Citigroup (C) announced its first quarter earnings on Friday. Shares rose 1% premarket as profits and sales beat analysts' consensus estimates.
The bank reported earnings of $1.58 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22, and had revenue of $21.1 billion for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $20.39 billion.
Sales were down 2% on a reported basis compared to the same period last year.
However, excluding $1 billion in divestiture-related impacts, primarily the gain on the sale of the India consumer business in the prior year period, sales increased 3% year over year. This increase was driven by growth across Citi's Banking, US Personal Banking (USPB) and Services segments, partially offset by declines in Markets and Wealth.
“Last month, we completed the organizational simplification we announced in September. The result is a cleaner, simpler management structure that perfectly aligns with and facilitates our strategy. It also helps us execute the transformation we've made in the past year by retiring multiple legacy platforms, streamlining end-to-end processes, and strengthening our risk and control environment.'' said Citi CEO Jane Fraser. Ta.
Mr Fraser said that while the services sector continues to perform well and is generating very attractive returns, the recovery in the banking sector has accelerated and wealth sector fees have increased, with estimated net new assets of 220% over the past 12 months. He pointed out that it had raised more than $1 billion. When it comes to US personal banking, Citi sees momentum building in both its card business and digital payment services.
