Citigroup Inc. said Friday that income fell 7% in the fourth quarter and that it has withdrawn some of the reserves it had set up to cover potentially soured loans.
The New York bank said earnings fell to $ 4.63 billion, or $ 2.08 a share, from $ 4.98 billion, or $ 2.15 a share a year earlier. That was still better than the $ 1.34 analysts expected from FactSet.
Revenues fell 10% to $ 16.5 billion, falling short of the $ 16.72 billion analysts had expected.
For all of 2020 – a year of turmoil in the economy – profits at the country’s third largest bank in assets fell 41% to $ 11.37 billion, and revenues were stable at $ 74.3 billion. Like its major bankers, Citigroup delivered strong results from its Wall Street operations, but that was offset by the billions of dollars it had to set aside for potentially bad loans.
As a sign that its outlook for the economy has improved, Citigroup raised $ 1.5 billion from the reserves it set aside for future credit losses, a major reason why the bank’s earnings were better than expected.