The Wall Street Journal reports that Citi is hoping to obtain permission from the US government to pay 'special (retention) bonuses to many key employees'.

According to the newspaper, the firm is concerned that a number of key staff are likely to leave due to the pay cap now in place following the bailout of the company. Citi is thought to be particularly concerned about staff who work at its highly-profitable energy trading unit, Philbro, and is even thought to be considering spinning off the business as a way to get around the pay restrictions.

And Financial News reports that, despite axing almost 1,500 staff last quarter in its corporate banking and markets units, Deutsche Bank's staff compensation costs in the first-quarter came in flat. This is apparently down to higher provisions for performance-related pay.

The Financial Times reports that things got a little irate at the Fortis extraordinary general meeting Tuesday (called to approve the partial takeover of the firm by BNP Paribas). Angry shareholders disrupted the meeting and threatened to invade the podium, and some are said to have thrown shoes and coins in the direction of the board. In the end, 73% of shareholders voted to approve the BNP deal.

Bloomberg reports that, according to Billings, Ramsey Group analyst Paul Miller, Bank of America may need an additional $60 - $70bn in capital. And Reuters reports that should Citi decide it needs to raise more, it plans to do so without recourse to the US government.

The Wall Street Journal reports, however, that Wells Fargo has said that it plans to repay its government TARP borrowing out of earnings. Northern Trust, though, has sold $1.25bn in common shares and senior notes to help finance the repayment of the $1.6bn it took last year from the US government.

The New York Times reports that Lazard posted an unexpected first-quarter loss of $29.7m Tuesday, although firm CEO Bruce Wasserstein remains bullish, saying that 'we believe that this is a time of great opportunity' for the firm.

And Reuters reports that Bank of New York Mellon is to hire up to 60 staff for its Chinese fund management joint venture with China Western Securities.

Finally, CNBC reports that hedge fund manager Arthur Nadel has been indicted on 15 charges of fraud relating to the alleged theft of some $360m from investors. Nadel, 76, is currently in jail in New York, as he has been unable to meet his $5m bail conditions.

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