Citigroup's top executives, and Robert Rubin, a director and senior adviser, are ready to forgo their bonuses this year amid growing internal and external pressure to atone for the company's huge losses and a $300bn government bail-out.

A person close to Mr Rubin, a former US Treasury secretary, said that he had told the board that, under the circumstances and at this stage of his career, he felt the funds that would have been used for his bonus could be better spent on other employees. Mr Rubin, who has earned more than $115m since joining Citi in 1999, also waived his bonus last year.