Dive Brief:

• Citigroup raised its minimum wage to $15 after the bank's CEO-to-worker pay gap drew questions from House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters, D-CA.
• Citi's CEO-to-worker pay gap was the broadest of the nation's eight systemically important financial institutions, at 486 to 1, according to analysis the committee posted Tuesday. Lawmakers questioned the CEOs of the country's largest banks on the topic in two hearings in March and April.
• "Megabanks are earning record-breaking profits, but they are spending billions on share buybacks, and rewarding their CEOs with outsized compensation packages, as many American workers have seen their wages remain stagnant," Waters said in a statement Tuesday.

Dive Insight:

Citigroup raised its minimum wage to $15 on June 1, it said in its letter to the committee.

The company's move comes after several other major banks have publicly stated their intention to increase minimum wage. 

Bank of America’s minimum hourly wage for U.S. employees increased to $17 in May, a figure the bank said it will boost until it reaches $20 in 2021.

JPMorgan Chase has increased its minimum wage to $16.50 — and even $18 in some major cities. 

Waters, however, said she wants all "megabanks" to increase their minimum wage to at least $20 per hour by the end of the year. 

All banks should implement at least a “living wage” in the next two years "so that all workers have enough to meet their basic needs, including food, housing, and clothing," the panel's ranking Democrat said in a letter Tuesday.

Waters also called for financial regulators to finalize "meaningful executive compensation rules that curb inappropriate compensation practices."

"The banking industry has made modest changes, but it has a long way to go," Waters wrote. "Committee Democrats will continue to push prudential regulators and megabank CEOs to ensure just compensation for workers."