Citigroup profit jumps to $2.17 bn

Citigroup,currently 12 per cent-owned by the American taxpayers,raked in a profit of USD 2.17 billion in the September quarter on revenues of USD 20.74 billion.

In the year-ago period,the entity had a profit of just USD 101 million.

”Citigroup’s total allowance for loan losses was USD 43.7 billion at quarter-end,or 6.73 per cent of total loans,down from USD 46.2 billion,or 6.72 per cent,in the prior quarter,” it said in a statement.

Hit by the financial meltdown,the Wall Street giant had incurred total loss of nearly USD 30 billion in 2008 and 2009.

India-origin Pandit,who has been at the helm of Citigroup since 2007,had resorted to various strategies to steer the entity back into profitable ways. The efforts also saw the behemoth being split into two — Citicorp and Citi Holdings.

”Achieving our third straight quarter of positive operating earnings is continued evidence that we are successfully executing our strategy and we believe we have put in place all elements for continued profitability,” Pandit said.

However,the latest quarterly profit,coming on the back of significant fall in loan loss provisions,is tad lower than the second-quarter earnings of USD 2.69 billion.

This was mainly due to drop in earnings from securities and banking operations,which was partially offset by growth in Regional Consumer Banking and Transaction Services.

In the September quarter,revenues from Regional Consumer Banking (RCB) stood at USD 8.2 billion.

”Asia RCB net credit losses were USD 245 million,down USD 9 million,or four per cent,sequentially,driven by continued improvement in India cards.

”The USD 92 million net loan loss reserve release in the current quarter was USD 20 million lower than the release in the prior quarter,” it added.