Citibank makes the next chess move

Citibank has announced it will offer 50% raises because the government rules will limit bonus pay to its bonus eligible employees. Citibank must pay a competitive total compensation package to attract and retain key people. It used to make sense to "pay for performance". But now since performance metrics cannot be trusted in banking, according to the government, bonus pay can also not be trusted. So Citibank has taken the only natural step, pay for showing up to work in order to comply with the rules. I am sure that was not the government's intent when the limit on pay was implemented. Yet how could the next step for Citibank have been different? Of course a more balanced approach would be to fix the metrics and make sure sound risk-taking and decision making become the rule for paying bonuses. A prudently run organization with properly designed incentive plans could have been a better solution. But that wasn't an option in this case. Funny that Chris Dodd said the people running Citibank "just don't get it". Be careful what you wish for, Senator Dodd and others concerned with the banking compensation, because you just might "get it".