Citigroup’s top executives, and Robert Rubin, a director and senior adviser, will forgo their 2008 bonuses amid internal and external pressure to atone for the company’s huge losses and a $300bn government bail-out.

Vikram Pandit, Citigroup’s chief executive, wrote in a company-wide memo on Wednesday that because of its poor earnings performance, the bank’s bonus pool was dramatically lower than last year. As a result of that and last month’s government rescue, the bank’s compensation policies have been overhauled.