Citigroup has awarded chief executive Vikram Pandit a hefty $16.7 million retention bonus, plus around $10 million in stock options if he meets certain management criteria, Reuters reported.

The offer is far from the $1 million paycheck he received at the height of the 2008 financial crisis. As for the stock, among the criteria Pandit will need to fulfill are maintaining capital levels, developing talent, and developing an organizational culture that focuses on responsible finance.

"They're soft measures," Robin Ferracone, the executive chair of compensation advisor Farient Advisors, told the publication, adding that Pandit's success in meeting these targets would be difficult to measure as they are largely qualitative.

Pandit took over the lead role at Citigroup in 2007, just shortly before the global crisis erupted. In a regulatory filing, the bank said that the bonus is meant to keep the executive on the job.

In addition to the $10 million deferred stock, Pandit will reportedly also qualify for a cash bonus of about $6.65 million should the bank earn a minimum of $12 billion before taxes over 2011 and 2012. He also receives 500,000 stock options, which can be exercised in three installments beginning 2012. All of these incentives are in addition to Pandit's base pay for 2011 of $1.75 million.