Citigroup said on Tuesday it suffered a net loss of US$7.6 billion in the final quarter of last year, capping another year in red ink as the battered financial giant struggled to emerge from the financial crisis.
The bank’s fourth-quarter result amounted to a loss of US$0.33 a share and was in line with forecasts by Wall Street analysts.
The beleaguered global bank’s full-year loss last year was US$1.6 billion, much lower than the hefty US$27.6 billion loss suffered in 2008, when the collapse of rival US investment bank Lehman Brothers highlighted the worst financial crisis in decades.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Citigroup said its fourth-quarter revenues were US$5.4 billion, or US$15.5 billion excluding a repayment of a government bailout loan, down from US$20.4 billion in the previous quarter.
Citigroup was the last of the major money-center banks operating in the shadow of a US government bailout of financial institutions whose foundations were shaken by the crisis arising from a home mortgage meltdown.
CASH INJECTION
The government injected a total of US$45 billion in the firm, once the world’s biggest banking group.
Last month, Citigroup repaid some US$20 billion to the government by repurchasing preferred shares from a US Treasury investment in the company through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a massive US$700 billion effort to stabilize the financial system, but the government still holds a major stake in Citigroup from having converted some of its investment into common shares.
Troubled loans remain a concern for Citigroup.
It said on Tuesday that provision for loan losses in the fourth quarter was US$8.2 billion, down 36 percent from the previous year and down 10 percent from the previous quarter.
Despite the losses, chief executive Vikram Pandit said the banking group had “made enormous progress in 2009.”
“It was our responsibility to get our own house in order,” he said, citing a series of steps that improved capital strength, reduced company size and staff, refocused business strategy and overhauled risk management that cut costs by more than US$13 billion annually.
FOCUSED
“As we enter 2010, we are strongly capitalized, significantly more efficient and are executing on a clear strategy that is focused on clients,” Pandit said.
He said in the near term, the company would continue to focus on “sustainable profitability and growth, and supporting the global economic recovery.”
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