Citigroup managed to beat second-quarter expectations for revenue in spite of a 12% decline from a year earlier, driven by lower results in fixed income trading, falling credit card loans and dropping interest rates.
The firm’s earnings jumped after it released reserves set aside for loan losses, resulting in a $1.1 bn benefit after $1.3 bn in charge-offs. A year ago, the bank had been forced to set aside billions for expected credit losses, resulting in an $8.2 bn credit cost.
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Shares of the bank climbed 1.6% after the earnings report.
“The pace of the global recovery is exceeding earlier expectations and with it, consumer and corporate confidence is rising,” CEO Jane Fraser said in the release.
“We saw this across our businesses, as reflected in our performance in Investment Banking and Equities as well as markedly increased spending on our credit cards. While we have to be mindful of the unevenness in the recovery globally, we are optimistic about the momentum ahead.”
The move out of retail banking
Like other Wall Street rivals, Citigroup posted a sharp decline in fixed income trading revenue in the quarter, partially offset by higher equities trading results.
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By GlobalDataFixed income operations generated $3.2 bn in revenue, below the $3.66 bn estimate, while equities trading revenue of $1.1 bn topped the $879 m estimate.
Fraser, who became CEO in February, announced in April that Citigroup was exiting retail operations in 13 countries outside the US to improve returns. Now, analysts wonder what else Fraser has planned for her strategic revamp of Citigroup, the third biggest US bank by assets.
Shares of Citigroup have climbed 11% this year before Wednesday, compared with the 26% advance of the KBW Bank Index.
