size of some other giant banks, analysts said it had little choice but to scaleback in areas where it lacks market share.