If you're on the board of a big bank these days, you do not want to hand out huge compensation packages unless they are accompanied by appropriate incentives. At Citigroup, for example, under the Key Employee Profit Sharing Plan, top executives can earn more than $5 million if the bank hits various performance and conduct goals. So, what are these goals?

Fortune took a look and came away unimpressed. "Citi operating chief John Havens, finance chief John Gerspach, consumer banking head Manuel Medina-Mora and top overseas exec Alberto Verme can get their payouts if Citi makes $12 billion in pretax income over the next two years. That sounds like a lot of money. But it is actually below the $13.2 billion in pretax income from continuing operations that Citi posted in 2010 alone, " notes Fortune.

"And though that's clearly an improvement from Citi's recent red ink-stained performances, you can hardly make the case that Pandit & Co. were knocking the cover off the ball. JPMorgan Chase earned $24.9 billion before taxes in 2010--almost twice as much as Citi--on an asset base that is just 15 percent bigger."

At least one top analyst, Mika Mayo, has questioned these triggers. Fortune is equally unimpressed with the bank's clawbacks, which its suggests are not tough enough.

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