Citigroup says will pay back U.S.; directors elected

By Dan Wilchins

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (C.N) Chief Executive Vikram Pandit pledged to repay "every dollar" the third-largest U.S. bank owes to the government, which has pumped $45 billion of capital into the bank.

The embattled CEO spoke at an annual meeting that stretched to roughly six hours, where he and lead director Richard Parsons fielded complaints from investors furious about the 94 percent plunge in their shares since the beginning of 2007.

"Your board of directors are too terrible for words -- they're dumb," said Peggy McMahon, who later told Reuters the declining value of her Citi shares resulted in a $250,000 loss.

Citigroup's annual meeting typically lasts hours, but this one was unusually long. The proceedings are usually dominated by small shareholders angry over their experience in retail branches or with their credit cards, but this year investors focused squarely on who was to blame for the dwindling value of their shares.

Even amid the anger, shareholders elected every director the board nominated, including some accused of lax oversight as the bank's troubles mushroomed. Investors managing money for institutions often do not attend shareholder meetings but usually dominate the voting.

Every shareholder proposal failed to pass, but some came close to winning, including one that would allow investors to call special shareholder meetings, which received a little less than half the votes cast.

Citigroup's annual meeting came four days after the bank posted a $1.59 billion first-quarter profit before payments of preferred dividends under the U.S. Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. The results benefited from a big accounting change and improved trading results. Citigroup had lost $37.5 billion in the prior five quarters.

"SEE THIS THROUGH"