September 23, 2024

Citi CEO Jane Fraser speaks at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California on May 1, 2023.

Patrick T. Fallon AFP | Getty Images

Citigroup First-quarter revenue reported on Friday beat analysts’ expectations, helped by better-than-expected results from the bank’s investment banking and trading businesses.

Here’s what the company reports:

  • Earnings per share: $1.58, unclear if that matches LSEG’s $1.23 estimate
  • Revenue: $21.1 billion, $20.4 billion expected

The bank said profit fell 27% from a year earlier to $3.37 billion, or $1.58 a share, due to higher fees and credit costs. Revenue fell 2% to US$21.1 billion, mainly affected by the sale of overseas operations in the same period last year.

Investment banking revenue jumped 35% to $903 million in the quarter, driven by higher debt and equity issuance, beating StreetAccount’s forecast of $805 million.

Fixed-income trading revenue fell 10% to $4.2 billion, exceeding expectations of $4.14 billion; equity revenue rose 5% to $1.2 billion, exceeding expectations of $1.12 billion.

Citigroup Chief Executive Jane Fraser said her sweeping corporate overhaul will be completed in March and the company will provide an update on severance pay alongside first-quarter results.

“The last month marked the end of the organizational simplification efforts we announced in September,” Fraser said in the earnings release. “The result is a cleaner, simpler management structure that fully aligns with and facilitates our strategy.

Last year, Fraser announced plans to simplify the management structure and reduce costs at the nation’s third-largest bank by assets. Now, analysts are wondering whether Citigroup can maintain its previous guidance for full-year revenue and expense targets.

JPMorgan Results were reported early Friday, and Goldman Sachs reported on Monday.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.