Wall Street is hitting its bankers where it hurts  in the wallet.

Citigroup’s chief executive and chairman said on Wednesday that they would forgo their bonuses for 2008 and slash the amounts paid to other senior bankers, joining a growing list of financial executives who are passing up some pay.

In a memo to bank employees, Vikram S. Pandit, Citigroup’s chief executive, said that he and Winfried F. W. Bischoff, the bank’s chairman, would not take year-end rewards.

“The harsh realities of 2008, primarily our earnings results, mean that our bonus pool is dramatically lower than last year,” Mr. Pandit wrote about a year in which the bank has so far announced more than $10 billion in losses. “The most senior leaders should be affected the most.”

But Mr. Pandit’s remarks may strike some as several weeks late, if not a few million dollars short. Citigroup, one of the biggest recipients of taxpayer money, has taken in $45 billion in capital from the government’s bailout funds.