Vikram Pandit, Citigroup CEO: Occupy Wall Street's Sentiments Are 'Completely Understandable'

Vikram Pandit, CEO of one of the most visible Wall Street institutions in Citigroup, said he thinks the sentiments of the Occupy Wall Street protesters are "completely understandable."

"Their sentiments are completely understandable," Pandit said in an interview Wednesday with Andrew Serwer of Fortune Magazine. "The economic recovery is not what we all want it to be, there are a number of people in our country who cant achieve what they are capable of achieving and that's not a good place to be."

Demonstrators have been camped out in Manhattan's financial district since September 17 protesting against income inequality, corporate greed and the power of financial institutions, among other topics. The protests have inspired similar demonstrations across the country.

The group in Manhattan took their march to the home of Pandit's fellow big bank executive Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, and News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch Tuesday. They have plans to demonstrate in front of a JPMorgan Chase skyscraper Wednesday. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire himself, said the protesters were wrong to pick on Dimon because he is "honorable and pays his taxes", according to The New York Observer.

But Pandit seems to think they have a point.

"I would also corroborate that trust has been broken between financial institutions and the citizens of the U.S. and that it's Wall Street's job to reach out to Main Street and rebuild that trust," he said in the interview. "I'd talk about the fact that they should hold Citi and the financial institutions accountable for practicing responsible finance."

Pandit added that he'd "be happy to talk to them anytime," noting that he would emphasize Citi's efforts to expand small business lending and their decision not to charge a fee for debit card use. Bank of America announced last month that it would start charging a $5 fee for using a debit card for purchases starting in 2012. Wells Fargo also announced it would test a $3 fee.

Pandit isn't the only famed financier expressing some measure of support for the protesters. George Soros said he sympathizes with the protesters and PIMCO founder Bill Gross said in a tweet Tuesday that the protesters are just "fighting back after 30 years of being shot at."

 

Comments

[charlesfrith]

02:37 AM on 10/16/2011

This psychopath speaks with forked tongue. A group who decided to close their Citibank accounts in New York were arrested.

[bigkendallas]

03:17 PM on 10/14/2011

Personally, I don't blame any CEO for trying to make all the money he can for his company....frankly, I (and I bet alot of us) would do the same.

The problem I have is with the "authorities".
The SEC, and OCC, the FTC and all the other alphabet soup of federal agencies out there.

No single bank's bad investments could have a lasting effect on the economy....but nation-wide dangerous deregulation is part of what caused this.

They (the federal regulators) were there to look at the "Big Picture" and see what was going on and step in when they were supposed to.
One example is when some of these investments were rated AAA when they shouldn't have been.

So the real blame , to me, is with with the regulators.

[too-small-to-fail]

09:21 PM on 10/14/2011

Or lack of regulators, you mean.

[Yorksgal]

12:28 PM on 10/14/2011

The peasants are revolting - Watt Tyler lives again! We will NOT be serfs!

[cjus2473]

11:35 AM on 10/14/2011

Oh sure...in 2005, Compass Bank lost a payment I made; my bank sent them a copy stating that I not only paid on time, but they cashed the check...Compass refused to investigate and put a mark on my credit account. Every credit card place, including CITI, raised my interest rate from 2% to 33.33% . My bank sent letters, and CITI refused to reverse their decision. I even wrote and have copies of the letters I wrote to CITI and Mr. Vikram Pandit - what I got in response was the rudest letter. Compass of course, in violation of the Fair Credit Standards Act, looked into my case 4 months after I notified them and came back and yes, "ok, we'll credit your account with the money you paid, $11.24 in interest fees, $22.65 in late payments but we will not notify other companies of our mistake and we will not lower your interest rate from 33.33%...i just stopped paying them and every time a law firm pops up with the notice of a suit, I pay the $13.00 postage to send them copies of over 4" of letters sent to Compass and ask them to please sue me so I can have my day in court at their expense...i never hear from them again...thanks to elizabeth warren for attempting to stop these practices. Mr. Pandit and others in his position need to spend time in jail for ruining peoples’ lives.

[too-small-to-fail]

09:23 PM on 10/14/2011

the absence of recourse you describe is outrageous and infuriating!
Have you written your congress person with all the details? If not, you should!
This would be a good time to do it! Hound them!

[reggie513]

08:50 PM on 10/13/2011

Gimme a break! Steal trillions away from our economy and kick people out of their houses just because of sheer greed and now you get why we are so upset?? Guess when you REALLY see the masses rise up the elite starts to wet their pants! People need to go to jail and these banks need to be broken up! I don't understand how for the top its a form of socialism... But its capitalism for everybody else... Yet our political system is facist because its a merger of Corporations and the government. Yea the President of the Bond holding company Pimco had it right.. We been getting shot at for 30 years and we are just now starting to fight back! NOBODY IS SAFE!

[Mixey]

07:47 PM on 10/13/2011

Watch Chris Hedges slap down disgusting, classless, conservative windbag Kevin O'Leary re Occupy Wall Street -> http://youtu.be/uv1MVF7fqoM

[withonor]

06:15 PM on 10/13/2011

It is far too late to talk about "responsible finance." You can't steal all of our money and then decide to play by the rules. What if Bernie Madoff got on the stand and said, "I'm sorry I stole billions from innocent people, it won't happen again, I'll be responsible from here on out." Sorry, it's too late for that.

If we can't prosecute individuals of a corporation then prosecute the corporation itself. Break it up into pieces that can afford to fail. We started out with a banking and investment industry too big to fail and after the bail out, they are bigger than before. Now you want to apologize? Get the heck out of here.

[Almondo]

08:03 PM on 10/13/2011

I think the sentence should fit the crime and should be aligned with the number of years worth of the theft created in terms of annual salary lost based on least paid person affected.

For example if the lowest paid person Madeoff burned made $12,000 a year, ($65B divided by $12K) Madeoff should be sentenced to 5,416,666,67 years in jail. After he dies his remains should be cremated and kept on the grounds of the prison, inside the razor wire until his sentence is complete in the year 5,418,673 where his relatives should only be able to view his interment from behind the razor wire. If this were the case, a guy name Keating would be on the very extended plan as well.

[StopMakingSense2]

05:28 PM on 10/13/2011

Unfortunately their idea of building trust is like Faux Nooz's approach to news. Spin it and they will come rather that getting real and is no solution at all. Their shareholders would punish them if they did the right thing since exploitation is the only business model they understand.

[jzefram]

05:13 PM on 10/13/2011

Pandit is trying to reassure consumers that the banking industry recognizes there is a problem with it policies and they are trying to regain the trust of their customers. However, all these protesters are missing the point. It is corporate greed which helps the economy grow. People don't understand why companies are greedy. It is fueled by the desire to make money. The character Gordon Gekko said, "Greed is good." When companies make more money, then the employees make more money. You can't blame capitalism on the current economic situation. The problem is the federal government spending too much money on needless programs like Obamacare. We need to cut spending on those useless programs. We need to spend money on how to create jobs. Obama's job plan is an afterthought. It won't create the jobs needed to resuscitate our economy. We need a new president who will do whatever it takes to heal this economy.

[buk2]

05:42 PM on 10/13/2011

You're delusional: a fixed false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact.

[AMERICABLESSGOD]

05:48 PM on 10/13/2011

Well said, but lost on a group of people who don't understand that the purpose of any business is to make a profit. It is profits that allow reinvestment and growth, creating opportunity and return on investment.

Many of these same people who claim to want to bring down corporations own stock in these same "evil corporations" in their retirement accounts, relying on their returns for retirement.

More evidence that liberalism is indeed a mental disorder.

[too-small-to-fail]

10:01 PM on 10/14/2011

Your first paragraph contradicts the post you are supposedly agreeing with.
He claims when a company makes more money, the employees make more money.
Paying employees more reduces profits, which you point out is the purpose of the business.
US companies making good profits reinvested by moving to China because employees at 50 cents an hour is cheaper than $15.00 an hour. More profits, and less opportunity for the employees who helped the company earn the profits that allowed the company to reinvest and move to China. More opportunity for investors and CEOs, who are richly rewarded for saving the company money.

[sidecarman]

04:54 PM on 10/13/2011

then he should suggest that the banks be nationalized. especially citi. do it now while the stock price is low. the govt can just print up the cash anyway.

[daily randy]

04:06 PM on 10/13/2011

... and yet his company is helping to keep the current downturn in our economy in place, but not lending out the billions they are sitting on.

[kburgoyne]

02:42 PM on 10/13/2011

"Fighting back after 30 years of being shot at." Not bad. I like it. :-)

[Madison Glaser]

01:45 PM on 10/13/2011

CITI manipulating stocks and trading on inside information is also "completely understandable" too. Maybe he fears what happens when the 99% all show up for the party???

[Arcelio Martinez]

01:02 PM on 10/13/2011

UNBELIEVABLE AND REFRESHING OF THE AMERICAN SPIRIT

[brooklyngirl8]

01:00 PM on 10/13/2011

It's interesting that a foreign man who is running an American company is making the most sense out of all the CEO's who are American born and could give a hoot over what is taking place outside of their vaults and G6 planes.

[Niki Spencer]

01:22 PM on 10/13/2011

I was thinking the same thing!! Leave it to a NON-American to show more compassion for the plight of the American people! His American born bretheren will be calling for his head soon.

[cjus2473]

11:45 AM on 10/14/2011

ah - remember BP Oil spill??? I believe that non-american shafted folks here, left to sail, and reinvented himself with another foreign oil company...this man would like to be able to go to lunch from his office on Wall Street without being tarred and feathered...he really does not care about you or your plight