CITIGROUP will try and change the way it pays its top executives in its securities and investment banking unit, Mr John Havens, the division's head told the Financial Times in an interview.

Mr Havens, who has been heading the unit since March, told senior managers that a large part of their bonuses will be determined by how well they interact with colleagues from other parts of the securities business during meetings of the division's management committee, the paper said.

The move is aimed at ending the 'Citi swarm', the bank's tradition of swamping corporate clients with several bankers selling different products, the paper said.

Many big global banks are facing growing pressure to slash executive pay and change the way bonuses are calculated following public outcries after governments had to rescue some debt-laden banks with taxpayers' money.

In place of the 'swarm', Citi's top 500 clients have been assigned 'team captains' - bankers who will coordinate and filter the group's interaction with executives, the paper said.

'Team captains have the ability, responsibility and accountability to deliver the firm to our clients,' Mr Havens told the paper.