Citi to pay NY mayor candidate and former executive McGuire over $5.7 million

[April 23, 2021]   (Reuters) - Former Wall Street executive and Democratic candidate for mayor of New York Ray McGuire will receive more than $5.7 million from Citigroup Inc as part of a bonus program, according to his annual financial disclosure report.

Ray McGuire, a NYC mayoral candidate, speaks during a press conference at the National Action Network in New York City, U.S., March 18, 2021. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

McGuire was one of the senior-most Black executives on Wall Street till he left Citi last year after 15 years in various roles to join the mayor's race.

"Under our regular annual bonus program, a large portion of compensation earned by an employee each year is not paid when earned, but rather is delivered over a four-year period," a spokeswoman for Citi said on Thursday.

"The treatment of Mr. McGuire's deferred amounts follows our standard policy for employees who retire after long service with Citi."

He will receive the money in four equal installments between 2022 and 2025, the filing showed.

McGuire headed Citi's corporate and investment banking unit for 13 years and was also chairman of banking, capital markets and advisory. Prior to Citi, he was with Morgan Stanley.

The move into politics for McGuire, who until recently held the title of vice chairman at Citi, came after he was on a short list of candidates to head the New York Federal Reserve in 2018.

A successful candidacy would make McGuire only the second Black mayor of America's largest city, after David Dinkins' stint in the 1990s.

McGuire is not the first Wall Street executive to dabble in politics. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg was New York mayor from 2001-2013, and Phil Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs banker, is the current governor of New Jersey.

News of the bonus payments was first reported by CNBC earlier on Thursday.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.